THE STUBBORN LANDLORD

PEACE stood beside the well-polished mahogany table in the ultra modern dining room, holding onto a chair for support. She stared for a long time at the mouth watering dish on the table, the aroma wafting to her nose and making her feel sick. Taking her eyes off the food, her gaze settle on the unopened bottle with “POISON” inscribed on it in great RED letters on the opposite cupboard. With uncertain steps, she walked slowly to the cupboard and took the bottle in her trembling hands.

Never for once in her wildest dreams had she ever imagine that she would one day have the intention, much less the courage to  murder the only man she had ever loved. How could she when he had been so caring loving and most importantly very alternative to her very need despite the state of poverty in which they had lived.

Even though her husband had talked and hoped for riches untold, Peace however had not craved for riches or luxury.

All she had ever wanted was a total happiness and peace of mind.

But the current condition she was facing was too much for her and this necessitated the cause of action she wanted to take to defend her feminine curiosity.

 Ananse is noted to be very stubborn but positive in everything.

Because of this his deeds spread like a bush fire though the length and breadth of the entire town. His ability to excellently deal with delicate issue and defend his action without fear or favours is a plus to him.

Talk about intelligence and you dare go past Ananse. Even though was difficult to deal with he was the favourite of the masses.  One surprising thing about him was that he always has endless stock to tales to tell anytime he was in trouble.

 Ananse could be describe as a man who went through tough times but today he could be counted among the rich men in the town through his intelligence.

But the time he was thirty (30) he had left an enviable records and wrote his own history which lives on the mind of his close friends till this day.

When was young he always dream of becoming a responsible and respectful man in life. Ananse did all he could do at least live within the limits of his means and therefore worked very hard towards becoming what he is today.

His primary aim was to become a landlord one day and see people living in his house. To give his plan a boast he managed to squeeze himself and the entire family by saving a substantial amount of his salary towards the  success of his cherished dream of becoming a landlord.

 Ananse Visiting a Drinking Bar:

One day he visited a drinking bar and there he heard some people quarrelling over what does not believe in.

The two friends were quarrelling over a total number, which was supposed to be among the wining number to be drawn for the day. After listening to them attentively , he had a change of mind to stake the number which became the borne of contention between the two friends. By close of the day when the winning numbers were announced. Ananse was among the proud winners of the tree numbers the friends quarrelled over. After winning he does not want to tell her lovely wife about his luck because he was very sure that his wife will increase her request for material things should he alert her about it.

 Ananse became very happy throughout the rest of the day to the amazement of his wife. All attempts to dig out the source of his happiness fell on the rocks; but when it dawn on him to find his winning ticket. The following day, he realized that his wife might have cut away with it when she was washing his cloths. He thought about a thousand ticket to use on his wife to be able to collect the ticket but all the infant thoughts his mind offered were too simply to perform the task.

He finally embraces the idea to convince his wife that the tickets belong to one of his co-workers.

Thinking he could succeed. Ananse introduced  the idea but his wife was very smart to dribble him in his intelligence. By telling him that the said co-worker came for the house and promised to see him letter in the day.

Not satisfied with the answer, Ananse quizzed his wife further and this lead to the release of his ticket. Ananse told his wife that even though his friend did not win the number, he must prove his honesty by showing the ticket to him testify that he did staked the number.   

His joy could not be measured when his wife finally gave the two hundred thousand (200,000 Cedis) ticket containing the winning numbers to him.

The third day. News spread over the town that Ananse won lottery running into billions of cedis, but he excellently denied it when the news finally heats the ears of his wife.

Very soon, Ananse started drawing plans towards building a house. His plan to be become a landlord has been planted and will soon grow to the surprise of everybody.

In no time Ananse started putting up his building. Being so intelligent he told his wife about his idea to put up buildings with the intention of renting them out to people.

When asked where he could get money for his project he told her that he has arranged for a loan facility, which will soon mature. Ananse hurriedly put up a nice looking chamber and halls including boy’s rooms ready for rentals.

