EPISODE 12: When the Sun Pointed South

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On the road again

The Ntows couldn’t have been more hateful towards Darra after she’d bared what had transpired on that fateful night with Kofi. She had to leave before things got worse – oh, just how uncomely they were getting each passing day!

What more tied the maid to her mistress aside dutiful errands, anyway? With the family already aware of her decision to leave, and the day of parting fast drawing closer, who else had she yet to inform of her imminent exit?

Ah, of course, Auntie Ama, her former mistress!

It was a rather brief visit. The teenager’s head exploded with several accounts of mistreatment she had endured. Though not recounting every story to their ugly, minute details – not to needlessly worsen an already bad situation, if it couldn’t be helped – Darra’s worries were clearly written all over her young face.

Soon, the big day – for the Ntows and, really, for Darra – arrived. A heavy burden of mixed feelings wore her out, the only ‘baggage’ she carried that couldn’t be loaded up on the roof of the bus she’d be travelling on.

That no goodbyes came from the family she’d happily served up until now, only faces wildly twisted with rage and willing her out, was proper cause for shame – if they felt it at all – and rid the poor girl of any needless self-reproach or lingering doubts.

The bus had taken off already. Towns they passed gradually fell back as they sped on. Darra’s thoughts, however, lay far ahead, spinning faster than the revolving parts of the vehicle she was on. She beat her brains out about everything and anything, especially on whether or not to venture any closer to Tuya. She certainly couldn’t go back to Razak; for all his kindness, her old friend knew too much now. Amina, too, wasn’t good company and might seek to make Darra a drab like herself.

Where next, then?

Stop after stop, town after town, the long journey was miles closer to its tiring end.

On one of those brief stops at a small town – safe haven from highway robbers, thankfully – hawkers ran towards the bus, heralding and displaying their wares. Darra was hungry, but dared not touch the little money left in her pouch. Her tummy grumbled in protest against the imposed fast, with hungry eyes staring longingly at the appealing edibles on sale outside.

Two seats back on Darra’s left was a young man who, like other passengers, had reached out through the window to obtain something to eat. Noticing the sad look on Darra’s face, he attempted to pass something the young girl’s way, quite rightly assuming she was hungry. He certainly hadn’t seen her buy anything for herself, had he?

“Here,” his slender arm stretched towards Darra.

She snagged the small package from his hand and thanked him, only more grateful to God for an answer to what had been a silent plea. He watched her hungrily consume the snack, quite amused.

“Who was this rather generous young man, though?” Darra wondered as she munched.

And where was he headed?

Even more importantly, though, could he be of any more help to Darra?

When the Sun Pointed South is a weekly series — exclusive to Daily Mail GH every weekend — that tells the entirely fictional and incredibly inspiring story of a young girl who escaped the rigors of life in Ghana’s North, braved odds down South, and emerged radiant. Get the previous episode here if you missed it.

Mathy Adortsu — Daily Mail GH