It was a bright, brilliant morning. The sun set right from the eastern sky smiling through every odd that might have hidden its rays. Tolu, a short and dark girl in her thirteen, had dressed up for school with all the eagerness in the world. ‘Mummy’, before she would leave for school, she whispered in a low and graceful manner, ‘I heard you making some noise through your nose while you were sleeping last night, why do people snore?’ Her mother answered with a caring voice that betrayed her bothered mind, ‘It’s normal for men to snore’. ‘Mum’, but my teacher beat me up because I was sleeping in class. She said I was snoring. Is it a sin to snore?” No, Tolu, he must have beaten you because you were sleeping, not snoring’. ‘Yes, you’re right, I felt so too. The whole class laughed at me when I woke up. It was shameful, I couldn’t withstand it. So, I should always avoid sleeping! ”Don’t sleep in class anymore’, answered her mother. ‘Thanks mum’, she replied as they heard the driver press the horn.
On getting to school, it was late. She did not leave at the right time. However, all the pupils in her class had gone somewhere. In a moment, she dashed, like a bat, into the classroom that was buried in screaming silence. It was a strange sight for her. In a jiffy of time, in awful horror, she heard a loud sound creeping along as she took every step forward more and more into the looming silence. She waited a bit with conflicting thoughts beating in her little heart. She was troubled because there was no time the class became so empty at nine o’clock in the morning.
Meanwhile, peeping through the window that opened into the next classroom, she saw her teacher deeply sleeping and snoring to high heavens. Now, she knew there was nothing to fear about. It was Mr Dele that had been making the scaring snore all the while. Hence, a thought jumped up in her mind, ‘Let me go ahead and wake him up’. All at once, she eventually did what brought some strokes. She crooned along as she wept, ‘I was trying to let you know you were scaring me with your snore’.
It was already noon. Tolu was back at home with all the sadness in the world. She had been treated badly by her teacher. ‘Mummy, mummy, mummy…’. She shouted as her mother spred her arms wide open to carry her up. ‘I was beaten for waking Mr Dele when he was snoring today’. ‘Beaten’? No impossible. You must have have done something else’. ‘He was scaring me with his snore since there was nobody in the class. ‘Mum, have you forgotten that he also beat me when I was sleeping in the class? Is it right to be wronged when it’s right?’ She lamented. Now, her mother lulled her. She explained to her that she was taken to be rude and foolish out of sheer ignorance. Though she was taken to be wrong, not too wrong; the teacher was just hysterical in reacting to the situation wrongly. She exploded, ‘these two wrongs are too many and proper examination would bring effective correction’.
Written by: Oyeyemi John Ojo
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