There was no space in the back seat of Mama’s car. It was loaded with the TV set, the microwave and some other things we had used that morning. I would have no choice but to sit in the passenger seat of the car. Since the accident, I had avoided sitting in the passenger seat. The movers were securing a tarpaulin over the back of their truck. Mama was in the garage where she had stored some boxes that had things she was giving away to a children’s home. Our neighbour had promised to do that for her.

“I’m ready,” I said.

“Okay. I’ll go and lock up,” she said, walking out of the garage. She stopped at the door and turned to look at me. “I know this is hard for you but it’ll get better. I promise it will.”

I shrugged. She walked away. I was about to walk away too when I noticed a jumper sticking out of one of the boxes. It was Daddy’s. Mama had cleared all his things from the house before I got discharged from the hospital. She had kept some of his mathematics textbooks for me but nothing else remained of him. Not a single thing. And now here was his jumper. I went to the box and pulled it out and buried my head in it. It still carried his scent. I looked through the box and found more of his stuff, an old wallet, a sweater and some papers he had worked maths on. I picked up the box and was putting it into the car when Mama came out.

“Yayra, that’s just junk,” Mama said.

“I want it.”

The movers had got into their truck and were driving out of the compound.

“Put it back. It’s not going to bring him back.”

“It’s all I have left of him,” I said. I was on the verge of tears. Maybe Mama saw the tears shining through my eyes so instead of insisting she just asked me to enter the car and went to shut the garage door and that’s when she saw him.

“Hi Bobby, so nice of you to come say goodbye. How are your parents?”

“They’re fine.”

I got out of the car slowly. I didn’t want him to know how really glad I was that he had come. We had been dating for over a year but I still had butterflies in my stomach anytime I saw Bobby Laryea.

“I’m taking the keys to Adjoa Maame,” Mama said.

“Bobby!” I said and hugged him as soon as Mama was out of sight. I couldn’t help myself. I was so happy to see him and he looked extra handsome in his jeans and Lacoste polo shirt.

“I thought you wouldn’t come. I’m not even gone and I miss you so much already.”

Bobby hugged me back somewhat less enthusiastically but I was too happy to notice. He let go of me and stepped back.

“This is my final year,” he said.

“I know. It‘s come quickly hasn’t it?” If the accident hadn’t happened it would have been my final year too. Next year we’d have been going to University.

“I really have to study hard to get good grades.”

I took his hand and squeezed it. “You’ll be fine. I know you’ll blow the

WASSCE.”

He let go of my hand and took another step back.

“I don’t want any distractions—I mean I don’t want to write remedial exams or anything of that sort. I want to pass the exams one-touch.”

I was on the verge of saying, “But you will, I know you will,” but I didn’t, not because I didn’t think he would pass but because I suddenly felt uneasy. Bobby put his hands into his pockets and looked at the ground. O my goodness, he’s breaking up with me. I stood there watching him gather courage to say the words but I still couldn’t believe it was happening.

“I feel we both need a little space.”

A little space for what?

“I mean, obviously, we have different priorities now. You’re moving to a new place, new school, you have a lot of catching up to do with your academic work and I need to make sure I get all A’s in the WASSCE. I can’t afford to be distracted in any way.”

A distraction? Was that what I had become? “Are you . . . are we . . . are you breaking up with me?”

“No, of course not. I’m just saying we should go on a break for some time.”

“What does that mean exactly?”

“No phone calls, no e-mails, no WhatsApp messages.”

I nodded like I understood. Like I’d been ‘going on breaks’ with boys all my life.

“So how long . . . ? I mean when . . . ?”

“Let’s try it till the end of first term then we will have a re-evaluation and decide if we’re both headed in the same direction or if it’s best to separate.” A lump formed in my throat and I suddenly found it difficult to breathe.

“You do understand, don’t you?”

I didn’t trust myself to speak. I nodded instead.

“Good. I knew you would.” He looked relieved that I understood.

“Bobby?”

“Yeah?”

“Is this . . . are you . . . are we separating because of how I look?”

He looked away from me, scuffed the toe of his sneakers on the ground. “No, of course not.”

I knew he was lying. What was more he knew I knew he was lying.

“Sofi said you had one more surgery left, right? I’m sure they‘ll fix you up and make you look better.”

Fix me? I did have one more surgery left. But it wasn’t for my face. The plastic surgeons had done all they could for me. They had even taken skin from my butt and patched it on my face. Butt-face. The surgery was to reverse my colostomy.

“Okay, take care then,” he said and walked away.

I stood there not quite believing what had happened. All I could think was no phone calls, no e-mails, no Whatsapp messages. How was I going to survive? He met Mama at the gate and they chatted a bit. Mama was all smiles, the way she gets when everything is going according to her plan.

“Sweet of him to come by, wasn’t it?” she asked as she got into the car. If she noticed the tears in my eyes, she didn‘t say anything. She probably thought I was on the verge of tears because I wouldn’t be seeing Bobby anymore. I slid into the passenger seat beside her. I didn’t need her to tell me to buckle up. I could see her checking out of the corner of her eye to make sure I was strapped in. It wouldn’t have been more obvious if she had turned around and just checked. She took a final look at the house that she had called home for twenty years and we drove off.

***

Tell us what you think: Do you think Bobby was lying when he said he just wanted a break? What do you think of Bobby?