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Back then, we tried to stay clear of the senior students to avoid being sent by them to get something from the tuck shop, and worse still, to go to the stream to fetch water. Our daily schedule was to wake up very early, rush to the stream to get water to bathe, then rush to the dining hall for breakfast. From the dining hall, we rushed to the assembly halls on days when assembly was held, and after that, we went straight to class to avoid being spotted by a senior student. We were fortunate to have been given a separate hostel from the senior boys, so we had only our house captain and his assistant as the senior boys, while the rest of us were all junior boys.
Our hostel was called “PTA HOUSE” because it was built by the Parent Teachers Association. Life was fun and happy as long as we maintained our routine to avoid the lazy senior boys who would want to engage us in duties not assigned to us by the school authority. The main hostel was just beside our classrooms, so we had to slip out of class as soon as the teacher left, in order not to be caught by a senior student.
It happened one fateful Wednesday, which I can remember vividly, as it was a day we were served spaghetti and egg for lunch. The teacher who had the last period was ill and, as such, didn’t make it to class. Before the timekeeper would ring the bell for closing, we were summoned by a senior student, as if he had been waiting for a day like this. I thought to myself that for this teacher to be absent in class and for senior Peter to come straight for us must be his doing. It would be recorded as the first day I missed dining and also missed lunch in the entirety of my life.
Senior Peter was a handsome and tall guy, and at first glance of him, one would say that he was not wicked and could not make us go through what he made us go through on that day. He selected the four of us, Festus, Hakeem, Femi and me to follow him. Getting to the hostel, we met eight empty buckets waiting for us, and the first task was to fill them with water.
We will usually have our siesta after lunch, and after which, we go for our afternoon prep, where we read until evening, before we go for sports or for labour. But for that day, our whole day was already planned by senior Peter, who had taken his time to plan the rest of the evening for us; it took us the whole of our siesta time to fetch the water from the stream and return to the hostel, each person holding two buckets each.
Senior Peter had been waiting for us with dirty clothes, most of which were those of his clique. We started washing those clothes, Hakeem and I were washing the trousers and boxers, while Femi and Festus were washing the shirts and singlets. We did the laundry that day, and before we could finish, it was already 7 pm, since we had to wash the clothes more than once, as we were still young and didn’t really know how to wash properly.
At the end of the day, when we were done with the task, Senior Femi and his clique were about to eat dinner, and since we had worked tirelessly, we were invited to partake in the meal. It was my first time eating a contraband item in school, as it was prohibited to bring food items like Indomie noodles, geisha, or any food item to the hostel.
And after which we were dismissed and went straight to the class again for night prep, still with our uniforms, for our evening reading time. Everyone was wondering what had happened to us during the period we were called. I slept through the night prep, and when it was time to go back to the hostel, we all went back together to rest for the night.
For the first time that night, I noticed a cluster of stars on the sky, they were in the shape of a rosary, I asked Josiah my friend who we were walking together if he knew about the stars or had noticed them before and he replied saying that the stars he read are for Goodluck and divine protection, that anyone could wish for it to protect them from anything. That night, I wished silently to the stars never to face a day like that again. And till I left the school, that day stayed in record as my worst day in Keffi.
Thank you for reading through my post. My name is@rishagamo, and above is my response to the week’s prompt 27 “WISH UPON A STAR”
