EVERY MAN HAS TO FIND HIS ‘Jon’ GIRL

I joined them in class five. I remember my first day in school and how awful it was to me. I didn’t have friends. We had relocated to Bechem from Accra and life in Bechem looked like a downgrade to me. There were not many cars and many people like I used to see in Accra and kids my age in Bechem also looked different. In school, we all wore the same uniform so we looked the same. My first day in school ended without any noticeable events. I wanted to go home and meet my siblings because there was nothing there in school for me. Slowly I grew into the new culture and I became the guy who spoke English on all occasions. The guys in class didn’t like me that much so I became friends with the girls first before the guys started warming up to me.

Rebecca was in my class. She was ordinary, somewhere between the middle. When you were talking about beautiful girls in the class you won’t mention her name and the good thing was when you were talking about ugly girls too you won’t mention her name. She wasn’t the most brilliant in any subject but you won’t find her down the pack of pupils who didn’t know anything. She wasn’t the loudest but she wasn’t the quietest too. She was easy to disregard so when we were going to Junior high and she left the school, no one even noticed, except the few people who were very closer to her. I wasn’t closer to her. I knew she had left the school, but I don’t remember feeling sad that she had left. In fact, I didn’t even miss her.

We did three years of junior high school and completed. I got a senior high school in Accra and I was very happy to be going back to Accra again. I thought I was going to meet some of my friends I attended primary school with. I thought I was going back to reconnect with those I got disconnected from but unfortunately, I went to St John’s Grammar and met none of my friends there. It didn’t put me down but rather encouraged me to make new friends. I met Josh and we became friends. We were in the same class. I later met Cedis from another class and also became friends with him.

I was in Cedis’ class one day when I saw a lady walk in. It was break time so a lot of people were out. This lady looked familiar. I looked at her and she turned away. I couldn’t place a finger on where I knew her from. I asked Cedis, “Who’s that girl? What is her name?” He said, “You like her? Don’t bother, she’s a jon girl. Always covering herself with church and prayers. If you try to talk to her right now, she’ll preach to you. Forget about her.” I said, “I only asked her name not her biography. What’s her name?” He responded, “Rebecca something, something.” I screamed, “Yes, that’s her. We were in the same school in Bechem. She left the school in class six. I know her?” He responded, “Oh she comes from Bechem? No wonder she’s jon like that.”

It sounded like Cedis didn’t like her that much and I wasn’t surprised. Becky was like that. She wasn’t the ‘most’ in anything. She preferred to hide and lived her life. I walked to her. Immediately she saw my face she mentioned my name, “Barnabas? So it’s you? I saw you but I wasn’t sure. Wow, you look all grown up now.” I answered, “Look at her calling me grown up. I should be telling you that.” We talked about our former school. She talked about mates she could remember and asked where they were. I told her about them when I knew their whereabouts. One thing was clear while I was talking to her. She took the name of God seriously. Every sentence she made had God in it. I said to myself, “So cedis was right.”

When we were about to depart, she said, “Why don’t you come to prayer meetings with me one day? You’ll enjoy it.” I said in my head, “Jon girl. What’s prayer meeting?” I nodded my head but didn’t stand there to listen to the details. From that point on I tagged her in my mind as someone I wouldn’t like to be associated with. We met at different places but it was always “hi how are you?” and “I’m fine thank you.” We didn’t go beyond that because there was nothing the two of us could talk about. She was deep in the things of God. I was just a guy exploring my youth, taking chances and falling in love with any face that looked beautiful. I didn’t have time to belong to her space so all we did was say hello to one another and walk by.

It was like that until we completed school. We couldn’t build any meaningful relationship because she found happiness in things that didn’t gladden my heart.

In 2018, I was doing my national service as a teacher in the Ashanti region. It was a village school so we didn’t have a bank there. One early Monday, I went to a bank outside our village to take money. I wanted to be the first person there so I could rush back to school early to teach. When I entered the banking hall, I saw a lady holding a plastic cup and collecting water from the dispenser. Her back was facing me so I didn’t say much. She finished drinking the water and turned to face me and guess who it was, Rebecca. “What are you doing here?” She screamed. I said, “I should ask you the same question. Why do I see you wherever I go?”

