The Magician’s Wand…
AARON ANSAH-AGYEMAN
ATO NA BAWA SERIES
THE MAGICIAN’S WAND
EPISODE 3
“Abuma dama, kuugu bamba, food varieties in Bawa’s room now!”
Bawa used his key to open the door, and they trooped inside excitedly.
They stopped dead in their tracks and exchanged looks.
There was a huge table in the middle of the room, and it had a lot of pans and plates filled with all kinds of food and drinks!
“Eiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” Bawa shouted with shock.
“I’m a magician!” Ato screamed. “I told you so! Do you believe me now?”
Almost trembling, they approached the table. The spread of food was so palatable that they began to drool.
“Pull out a chair and enjoy!” Ato said. “We’ll leave some for your mother and my father, but let’s enjoy, brother!”
They washed their hands and sat down.
Bawa put a ball of rice into a clean bowl and scooped groundnut soup with meat unto it. Ato pulled a huge tray of kebabs towards him, picked one up and bit into it.
“We’re rich, and we’re the next generation presidents!” Ato shouted, “Eat until your stomach bursts! You deserve it, brother! After years of kooko and kose, your intestines might be getting ulcers by now because of all the millet and oil! Eat like a prince now!”
With their mouths full, they were laughing when the door suddenly burst open and Auntie Fuseina, Bawa’s mother, came in. She was followed by six other women.
They stopped just inside the room and looked at the two boys with horror!
“Bawa, what’re you doing?” Auntie Fuseina screamed.
“Stop eating the food, you bad boys!” one of the women screamed.
Ato stood up and pointed his wand at them.
“Don’t worry, women, I can conjure more food for you,” he said with an expansive smile. “I’m sure you have never seen such a sumptuous array of food in your lives. Pull up chairs! I’ll bring more food!”
“Bawa, why did you do this?” Auntie Fuseina asked in a displeased voice. “I thought I’ve brought you up to be responsible enough to keep away from things that don’t belong to you! You should’ve waited for me before taking the food!”
“Waited, no,” Ato cut in. “I’ll just bring more food with my wand! There’ll be enough food for everyone!”
“You shut up!” another woman cried. “That food is meant for Sister Jenny’s engagement party!”
Ato and Bawa exchanged startled looks.
“What? I won’t give my food to any Sister Jenny!” Ato said softly. “I just conjured up the food with my magic wand!”
“Yes, he did,” Bawa told his mother.
“Stop your nonsense!” another woman shouted. “Conjured what? We prepared the food and left it here!”
“You have some explanation to give me, Bawa,” Auntie Fuseina said. “Go on, speak.”
Bawa narrated everything to his mother. And then the women began to smile, and then they burst out laughing.
“Well, I don’t know about the money you found in Ato’s house,” Auntie Fuseina said when she finally stopped laughing. “But this is no conjured food. We prepared it for Jenny’s engagement and left them here so that we could go and arrange the house for the engagement. Jenny is my friend’s daughter, and she’s having her engagement this evening. It is a good thing we came back in time before you two boys caused havoc!”
Just then a thunderous voice bellowed outside.
“Ato Jacobson, are you in there? Come out this instant!”
It was Mr. Jacobson, Ato’s father, and he sounded really angry. They all rushed outside. Mr. Jacobson was holding the green bag, and he looked livid.
“Father,” Ato said miserably. “You found the bag of money. I conjured it for you!”
“Don’t annoy me, boy!” Mr. Jacobson said angrily. “Mr. Richardson gave me money to buy some materials for his new home. I put the money in this bag and left it on your bed when I was going out. I came back and found it short by ten cedis! Have you taken money from it? You better not lie, boy!”
