A classical Valentine story

Oda Secondary School, 14th February 2003

The main character in this story is Enoch Obeng Frimpong, aka J T Money (Just The Money) if you don't like him: Just The Head is/was an option.

The size of Enoch’s head, though fitted his body size was one of the key ammunitions for his enemies back in Odasco. When he was named Just The Head in Form 1, he contrived to make it Just The Money. His counter nickname was shortened to JT Money.

Both names rivalled each other until eventually the head gave in for the money to reign. As his friend and a very close one of cause, I knew the head was real but the money a hoax.

Above all, JT was an interesting character, a mentally strong guy who never gave in to criticism. He lived his life with little care of the opinion of others. He loved every woman back then and helped himself by proposing to not less than fifteen of them. His success rate though was nothing to write home about. Most of the women who said no to him acted on tip off from friends of JT.

He had one and half of the women he proposed to.

One was in our Junior Secondary Secondary (Orex). The half, our mate is the lady featured in this Valentine Story.

14th February 2002

He was the hero at Odasco on 14th February 2003.

His gifts was the talk of one of the school’s female dormitories Asantewaa B even though it culminated in insults at Danquah House, habitat of boys. You see, when you are broke, you find foolishness in another man's spending.

Val's Day is about a month after resumption of school from the Christmas break. For us boys, or let me say majority of us boys, this is when our poverty begins. We called that phase of our life in school 'hack my soul'.

As far as I was concerned, I wasn't only surviving a hacked soul, my spirit had gone with it. I was super broke. To add insult to injury, I was in love and so felt obliged to make a statement on Valentine and I didn't disappoint, I made a statement (that is a story for another day)

For JT, he was lucky to have received his fees around that time. It was luck then but hindsight has thought us that it wasn't a good one.

When JT got his money, he went to town on the 13th of February, shopped and came to school with a full hamper. He spent the night guarding it because you have no choice when you have Isaac Appor as a roommate. JT's hamper included everything fancy for the said lady and enough to make a statement that befitted his name: Just The Money.

Getting a Val's Day Gift in Odasco was in deed a status symbol. At the 'flip-side', getting nothing was quite depressing. Such people were called ‘gnashers’ and I featured in that category throughout my stay in the school. Honestly, I was never bothered

For those who could not stand the one day ridicule and ‘lovelessness’, they had a way of not being left out.

Buy a card in town, go to the post office and post it to yourself ???? ???? ????

It was that simple.

For JT, he didn't need a gift, he only needed to gift another lady so that it will cement a love forged over a short time with Hetty. Two days to Valentine, JT thought he'd found himself a girlfriend who was in deed one of the finest in our year group.

Beware, when you feel loved like never before from 8th February: it might be a scam. Same can't be said of Hetty though, she was just casually nice but that is enough to make a man madly in love feel like a king.

After watching over the gift, opening his foodless chop box every now and then to ensure that no one had dug a hole from the ground floor through the flow to break into the chop box beneath it at night, he presented it to Henrietta very early in the morning.

He came back to the dormitory and later to the classroom a proud happy man looking forward to the relationship that will cement his status as in deed: JT Money.

They broke up on the 15th of February

Sorry, Hetty reverted to her normal life.

There was never a relationship: it was a misconstrued Valentine friendliness

Isaac Kyei Andoh