The Trials of Worly the Ward
by
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WORLY APPEARED WELL ALL MORNING. There was nothing to show what the next several hours had in store. He had resolved not only to attend school programs even if the Grinders did not permit him to do so, but also to take Mary-Ann to the St Liberty High School Gala Day concert and dance. Just how he would do this was best know to him and nobody else. First, I must seek my foster parents’ permission, he thought. After all, he was a respectful Christian kid. After completing his chores for the morning, Worly summoned enough courage and began to stroll into Mr. Grinder’s home office. Suddenly, his legs began to tremble. He began to breathe hard. The hope that spun him on began to give way to doubts. The reverie he had about the events began to grow fuzzy. Fear of uncertainty began to set in. Would Mr. Grinder permit him to go to the Gala events, or he would not? Worly began to feel some bitterness welling up his throat. “O God, you mean I will not see MaryAnn?” the boy whispered in a quivering voice. Mr. Grinder sat at his desk looking into a book. He lifted his head as Worly entered the room and stirred him straight in the face. Worly’s heart beat faster and faster when he murmured: “Pa, please let me to go to Saint Liberty and Gripper High’s games and the concerts and dance.” He spoke so fast that Mr. Grinder did not catch all the words. “What did you just say?” Mr. Grinder asked stretching his eyes wide open. “Please, may I go to the gala game?” Worly said sheepishly. “You, go to the game and to what?’ Mr. Grinder asked abruptly as he closed the book he had opened. He shook his head as though a sharp pain had raced through his skull. Massive heat seemed to fill the room. Then he continued, “ Impossible! You must be dreaming.” Worly soon realized that he would need more effort to persuade his foster father. Perhaps he was asking for too much. It seemed just too much time out to ask for, Mr. Grinder thought. At the moment, Worly appeared disappointed. He clasped one hand with another behind his back and lowered his head. He cast his gaze on the floor, actually looking at nothing. “Pa, my school was invited to the events, and our principle told every student to go there since our school is closed today. All the students are going there. Please allow me…,” Worly pleaded. Mr. Grinder shifted in his chair and frowned. Then looking into Worly’s face angrily he said, “All the students may be going to the events. But that doesn’t mean you too should go. Your principal does not run my home. He has no right to order you or others to go out because your school is closed today. He does not have control over others’ homes or children after school,” Mr. Grinder shouted. “So the principal’s words do not mean that I will permit you to just go.” By now, he was standing behind his desk. He stooped briefly to feed a few sheets of paper into his typewriter and adjusted the margins, and then he sat down again and started typing. After about two minutes he looked up abruptly. Worly was still standing in the corner of the room with his head bowed. “You’re wasting time. In fact, have you completed your morning work?” Mr. Grinder barked. “Yes, Pa. I’ve filled the drums with water. I’ve cleaned up the house, and I made breakfast,” Worly said thinking this was enough work for the early morning already. “So?” snapped Grinder. “That’s why you want to go out?” “Well, I just thought, maybe, err I…I,” began Worly “No, no, thanks anyway,” replied Mr. Grinder uncharacteristically. “But what about wood and market? And there is still more work to be done. Besides, perhaps your mother, Viola, has yet something else for you to do today.” “Yes Pa. but should I go to the events after I complete everything?” “No, you will not go to the concert and dance.” “ But Pa, may I go to the game then?” Worly asked frustrated. Just then, Mrs. Grinder dashed into the room almost hitting against a chair by the desk. Her fragrance filled the room and forced itself down the nostrils of the men in the room. She stood by the desk, hands akimbo, and her eyes gazed from Mr. Grinder to Worly. Worly pushed himself closer to the wall in the corner he had been standing. He relied on the wall for support as though he had lost every ounce of strength in his body. “Grinder, do you have to dialogue with this boy every week?” She snapped. “You know there is a lot of work to do and errands to be run today. And he is talking about going to game? Last week he wanted to go cut Mr. Brown’s hair. Every week it’s something new, eh?” Mrs. Grinder said breathing hard with anger. “Just, forget it!” Mr. Grinder kept silent for a while as he looked at Mrs. Grinder approvingly. Worly remained frozen in the corner. Mrs. Grinder was 37 years old with dashing eyes and full lips. She had an oval face with skin color like that of a ripe banana. Her arms and legs were large and plumb. She wore nice long dresses all of which were mostly European and American made. No African fabric was found among her assortment of clothes. In fact, she hated anything that was locally made. Yet she had a hard Liberian ascent. At 9:00 this morning, Mrs. Grinder was still in her red and white striped pajamas. Her hair in pink rollers remained uncovered. She wore a brown pair of high slippers that increased her height by one inch. She liked to float on air. She had good reasons to sleep late every day. Worly would take care of every thing
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About the Book
The Trials of Worly the Ward is a historic fiction that tells the story of abuse, oppression and suppression of wards. It’s a story of love, betrayal, violence and death. Using the relationship between wards and their foster parents, the conflict between the social classes and Liberian educational, economic and social realities as background, Thomas lays bare the infected wounds on most Liberians. Many years after the founding of Liberia as an independent nation, an undercurrent of subjugation of wards flowed throughout the country as a right of passage toward education and civilization. Ironically, the once subjugated in America and Liberia became the subjugators. Those once oppressed became the oppressors, and this abnormally cut across social class and ethnic boundaries. Had everyone become a wounded ward?
Worly finds himself a target of abuse, exploitation and restriction. His experience parallels Hne’s and others in many households of “civilized people.” His struggle to break through his shackles is a compelling drama. There are the Grinders whose implosion stems from corruption, betrayal and violence. Worly the ward emerges as the hero who saves Mrs. Grinder from strangulation at the hands of Mr. Grinder. There is Mr Hartman, the hypocrite whose lust results in his tragic death. Then there is Mr. Bookman, who is on the run to escape persecution for corruption. Ultimately, Worly the wounded ward wended his way back to Sarbo longing to see Maryann and awaited the emerging winds of change that had started blowing across Liberia.
About the Author
THOMAS G. JOHNSON Sr. was born on March 6, 1955 in Sarbo, Liberia, unto the union of Rev. Johnson Weah Tweh, and Doris Wahyonoh Johnson. His father was an itinerant preacher, and founder of the Assembly of God Mission Church in Sweaken.
Thomas attended the Kakata Rural Teacher Training Institute (KRTTI) in Liberia and graduated with an Elementary Teaching Certificate in 1973. After teaching for several years with the Monrovia Consolidated School System, Thomas entered the University of Liberia in 1979 and graduated 1983 with a BA degree in English and minor in Political Science. He did proofreading briefly at the USIS Library. In 1984, he joined the Assembly of God High School teaching staff as Vice Principal for Academic Affairs.
In 1987 he traveled to the United States and eventually became a naturalized American citizen. In New York City, he worked as supervisor in the Communication and Marketing Department at the Kings Brooks Jewish Medical Center, Brooklyn for five years. From 1995 to the present, he has work with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene as Senior Public Health Advisor.
In 2001 Thomas entered the New York Theological Seminary in New York City and in 2004 graduated with a Master’s degree in Divinity. Thomas is an adjunct faculty at the New York Theological Seminary Certificate Program in Christian Ministries.
Thomas is married to Beatrice (Yamda) and they have two daughters and three sons.
Johnson was a member of the University Players, a drama group, and founding member of the Liberian Association of Writers. (1982-1985). He published a few literary articles in the Liberian Daily Observer. As a member of The Liberian Association of Writers he and others were encouraged to contribute to the development of Liberian literature. This novel is a product of that inspiration.