By Jeremeeh Kousse
Jeremeeh Kousse is a playwright. A storyteller and a comedian.
He is also a crypto researcher.
From his collections: Tales from the Savannah 11
An old woman of 83 shared this tale before she passed away. She was advising a young maiden with a fiancé named Lato, who was a 31-year-old drama teacher in a village grammar school. This young teacher had fallen madly in love with the maiden, Charlotte, who was 19 years old. He paid for her tuition and took care of her daily needs.
After completing her university studies, Charlotte told her fiancé she couldn’t marry him for several reasons. Firstly, her father disapproved of her marrying a teacher. Secondly, as the only child, she didn’t want to be taken far from her parents. Thirdly, she had a dream where she saw Lato in shorts, which she interpreted as a bad omen, believing he would die young and leave her a widow. Her father even vowed he would never accept a bride price from Lato, declaring he could not give his first daughter to a common teacher.
Due to these reasons, Charlotte ended the engagement. Lato didn’t complain.
As years passed, Charlotte continued to search for a suitable husband. Lato eventually got married and had four children. Meanwhile, Charlotte remained single for nearly a decade. Tragically, she lost both her parents within a year. It was a very sad time for her.
Lato reached out to her during her grief. Eventually, Charlotte married another teacher and found happiness with him and their two children. However, she often wished she had treated Lato differently.
