Touched by an Angel (PART 1 of 3)

By Mena Ekua Feneba

Who remembers “Touched by An Angel” – the Family Drama?

Do good people still exist?

If you’re like me, you probably don’t believe much in human beings. If you’re worse than me, you probably agree that, “can anything good come from Nazareth?” Where Nazareth is our current world.

I met an Angel in the most unlikely circumstance.

Two sisters are running late to the Airport. Check-in is ending in about a minute.

“I think you should run and check in your suitcase, I’ll park and follow soon with your backpack”, says sis

“Okay.”Sis responds.

At the Check-in counter the attendant, a youngish looking fellow blurts: “Lady, you look gorgeous.”

“Yeah”, Sis responds.

“Did you hear what I said?”

“I’m sorry, a little flustered, come again?” Sis replies.

“I said you look gorgeous.” At that she broke into a wide smile. “Thank you.” she replied.

“Take a deep breath. You’re good, the counter is still open.” Her suitcase got checked in successfully. Sis then went to the front, but there was still no sign of sis. She stood there for about five minutes, craning her neck up and down to see if sis would appear. But nothing. She could not reach her by phone, because her own phones were inside the backpack with sis. Therefore she approached a customs officer, and asked to use his phone to call her sister. She called her about seven times or more, then she called two of her own personal numbers. The calls went through, but there was no answer. After trying the lines again and waiting for another five minutes, she was ready to give up. She looked down at her boarding pass again. Boarding ends 20 minutes before departure. She still hadn’t gone through security yet. 10 more minutes to begin and complete her security checks. So, she receded, and proceeded to security.

She took the stairs and handed her passport to the first customs officer. She then went to join the queue leading to the conveyor belts. Once she got to the end of the line she recognized a colleague. She worked in a Corporate office and although not in the same department, she had seen him a couple of times. All she knew as his name was “Nana.” Despite herself, she smiled. He smiled too and turned around.

“Off to Ksi?” She nodded. “Are you going for a funeral?”

“No, just visiting the family.” And she said no more until they were done with their security checks. She was all the time watching for sis to emerge at the security entrance. But nothing. She tried to return down to see if sis had emerged. “Madam, proceed to your boarding gate.” The voice of another Customs’ Officer almost chided. She turned around and left for the boarding gate, shaking her head as she went.

Nana was in front of her now. A female flight attendant was calling for passengers to start boarding. With this new directive her countenance completely changed. It was then Nana noticed that not all was well.

“Are you alright? Is everything okay with you?” Sis shook her head. Then she explained what was going on. “She had my carry-on (Backpack). But I have everything in it: my phones, computers, my purse.” I only took my passport. She was supposed to return immediately but …”

“Wow!”, he said.

“May I use your phone to call her?”

He handed her his phone in response. She dialed sis’ number again. Five or more times, it kept ringing but there was no answer. The female attendant then beckoned the young man and persuaded him to proceed to board the airbus.

He looked back at her in a manner which said “How can you ask me to leave her in this predicament.” He stood erect in the same position. The attendant also kept trying for sis again using her phone. But it kept returning a no-answer tone.

“It’s time to go.” The attendant finally said. “The aircraft is ready for boarding.” So both Sis and Nana took the airbus. Nana was still trying to reach sis when they got on the bus. But there was no such luck. Once inside the aircraft, they lost each other, as he sat in the front whiles she was right in the back. As she sat down, a million things flooded her thoughts.

Had the car been clamped? Did sis get hit by another car? Was she attacked? What could have happened there? Why did she not return immediately like she was supposed to?

It was a long flight of 30 minutes! She disembarked, still with her head somewhere in the clouds. Her first inkling was to find Nana and say thank you. She just kept walking. She lifted her head when they had entered the Arrival Hall in Kumasi.

“I’m still trying to reach your sister. But she is still not answering, quite surprising.”

Had something bad happened? She wondered.

“Nana, may I use your phone again? I’d like to call my Mom and other sisters. Maybe they may have some news.” Again he handed her his phone. She dialed three numbers successively. They all exhausted the full ring, but there was no answer.

“Sigh. No luck.” Sis said.

“This is strange. Come here for a sec?” So Nana took Sis aside and explained the fact that he had to leave for the funeral he spoke about.

“The person I am going with is ready and has called me. So I must leave soon. Take this for yourself”, he said pulling a wad of notes and stuffing it into Sis’s hand. “I will call a taxi for you.” So he called an airport taxi driver he usually used.

“Take her home, and whiles on your way, she will need to use your phone.” He told the driver. 

“Take care, I’m sure that everything will be fine.” he said before leaving, and Sis was completely taken aback by his patience, empathy and generosity. Another thing was that this person was a moderately known public official. The kinds of rumors which sometimes swirled around such people. You really need to encounter people before going with the flow of public opinion and petty gossip!

So finally, the driver took Sis to her preferred destination. Sis found her Mom and another sister. Apparently sis had spoken with them, so Sis was assured that sis was fine. The Airline had prevented sis from bringing the backpack to Sis beyond the non-passenger clearance. So sis would find a way to deliver the backpack to Kumasi. Nana called twice while on his way to the funeral to ascertain the current state of affairs. When they got to her preferred destination, she made to pay the driver, but he would not accept it. “Nana said he’ll cover the expense himself.” Sis was flabbergasted.

She told her family how she had been helped by this man (Nana) when was totally stranded. One of her sisters responded: Do Angels still exist ?

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2

Dedicated to the Angel who helped a stranded girl @ (the) Nana Prempeh I Airport