A short story based on a true story
“What a bizarre situation I find myself in?” said Tesfaye one day as they were walking down the road to school with his friend. The sky overcast and the wind was blowing hard and the freeze slapped against their faces. In the attempt to ward off the stinging effect with their arms, they could hardly hear each other. As they did not put on proper clothing for the weather, they were indeed freezing.
Tesfaye comes from Dessie, the then provincial city of Wollo. He had a delightful childhood owing to the comfort a child could be provided as his parents were among the rich in that city. A balanced diet for his nourishment was at his fingertip; well-dressed, he could be easily identified while walking with friends. His friends were filled with envy because of his towering height while they were with him; in spite of this, they could not avoid hanging out with him.
However, they felt being his companions was very advantageous and profitable as he had been generous enough to invite them pastte, fooll, and sambusa, the delicacy children at that time enjoyed exceedingly. Their value was equivalent to that of the current ice-cream and cakes.
It is indisputably agreed that the confectioneries of the time equally attracted both children and the grownups; the situation that defied age differences.
Tesfaye’s parents were lavishly giving him pocket money as they did not want him to go around empty-pocketed at any cost. Tesfaye would pride himself on his parents’ thoughtfulness. Unlike other parents who forbade their children to go to the tearoom for the fear that the children would be exposed to bad habits, which would eventually entice them to steal money from their parents and worse from others, too.
They were not aware of the benefits of empowering their children to handle money reasonably. Naturally, people are keen to do what they are instructed not to; curiosity builds and effects a violation of rules. For that matter, children who could not afford to buy pastte, smbusa and fooll, were often accused of stealing coins and were flogged at a flag-raising ceremony in the morning before class started. On the other hand, many parents were so poor that they could not afford to give their children money, even though they were aware of the fact that giving money was not a mistake at all.
Concerning academic performance, Tesfaye was an average student. Amharic was his favorite subject and at times he would write poems and read or recite it to his classmates. He never failed neither he ever excelled. He attended classes like any normal student; he was never tardy and absent. Teachers loved him for his good conduct. They chose him as a class monitor as his discipline record was highly recommended.
His father, a highly esteemed person in the society was also respected for his strong ethical influence on his children. “Do you know what the Bible says concerning your relationship with your parents and grownups altogether?” he asked his son. Tesfaye who was not well conversant with ethical issues simply stared at his father seeking the answer from his father himself.
Then having realized his son’s situation his father said, “Well, my son, the Bible says, honor thy father and mother; here honoring does not mean bowing down or shivering in the presence of parents, it is just doing what they tell you and what pleases them.” Such parental guidance had laid a firm foundation which was easily observable in Tesfaye’s disposition everywhere, be it at home or school.
Elementary school did not welcome him as he would have liked. Exam results were at sea (c) level and that did not promote him to the next higher grade. In spite of their wealth, his parents were very eager to see him achieve high academic performance. Although the situation did not turn out good as his parents wished, he somehow completed elementary school and was transferred to high school.
To his bewilderment, in spite of what he did for them, his classmates took pride in their better academic performance than Tesfaye. At times, they would say, “Your father’s money cannot help you much in writing your exams.” Some would even tease him “The delicious food you eat at home cannot come to school to help you. What a pity!” they would say.
How cruel they were to him, he would gently say,” Wait and see. My success will materialize when I finish high school.” He believed he would definitely succeed in due course. The accomplishment later in life was what mattered a lot to him. To his dismay, everything went wrong academically, as an option, his father’s wealth was unquestionably his insurance.
“When I finish high school, I will join the Teachers Training Institute and become a teacher whereby I earn money to be self-sufficient. I don’t need to depend on my parents or on you if at all you are worthy of it,” he asserted. He is predictable in all his doing. He was a straight forward person and very reliable. As he had always predicted, he successfully completed high School and joined teachers’ training school only to become a teacher upon which he was allocated to one of the schools in Dire Dawa. There was where his phase of love commenced.
Being a good looking young man, girls liked to be around him. Such relation with girls began while he was in high school, although it did not mean much to him. But after becoming a teacher, things began taking a new turn.
The previous indifference to what girls were trying to do to attract him rose to a new height; the feeling of love was given the due consideration; a new dimension of emotional attachment to the opposite sex began taking shape. He began looking into love issues carefully. He was passionate about passing his leisure time with girls. Yet, he was ultra-careful about how to build intimacy and with whom.
Some months lapsed until he encountered a girl of his choice. She was a student at the school he was teaching. Rosa, an Italian half cast was extremely beautiful. Her straight hair run down her shoulders; her sharp nose supported by thick wet lips and the long neck, altogether would capture anybody’s attention. Her slender body coupled with well-shaped legs was beyond admiration.
That was a big trap Tesfaye fell into. Entangled with such circumstances, the more he tried to free himself, the stronger the grip got tight. No matter how he tried, he could not free himself. He had no choice except surrendering. They were consumed by the fire of unrestrained passion. They both flowed into each other moving inseparably for the two years of his teaching in Dire Dawa.
When the time arrived for his departure to Addis Ababa for higher education, they both could not rein their emotional horse. The future was dark and bleak. They had nowhere and no one to turn to for a solution. The bitter tears they were shedding were their only consolation. How much their tears could have helped was left to sheer speculation.
Whether they liked it or not, Tesfaye had to say fare ye well to his beloved, Rosa. If he decided to remain in Dire Dawa, it would cost him forfeiting the chance of higher education. At last, in spite of the emotional chaos they were undergoing, they decided that Tesfaye proceeds with his program.
“What do you think? Isn’t it better if I go? It is just a short time and we will reunite,” appealed Tesfaye looking her in the eye. She did not have the ears to listen to those words. She was apprehensive about future development.
“Well, it doesn’t matter, what will be, the future’s not ours to see,” replied Rosa, tears flowing out from both her eyes. Out of her uncontrolled emotion, she suddenly jumped up and clung to him hanging on his collars and so did he.
They stayed in that situation for a long while until Tesfaye’s friend came to set them apart and guided Tesfaye to the taxi that was waiting for him to take him to the railway station. Those days traveling by train were rather a trip of luxury. Rosa followed him to the taxi and went to the station to see him off; the inevitable happened and Tesfaye headed for Addis, the city where the opportunity of his future career resided.
After two weeks, he registered and started his studies in the university despite a load of missing his beloved Rosa. Rosa would appear on every page he reads. As a literature student, every romantic poem vividly portrayed Rosa in his mind; the themes of all songs they both sang revived their love in fresh memory. He was obsessed with her love and did everything in her name.
On the other side, Rosa was equally being tormented by the same feeling that Tesfaye was undergoing. While Tesfaye was with her in Dire Dawa, she could unload her love burden by sharing with him its unbearable effect. There was no one she could turn to for help.
Each of them was paying the sacrifice of love demanded. For a temporary relief they trying to tighten the love chord by love- letters correspondence; literally they each would mail two to three letters every week. There was a time when she sent him a nineteen-page letter.
This went on for quite a while only to end up in Write if you like or forget it if you don’t written by Rosa. Fortunately, the bag in which the letters were packed was stolen one fine morning as Tesfaye was away for class. There the flag of Finale was raised. Love from the height of its grandeur tumbled down to dust just like that. What an unreachable height of love ever existed!
The Ethiopian Herald Friday 20 December 2019
BY JOSEPH SOBOKA
