Ms Dynasty Boateng

Posted by Oyinlola Sobowale on Wednesday, January 29, 2014 in Series&Stories | 3 comments

He took a gentle turn into the beautifully lawned street as usual, a leisure drive round the playgrounds. Diamond lane, Rockview estate, Dewpoint park...all the while wondering why he had to keep the engine idling. It was almost like parking still. He can’t even do a 20, in this powerfully built fast sexy Aston Martin DB9 Volante (convertible model) with V12 engine that 80 is so healthy...

'You are going beyond the mark, Mark!' he heard her say. Of course he is burning to drive!!!
A quick look in the mirror matched two pair of eyes. One stern (hers), the other offering a gentle smile. He wondered again why he had to continue with such ritual.
But looking at her again sideways, he understood why...he would do anything for her, drive her a hundred miles nonstop if she so wishes.
She's looking straight out the window, peering at the little girls as they exchange their dolls, watching the boys poke at them.
The park is always filled with children, little adorable angels. He watched as the cold in her eyes transformed into pure gladness. This is the one place in the world she always craves to be. 

Dawn, noon, sunset...just a leisurely drive round the parks. Many a beautiful gifts she's wrapped sitting idly in the house cos she never brings them out. 
'The kids are rich enough,' she'd say. 
She'd give them all to me to do as I please. Yet she poured over books looking for nice things to order. Matching sets of dolls and balls, trains and games...classic and latest. She buys them all but loses the heart to give them out.
 
Today, as they go, he sees the usual thick towel in her mitted hands, same old worn brown towel. Must be her favourite colour. She's smiling and mopping the tears as they streak down her weathered face.
 
You see, my name is Mark like she said. Jesutoba, my native name. I'm tasked with driving her round the streets and parks. She never goes anywhere else, I mean NEVER! I've been with her for 20years now, my wife thinks I am raving mad. (Chuckles). I'm 39years old now. Yeah! Started driving her since age 19. Was a lanky boy who had no future?! Snatched her gold purse when she stepped out to buy some shawls...from a roadside peddler!!! They must have caught her eyes because truly, they were beautiful but it was the wrong side of the road. I mean, she came out from a red convertible classic, her elegance oozed, it was like the smell of freed gasoline.

I jumped at her purse, was sure I could run, she pulled a chase after me, and did away with her pumps. I smile at the memory.
 
Miss Dynasty Boateng...her name then, her name still. She's a very old-young woman if I may say. At 68, still innocent in a lot of ways. Beautiful in her days, bright and cultured too.

What went wrong? I know she lost the love of her life, the chance to prove her love and commitment, she lost and never recovered. Blamed herself and still does. She's got loads of money maybe that's why I keep working for her so I can inherit.
I have 2degrees, own a company of my own now just so I can have the time to take care of her. She's got no one and she's done so much. For me as a young lad, for me as a grown man. I wish i can be the man she's always loved. The child she hoped they could have nursed.
Still I see an unhappy lonely woman. Beauty gone, shrunken with grey hair.
She would always say she's cursed beyond redemption...must have lost all in that singular event...
Lost love, lost hope. Like a swimmer lost in a sudden rip, it’s all gone from her! 
She sits and tries to knit, her hands at everything, all half-done. It’s like the woman she has become-lost the zeal to see things through, yet lasted this long.

I keep coming just to make her last days easier, does she see me??? 
Sometimes, she thinks I am him. 
But I am like the invisible man to her. Glad I can be something though. 
If she sees him, she smiles. At least let her smile till the end comes...