2. NO VIOLENCE

"Miss Mensah, you are to be present at the headmaster's office at 3 for a brief meeting concerning your daughter." Someone Louisa was assuming was the secretary replied.

"But is Isabel alright?" Louisa asked perplexed.

"Yes ma'am. It's not really a health related issue. Everything is alright."

The secretary's voice toned down into conspiratorial whisper. "Heads up, it's actually a minor issue, nothing to worry about. Well in my opinion."

Louisa sighed in relief. "Thank you very much then. I'll be there."

At thirteen and in junior high school, this was the first time Louisa was being summoned to her daughter's school for something that wasn't a general issue. Her baby was a good kid; never got into trouble, she really hoped it wasn't a serious problem.

She glanced at the wall clock in her office. It was 1:45 and she really had to leave if she wanted to be at the school on time. Mensah and Associates was located in the central business district of Accra and her daughter's school was all the way in Spintex. The drive would take about an hour...an hour and 15 minutes tops.

Slipping into her heels and grabbing her car keys and handbag, she stepped out of her office.

"Are you leaving ma'am? I was just about to send the file you requested for to your office." Her personal assistant stated as soon as she chanced on her boss.

"Yeah Akua. Isa's school wants me there for a meeting at three so I have to be on my way." She answered back.

"So should I keep them in your office so you can work on them tomorrow?"

"No, just send me a soft copy. I'll work on it from home." Louisa turned to leave but halted all of a sudden.

"Wait you know what? Just hand me the file. I'll take it with me."

After taking the file, Louisa glanced at her beautiful P.A furiously typing away and with a short laugh said, "Now busy bee...that's enough work for today. You can take the rest of the day off."

Akua's face lighted with a pretty smile. "Yes ma'am have a good day."



The headmaster dived into the matter after a brief greeting,

"Ma'am your daughter was involved in a fight and being a first time offender with good grades, I've decided to let it go. This isn't like her in the least and that's why I wanted to talk to you."

Louisa's eyes widened in disbelief. A fight? Her baby? This was unbelievable.

"Wait sir? Are you sure it's Isabel we're talking about here?"

"Yes ma'am. I even find it hard to believe myself. Is everything alright at home? Because violence usually stems from underlying problems....." The bald fat man began to sweat uncomfortably as he realised that he had probably said the wrong thing.

Louisa's lips pursed in anger. "Are you suggesting that I'm not raising my daughter right? Because if that's what you mean-"

"Pardon me madam. I didn't mean it that way." The poor man interrupted. He couldn't believe he had led himself into this. He had heard of Louisa Mensah's ruthlessness and for him to have stumbled into an argument with her especially on an issue concerning her only child was a very foolish thing to do.

"Please forgive me ma'am. You know what? Classes don't end till 4:30 but don't worry. You can take Isabel with you, I'll grant her early leave." He continued,

"Please forgive me for my comment. It was rude and unprofessional and it won't happen again."

Louisa threw the man a dirty look as she stood up. "It better not." She tossed over her shoulder as she made her way out of the office.

Seated in one of the chairs near the office was Isabel. The poor girl run towards her mother and threw her arms around her bursting into tears in the process.

"I'm so sorry mummy. I di...didn't mean to-"

"Shh. It's alright princess." Louisa interrupted.

"Let's get out of here."



It seemed the ice cream they had gotten from Pinkberry had cheered her daughter a little bit. The girl was feeling so bad that Louisa felt now wasn't the right time to talk about what had happened at school.

They were finally home, with home being a plush four bedroom house in one of the estates on the Spintex-Road.

Isa was upstairs doing her homework and Louisa was in the kitchen making dinner while having a serious discussion with her mother.

"But mama, do you think Isa's fight had something to do with me?"

Mrs. Mensah looked up in surprise, "Now honey, why would you think that?"

Louisa shrugged. The headmaster's comment had gotten to her more than she let on. She felt like her inability to spend more time with her little girl was causing her to act up. And she told her mum this.

