Eighty

Stan is weeping like a baby.

Esther is so afraid; she has never seen him so broken up, so emotional, so inconsolable.

"Please, Stan, cool it! Just exercise patience and control your emotions! Remember you have BP!" Esther soothes.

Stan looks at her through a wall of tears.

"I've hated Chris, Esther. I've gone out of my way to make life hard for him at every opportunity!" he wails, heartbroken. "My God! What have I done to my own blood? Oh, Lord! And Uncle Ruben! Dear God, how could he do that to Rollie? And what fools we had been when we believed his bullshit story that Chris beat him because he tried to take some marijuana from him! My God! I'm going over to the Mission House! I want to see that man!"

"It's late, my love!" she says, concerned. "Please wait till morning, I beg of you."

"No, no! I have to see my parents, and Uncle Ruben, that horrible man!" Stan says passionately.

He gets off the bed, still weeping, and pads to the bathroom.

***

Reverend Bawa, his wife, and Diana make a dash for Ruben Essel's room when the video comes to an end.

Reverend Bawa is shaking with uncontrollable rage! To know that his brother-in-law has abused one of his children, his favorite child, is too much for him.

Mrs. Lois Bawa cannot believe it. It explains so much why Ruben has never been interested in marriage, in any woman! This is the evil he has been hiding all the time. They crash into the bedroom, but he is not there.

They rush to the library.

Old Ruben Essel is lying face-down on his desk.

There is a hole in his temple, dripping deep blood. There is a gun on the floor with his forefinger still in the trigger guard.

He has shot himself.

The Reverend Bawa moves to the desk and picks up the sheet of paper, the last thing Ruben has written. He reads it aloud.

I'm very sorry for the pain I've caused you. There hasn't been a second that has passed when I haven't felt guilty about the death of Roland, and I claim responsibility. I have sinned. I've indeed raped Roland and some of his friends, and also some young men in the church. The devil has invaded my soul, and I'm unworthy of life. Chris found out, and beat me up. He has been right all the time. Please find it in your heart to forgive me. I love you all. Goodbye. Ruben.

The man of God hands the note to his wailing wife, and then he leaves the room to go and call the police.

***

The last video is rolling.

A police jeep has arrived, and two policemen get out.

They are Dan Curtis and Ato McBaiden.

They handcuff Chris, and then Dan calls the ambulance again as McBaiden goes to Chris' car and carries out a search. McBaiden returns with the package of cocaine and shows it Curtis, who looks around furtively and draws McBaiden to one side.

The two are seen conversing, and then Curtis brings out a little transparent rubber sachet from the jeep. They tear the package of cocaine open, and then they put a little in the sachet, and tie it up. Curtis then takes the rest of the cocaine and hides it in the police jeep.

He approaches Chris and push the little sachet of cocaine into Chris' top breast pocket. Chris, suddenly aware of what they're trying to do, begins to struggle as panic takes over him. Curtis takes out his gun and begins to hit Chris repeatedly across the head with the butt of the gun. McBaiden takes out a police baton and begins to also hit Chris in the ribs and the waist with it.

It is an unprovoked attack, senseless and unbelievable, causing those watching the television to whimper with shock.

Sylvie can be seen screaming at the cops to stop. Chris suddenly shoves himself off the car. His hands are handcuffed behind him so he is restrained, but his boot shoots out, catching McBaiden in the balls.

The cop screams and falls.

Chris spins again and head-butts Dan fiercely. As Curtis begins to fall Chris' shoots out his right elbow, catching the policeman in the left eye. Dan screams as his left eye bursts, and a mixture of blood and grey matter shoot out. Dan covers his eye with his left hand and fires his gun, the bullet grazing Chris' skull and making him sag.

McBaiden, still kneeling, hits Chris' head with his baton, and Chris falls down unconscious. Curtis pushes the sachet of cocaine deeply into Chris' pocket.

McBaiden helps Curtis to his feet, and both of them disappear from the angle of the camera. A few minutes later McBaiden emerges with a bottle of alcohol which he opens and pours over the prostrate Chris, and then he pours some on Chris' face. He bends and smears a white powder around Chris' lips.

McBaiden is then seen screaming at Sylvie Palmer and her father, waving a gun at them and telling them if they ever tell anyone about what had happened, he and Curtis will find them and kill them.

Sylvie and her father huddle together in great fear. Just then a police ambulance arrives, and more policemen get out. Sylvie Palmer and Chris are taken away, and Agya Attah Palmer picks up the bag of money and follows some policemen away.

Everybody leaves the scene, and the camera is now focused on only grass, coconut trees and an empty stretch of road. Wachipa Sey reaches over and closes the video feed.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of Chris Bawa," he says, and his voice is hard and accusing as his eyes roam over the audience. "They said he beat his old uncle who was taking some weed from him, but according to Chris, he beat the man because the man is a horrible monster who assaulted young children. The police said he knocked Sylvie into a coconut tree because he was drunk and high on cocaine, but we see Sylvie was knocked down by Afful. Chris thought Afful was his friend, but even when he was prepared to take the blame for the accident, we see his best friend Afful tossing a package of cocaine into his back seat. Remember, if the cops hadn't been greedy and stolen the cocaine, leaving only the little cocaine in a sachet in Chris' pocket, Chris could have been imprisoned for about thirty years for possessing that amount of cocaine that wicked Afful left in his back seat. Chris was also charged with attacking a police officer, but he was actually defending himself from their beatings, wasn't he? He was accused of drinking and sniffing cocaine, but we all see the cops pouring alcohol on him and smearing his face with cocaine, which the other police officers saw when they came around. Chris Bawa, my friends. Framed, betrayed, and destroyed by the ones he loved most."