When all was set, his wife advertised her true love and unflinching support for Ananse who appear to be wiser than his friends who spent their  money on girls and  other material things. This therefore placed him on a highly enviable position in the town. He took in the first batch of tenants who not only admired the new house but also the perfect conditions that was available in the house.

Most of them confessed that they couldn’t have the kind of freedom they have with their landlord Ananse anywhere else. But how long will the privileges last when Ananse became hungry. A hungry man indeed is and angry man and this situation was not far from Ananse when he first registered and advertised the type of landlord he was. Ananse in  his second years of landlord ship made a set of rules and  regulations for his tenants and this saw most of them out of Ananse’s house since the rulers were too rigid to comply with some of the tenants who thought that things were going to be smooth as it was from the beginning soon gave up and bid Ananse a goodbye. Some of them describe him as being wicked and others said he was stubborn because he would simply not listen to anybody on matter who the person is.

Any time a complain of any kind of problem comes up, and it was brought to his notice,  he will simply listen to them attentively but he will never take any action or whatever to solve their problems.

And so when the complains were coming in multiples he did all he could to simply avoid his tenants by dodging them anytime they plan anything for him.

 Ananse continued with his hide and seek until the unexpected happened.

One day, Ananse called all his tenants and announced to them that he was going to increase renting fee their and he would require a minimum of one year advance from all of them. He added that the house they are living in belong to him and those who cannot stand his dictates should simply fall out and give way to other equally qualified people waiting list to take an advantage of their disadvantage.

A tenant who took advantage of the meeting to ask a question as to why their concerns are not addressed was severely delta with when Ananse told him that he invited them but not he the tenant who invited him therefore he was not ready to listen to any of them until they invited him.  Another tenant who could not bear the rescue increment called for intervention of the react control unit but when he was asked to produce his tenancy agreement with Ananse, he could not do so.

When the case finally got to Ananse, he told the tenant that they are both untroubled because he did not sign my agreement with him.

Even though it is right to ask for an agreement he did not do so hence cannot pick any issue with him people really saw that their landlord was simply stubborn and as if this was not enough he will not listen to anybody when he is called upon.

One day when Ananse agreed to meet his tenants, they discussed many issues.

While some of them demanded a tenancy agreement form him he simply turn down their request because he was sure that if he should sing any agreement with them he can no longer increase their rent or demand an advance at any time he decided to do so, other were of the view that Ananse should not be involved in sharing their utility bills such as water and electricity bills. This is because the majority felt that they are being cheated because  they realized that what they pay as compared  to other tenants vanes. Indeed, Ananse was making a lot of money out them because anytime he distributed the bills, he will neatly spread his portion over his tenant and even get something at the end of the day for his pocket.

 Ananse on the other hand agreed that if he should leave the distribution of the bills in the hands of any tenant, quarrel may be the result and he saw nothing wrong with him being the landlord of he can no long borrow from anywhere to work after the family since he had borrowed some money early in the  month in anticipation of his wages. His children doubted his rectitude and the capability to provide as a father and a breadwinner. It showed on their tiny face anytime he met them.

His wife was fed up with the many monotonous excuses and platitude to give. She listened absentmindedly and never talked but there was a malignant hint about what  might linger behind her composed serenity.

 Stored foodstuffs had finished long ago and were never replenished. They bough and cooked and never replenished. They bought and cooked and ate. There were hardly leftover to be heated in the mornings; the children’s joy had gone. Their meals were just enough, sparsely adequate or less.

On some days, they felt real hunger. As if what he was going though was not enough, his tenants also stood on his neck and refused to give him a peace  of mind to handle his situation . The utility bills which he had collected from the tenants for payment was gone. The electricity company notify him trice to   disconnect the entire house but he was impertinent . Three days later, they came to the house to disconnect the line but luck ruled in his favour when one of the tenants paid an amount of five hundred and sixty-two thousand cedis (562,000 cedis) as arrears on behalf of the entire house. The tenants had met and decided to take an action against him but they could not succeed. When they demanded the bill, he quickly collected from a friend and showed it to them.