"No Louisa....no I think you have it all wrong. Sit down with Isa, talk to her, I'm sure this isn't about you."

Louisa sighed. Her mum had a point.

They silently continued with preparations for dinner. Today, they were making banku and okro stew; Isa's favorite. Mrs. Mensah suggested it as soon as Louisa told her the news.

One would think that Isa was being over pampered especially for doing something wrong. But that wasn't the case. Her mother and grandma knew her and knew there had to be a justifiable reason for her fight. They could tell the fight had done a number on her, hence the desire to cheer her up.

They had an early dinner but it seemed Isa couldn't eat. She just picked at her food and this was really disturbing her mum.

After a while the teenager looked up from her food, "May I be excused? I'm okay and I want to go and continue with my homework."

Everyone nodded their consent and Isa retired to her room. The two ladies exchanged looks but no one said a word.

After dinner, Louisa did the dishes; her mum had retired to her room to make a call and Louisa thought it was the right moment to have a chat with her daughter.

"Hey....can I come in?" She asked after a knock and did when her daughter nodded in consent. Joining Isa on the bed, she tried to make herself comfortable as the young girl began her story.

"Okay mum...so I haven't told you this because I didn't want to seem petty and I was handling it just fine but since we were promoted to jhs 2, some of my mates began to bully me. They'd call me names and pull my hair and I always took it in silently. Two weeks ago, a new girl, Melissa transferred to our school and the name calling and bullying shifted from me to her just like that. She's overweight and likes to cry a lot so I guess they realised worrying her was more fun. I could handle me being bullied, but not someone who looked so vulnerable so I became her friend and tried to get them to back off a little and for a while it worked. But remember the week where I couldn't go to school because of grandpa's funeral?"

Louisa nodded.

"The bullying got so worse that when I went to school the following week, Mel told me she was having suicidal thoughts and I realised she needed help, so I went to see the headmaster and he said he'll need some more evidence but he warned the students off." She stood up all of a sudden in a hysterical mood.

"The bullying got worse Mum. I could see Mel shrinking into her shell each day and when Pamela made a crass comment about her this morning, I couldn't help but attack. God I was so angry!"

Louisa got up and pulled her daughter into a hug to calm her down a little.

"Go on honey." She said.

"Let it all out."

Isa, who had now come down a little continued, "Mr. Phillips then called us to his office and later called you."

Louisa sat on the bed and pulled Isa into her arms. They were locked in an embrace for a long time before she spoke up, "I'm very sorry Isa. This is a very serious issue and I get that you were protecting your friend and that's commendable, jeez as your mum, I can't be any more proud. But violence only makes matters worse honey. You did report the issue to Mr Phillips but when he didn't do anything, you should have seen someone else like m-"

"I know mum." Isa interrupted

"But Mel didn't want her parents to know and I didn't want to do anything that'd aggravate the situation. I knew you'd definitely tell them and I was afraid she'd feel betrayed and stop telling me stuff."

Louisa nodded, "You make a solid point Isa, but if you had laid your cards out like this honey, I'm not sure I would have told her parents. We would have worked it out. "

The duo were quite for a while till Isa spoke up. "I miss you mum. We barely have times like this anymore."

Louisa's eyes glistened with unshed tears as she whispered, "I miss this too honey. I promise we'll hang out more often."

She sat up on the bed, "You think you can get your friend over tomorrow? So I can talk to her."

Isa nodded. "She's already coming over tomorrow. We have an assignment to do so..."

Louisa smiled and stood up to cover her daughter with a blanket. "That's great love. Alright get some sleep now." She placed a kiss on the young girl's cheek and gave her a squeeze. "Remember honey, violence doesn't solve anything."

"Yes mum. I'll never forget." Isa replied as she gave a tired yawn.

Louisa smiled back and moved towards the switch to turn off the light but stopped when her daughter called out to her.

"Mum?"

"Yes honey?" She turned to look at her child.

"I love you very much."

Louisa smiled and went over to Isa, gave her another hug and added a bop on her nose as a finishing touch.

"And I love you even more Princess."