"Hey, everyone keep quiet. Mr Lion is coming," one of the students who was standing at the entrance of one of the class hallways said, his voice mixed with urgency and fear.
The class that was bubbling with laughter from different angles all of a sudden became silent. Even the sound of a pin would be heard if dropped. We’d just finished the assembly, and all the students marched into their classrooms.
We checked the timetable pasted on the wall beside the blackboard; it was an accounting subject as the first lecture, and Mr Alfred wasn’t available yet. So, instead of taking our books to study, we began to make noise, relief washing over us like a fresh breeze.
There were lots of discussions to catch up with, from mimicking the funny acts of the latecomers who were flogged on the assembly ground, to how we prayed Mr Alfred wouldn’t show up so we could have enough time to talk and share lots of stuff that happened in our daily lives. We were excited and completely lost in the moment.
My class was always one of the noisiest classes in the school, and most of the time, I just left for another class to avoid being packed among the noisemakers because I disliked punishment or being flogged. I was always gentle, and on different occasions, I had to get punished among the offenders, and it always pained me deeply, especially because I knew I didn’t deserve it. It felt unfair.
As we heard the name, Mr Lion, everyone sat straight. The atmosphere changed in a heartbeat and everywhere was quiet. A tense silence filled the room. As Mr Lion slowly walked into our class, we all shivered. We couldn’t stand his presence. He stood with his menacing eyes, scanning through every student’s eye. At that point, my mind was beating faster, my hands suddenly shaking, imagining what the day would be like and the lashes of cane that awaited us. Fear gripped me.
He was holding his long and tiny canes that were tied together with a wired rope, and as he kept rolling the canes in his hand, still scanning and looking for a scapegoat, Mr Alfred walked in, saving the day for us like a light in the dark.
We all stood up to greet him, “Good morning, Sir. You are welcome to SS2C, God bless you, sir. Amen.” He motioned for us to sit and just then, Mr Lion walked away feeling disappointed and with a statement, “God saved all of you today.”
I heaved a silent sigh of relief and whispered, “Thank God.” The class erupted back to laughter as the noise started again. Some students stood to go back to their seats while others got up to pick up their accounting textbooks and notebooks from their bags placed at the front of the class. “Keep quiet and sit down gently,” Mr Alfred ordered us.
Mr Lion, as we nicknamed him, had been a thorn in every student’s side, and no one ever wanted to be in his bad book. He was an average man, dark in complexion and with his sharp eyes scanning through every corner of the school as he walked, which put fear into the students’ hearts like a cold wind on bare skin.
I always wondered what kind of person he was, how he could be so cold, showing no mercy on anyone who crossed his path. His mode of punishment is making a student lie down flat on a long desk as he lashes out the cane on their buttocks which would swell up thereafter. I wondered, with a shiver, if he had evil hands.
The day I got into his bad book was one I would never forget. For over a week, my mum was taking care of my buttocks and I couldn’t sit down very well in class. The pain lingered. In those days, our parents felt we deserved such because, to them, we were stubborn students while our teachers were always right. So, they never bothered to come report or complain about any of them. That hurt too.
It happened that I didn’t do my assignment, and my thought was to get to school early on that day, borrow the textbook from a friend and rush into doing it before we submitted it. My parents couldn’t get the textbook for me, so I resorted to borrowing from those who had to do mine and that has always been how I escaped from punishment. It was like taking a risk.
It was an unexpected day as I got to school late, and before I tried settling down before the assembly, the bell rang, ordering every student to line up. I felt anxious and unprepared. I couldn’t have the time again and the first subject we had was the teacher who gave us this assignment. I already thought he would ask about it after the end of class so I could use the chance to do it while the class was on, but I was wrong.
“If you know you didn’t do my assignment, come out now,” was the first word that Mr Goriola, who was taking us the subject 'Government' said as he walked into the classroom and headed for the blackboard.
My heart skipped, and the fear made my feet shake as I walked slowly outside the class. There were a few who didn’t do the assignment. “Busayo, you didn’t do my assignment, too? Why?” he said with a surprised look on his face, but as I opened my mouth to start talking, tears swelled up in my eyes, revealing how broken and helpless I felt.
Just then, Mr Lion walked up to the classroom. Everywhere got silent. We all froze and knew the day wouldn’t be a good one. I felt like a prisoner who just heard the judge’s final sentence. We started begging Mr Goriola to pardon us but it was too late.
“Hahaha, your students have committed a sin. I will help you discipline them, don’t worry,” Mr Lion said with a grin that made my stomach turn.
I looked up and with my scornful eyes, I muttered, “Oh God. Why this man again!” Anger and dread boiled inside me. One thing about this man was that he never pardoned any students, both the ones that offended him directly or indirectly, just like this particular one. I don’t know why he never went on his own minding his business but instead chose to poke his nose into another’s. It annoyed me deeply.
We all started begging Mr Goriola instead of him because we knew he was the only one who could stop him. But he couldn’t do anything, particularly when he had raised a lash on one of us, and so, there was nothing we could do any more than to face our fates.
When it got to my turn, I began to shake terribly, and both the teachers laughed, including the students in the class. That laughter stung like salt on a wound. “I didn't expect Busayo not to do my assignment. She is always a good girl,” Mr Goriola said as he felt pity to find me getting caned by one of the cruellest teachers in the school. I could see the regret in his eyes, but it wasn’t enough to save me.
Mr Lion told me to hold my skirt so tight, and he gave me three lashes, but you see those, my buttocks were never the same for a week and some days. Each strike burned into my skin and memory.
Ever since then, anytime I saw him coming towards me, I hurriedly go through another path. And some other days, when we meet, he would smile at me but in my mind, I wish to never see him again. His look and presence annoyed me. It brought back memories I wished I could forget.
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