We left the banking hall and we talked for a while. She was working at the bank. She did her national service with them and she was maintained. I was happy for her. She was looking like someone you’ll notice in a crowd. She had a presence that envelopes you and makes you feel so small. She was no longer somewhere in the middle. She wasn’t ordinary. When I was leaving, I told her, “God willing, I will see you next time when I come around.” She answered, “As if he’s a good guy, look at him.”

We started talking as friends until she invited me to her place for lunch one afternoon. I liked it at her place. She looked established and far ahead of me in life judging from where she was living and the kind of place she rented. She told me, “This is my place. I don’t go anywhere so whenever you’re bored and want to visit, you’re welcome.” Because she gave me that liberty, I went to visit her every weekend. It was a small town. There were no interesting places to visit so we rather stayed home and found something interesting to do. One day I asked her, “Why don’t we go to Kumasi one of these weekends? We can have a place where there’s something to do. If nothing at all, we can hang out somewhere and be outside.”

The following weekend, she followed me to Kumasi and we roamed through town until her feet started to hurt. I took her back to her place and she said, “If you won’t have any issues with it, you can sleep here. It’s late and I doubt you’ll easily get a car to that your place.” I didn’t have a problem so I spent the night there. I woke up the next morning to the fragrance of something sumptuous. If I didn’t know I was in love, that morning changed everything. I was convinced that I was in love with her. But I wasn’t in a confident position because I didn’t have anything. She had everything. She went to the university right after SHS while I spent two years in the house writing remedials. It was expected because while she was in school praying and learning seriously, I was there exploring my youth and falling in love with girls who had no reason to fall in love.

I would wake up at dawn and think of how I was going to propose to her. I would recite the lines in my head and make sure everything falls in line. Just when I was feeling confident that I was going to win her, this little devil’s voice in my head would whisper, “You want a woman who has it all like Becky? Jon boy, go to your lane. Monkeys play by sizes.” I will get deflated and forget my lines and forget about love. She’ll call me and I will talk to her as if I wasn’t the one who laid sleepless in bed thinking about how to propose to her.

We had a healthy relationship until my service was over and I was leaving town. She asked me, “Where else do you think we are going to meet again?” I thought about the question and said, “I don’t mind staying with you if you don’t want me to disappear again.” She laughed. She said, “You can stay if you want. I don’t mind sharing.”

There was some honesty in her voice when she said it. It hit me that I didn’t have to lose my confidence. But then I decided to go back home, work on myself and come back like a man to take what I want. I never let a day goes by without talking to her. I was gone but I wanted to keep myself in her mind. Even when we didn’t have anything to talk about, I called her so both of us could stay on the phone and breath. One evening she said, “I don’t even know if you’re the right person to discuss this with but there’s this man chasing me up and down. I don’t like him. I’ve made that clear to him but he keeps coming. You’re a man. How do I handle him so he doesn’t come again?” I said, “Don’t pick up his calls again. He will get the message.”

She told me she had done that on several occasions and the man kept coming. One day I was with her when the man called. She showed me the call and I said, “Let me answer that.” I took the phone, said hello and told him politely, “My girlfriend tells me you’ve been hitting on her. I’m just a man like you. You won’t like it if someone does that to you. Please, can you leave her for me? Just for the sake of the bro code?” He responded humbly, “She didn’t tell me she has a boyfriend.” And then he hung up.” 

She was looking at me. I told her, “So you’re my girlfriend now, or?” She burst out laughing. I knew I’d said what I hadn’t been able to say for a long time and I wasn’t going to allow her to joke her way out so I stressed, “It’s not a joke. I’m serious. You’ve always been where I’ve been. I’m not saying it’s a sign or anything but the thunder doesn’t strike the same place twice. You have so it should mean something to me. Stop laughing I’m not joking.”

I got a job. A month later, Covid happened. I ran to her place when the lockdown was announced. I spent three weeks with her and once the lockdown was over, I knew I would like to spend the rest of my life with her. We finally got married in 2021 and today, she’s the best thing that happened to me. I look at our new baby and I’m happy I could give her a mother as great as Becky. One day, she’ll grow up and say, “Mommy I love you” and I will understand it. She would say it not because she’s her mother but because she had become a witness to the same kind of love I’ve been witnessing since it all started. 
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