Episode 4
………. As I moved from the
chief’s quarters to my room, the emotional department of my brain was busy
debating out ideas to face the love virus the chief had injected into me. I
gradually moved from brain-talking to speaking out loud my feelings. After
minutes of thinking, I had gotten a plan. Since Abiba was my student, I would
accept to take her as a wife but a “play” wife. I would assume she was a kid,
although she was physically grown even beyond adolescence. I still held the
view that she was a kid on the ground of schooling because she was in class
six. I would take her as a TOC (Teacher’s Own Choice), I thought. “But come to
think of it. Abiba is a good and caring girl, although she has some village
ingredients in her pot of beauty.”
I built self-confidence
to console myself and to prepare for the sweet mistake that was on the way. I
soliloquized “yes” to my self-confidence and it coincided with a knock on my
door. Guess who! It was Abiba, my wife. She had come in with a bowl of fufu
with chicken-light-soup. Her care had graduated to a higher level. She sat on
the floor and asked me to wash my hands in a bowl she held. Although not abressed
with their tradition, I believed her action was a symbol of respect from a wife
to a husband. In my mind I was like, “if not because you are my student, I will
eat this fufu and…………hmmmm”.
While I was in my thinking
mood, I heard, “Master, please eat. What are you thinking?”. “hmmm, nothing” I
responded. In fact, I was actually humbled with her domestic care and respect.
For the first time, the ghetto boy who used to eat with a bowl in the palm with
other niggers was then being treated like a prince. The meal was indeed a
‘honeymoon’ meal- I enjoyed it. My wife picked the bowls out and came back in
30 minutes with a mat. “kooooiiii, is it really true that this girl is now
married to me? I thought it was a partial joke or partial seriousness. The Pope
must hear this”, things were knocking things in my brain. She went out again
and I heard her talk with her mom.
I stood up and tuned my ear to
their conversation and it was that she needed a pillow. I heard her footsteps
sounding back to my room, so I quickly jumped onto my mattress like a cat
pouncing on a mouse. She knocked again and came in. she called my name and
requested to lock my door. I asked her whether she wasn’t going to move out
again and her response was, “yes”. In fact, her response gave me a feeling
similar to getting a referral in Teaching Practice. I then said to her with a
feverish voice “ok, you can go ahead and lock it”. “prep!” The door was locked.
Episode 5 loading………….
THE VILLAGE TEACHER Episode 5
THE VILLAGE TEACHER Episode 6
