A Bird on the Rose

“A child must attempt to break a snail, not a tortoise,” the elders have advised. But when Kofi Abbam and Rose Mana meet in inter-schools athletics’ competition, they are eager to defy tradition.

At a very tender age, and still in school with no means of subsistence, they decide to break a tortoise instead of a snail by engaging in an illicit affair. They drop out of school and get married, and as their children start arriving, their woes keep piling. Lack of subsistence causes these star-crossed lovers to engage in constant fights.

When Mana can endure it no more, she leaves the marriage with her children and refuses to come back home. Abbam who can’t endure the separation for a long time decides that both of them deserve to live no more.