The Village Teacher(EPISODE 2) - Fiction

 

THE VILLAGE TEACHER

  

Episode 2

……I responded to the knock. It was Abiba, with a big bowl of TZ and soup. She said that was my welcome meal. I asked her to put the food on the floor and promised her I would eat the food after taking some rest. She told me to feel at home and always call on her when I was in need of anything. 

I thanked her, but in my mind, I was like, “can you provide all my needs?” She left my room and I faced my first meal in the village. I was just wondering how to call Abiba to come back for the bowls when I heard a knock again. Guess what, it was Abiba again. She told me she had put a bucket of water in the bathroom for me to bathe. I asked her to pick the bowls out of my room and promised her I would bathe very soon. I took my bathing apparatus and tried to move to the bathroom. On seeing the population in the compound, the “shy boy” in me pushed me back into my room.

 

 

On second thought, I moved out to the bathroom with confidence because there was no way I could dodge the bathing. From the bathroom back to my room, all eyes were on me like 2Pac. With a nervous smile on my face, I walked straight into my room without looking into the eyes of anyone. As my room was responding to the darkness of the weather, there came Abiba, with a kerosene lamp. I took the lamp and wondered why it was always Abiba who rendered all the domestic services I needed. Was she chosen by the chief to do that or she was doing that voluntarily? I wondered.

By 7:30pm, I hardly heard any voices around. It meant everybody had already entered their room. I lay on my mattress all alone thinking of what my new school was going to look like. I made a lot of imagination about the school, the teachers and the pupils. My imagination gradually turned into a night's sleep. Just about two hours into my sleep, some new friends tapped me and reminded me that I was supposed to sleep under a mosquito net. 

Guess who those friends were. I quickly responded to the reminder and removed my mosquito net from my bag, but I couldn’t have nailed and hanged it that night, so I covered myself with it like a cloth. At dawn, the following day, I regretted ever covering myself with a treated mosquito net. I had a burning sensation all over my face. I took my bath and made Abiba lead me to my new school since she was a student of that school. On our arrival at the school, I saw a young lady seated under a tree, whom I presumed was a teacher of the school.

 

 

In my mind, I was like, “thank God I have gotten an enlightened person to live with”. I took my books from Abiba and asked her to enter her classroom. I was left alone with the young lady. I introduced myself to her and asked her to always call me Galaxy. She smiled and told me she likes my name. I smiled back and in my mind, I said, “why don’t you say you like me instead of my name”. 

This statement was a simple one I could have said to her hearing, but because of my cowardly nature, I had always said such emotional statements in my mind. She introduced herself as Kate. I said, “woow, what a sweet name!”, meanwhile ‘Kate’ is not among the names I admire a lot, but just because I wanted her to feel that I appreciated something about her, I had to give that impression about her name. 

I was just having a nice introductory chat with Kate when I saw a young gentleman walk toward us. I presumed he wasn’t also a native of the community according to his looks. I said to myself, “I just hope this young gentleman has not been having nice times with my newly found Kate”……………

👉Episode 1

👉 Episode 3