From the first moment I was introduced to the cell, I loved it. Not because it was beautiful, but because it was special. I remember the day as clearly as I can see my keyboard. I was in primary five or grade level five as some call it. (I hope am right?) I always enjoyed the Basic Science class and eagerly looked forward to it. Next to Mathematics, it was my best subject. Yeah, even at that age, nine to be precise, I was already different. While my sisters were experimenting with hairstyles, I would stare at the sun, then at my notes and wonder how did the balance of forces and whatever else kept it up there.
Anyway, I was seated on the edge of my seat, eagerly absorbing what the teacher was saying.
“The cell is the basic building block of every living thing,” she announced while eyeing each one of us expectantly.
I frowned and sneaked a quick glance at my ‘rival’ Tope. For the past five years, we’ve been battling the top of the class position. He only beat me to it once. So I guess that didn’t make him my rival. He was my rival, and worth keeping an eagle eye on because if I lowered my guard and read any less, he’d swoop in for the top of the class position like a hawk after a helpless baby chick.
To my relief, he looked as flummoxed as I felt. I turned back to our teacher boldly and shook my head. I had no idea what she was talking about and I was hearing ‘sell’ for the first time.
Her face fell in disappointment.
She hit her fist against her open palm and the loud smack jolted me. “I told you to always read ahead, that’s how you become scientists!”
I felt rather than saw the weight of Tope’s glance in my direction. I knew he was checking to see if I had read ahead like I usually did. But I hadn’t, not because I was lazy but because the electricity people took the light early.
“Picture an uncompleted building with its rolls of block joined together by cement,” the teacher continued, “if--”
She broke off because Tope, as usual, had raised his hand. She could ignore him, but he would start disturbing the whole class. I glared him in annoyance.
The teacher sighed. “Yes, Tope?”
“The only ‘sell’ I know is buying and selling,” he said.
I had also wanted to ask that. But I hated showing my ignorance too early. We were in school to learn anyway.
Our teacher smacked her palm on her forehead, the wedding ring on her finger caught the light and sparkled. For a second I wondered what getting married felt like. She got married just six months ago and she didn’t seem to change in any way I could tell.
“Sorry, that’s my fault.” She walked to the board and wrote in block letters, C-E-L-L.
I gaped at the letters. A ‘cell’ without an ‘S’? “What about the cell of prison?” I blurted.
Heads swerved in my direction. I knew why. I wasn’t a ‘talker’, not in class anyway, because I was shy.
The teacher smiled. “You’re right.”
Tope glared at me. I ignored him.
“The ‘cell’ of prison has the same spelling but different meaning. This ‘cell’ is the one in our bodies. They have the same spelling but different meaning. In the English Language, they call them--”
“Homonyms,” I replied.
She gave me a big smile. “Correct.”
Tope swiveled around and directed the full force of his glare on me. I was winning.
“Class!”
Tope faced forward to my relief. I hated confrontations.
“When a house is about to be built, what comes first?” she asked.
“Clear the bushes!” Tope shouted.
She nodded. “And?”
“Dig the foundations?” the girl beside me piped up.
“Yes?”
“Lay the blocks to build the foundation,” Tope said.
“And?” She eyed us expectantly.
I frowned. What else did she want?
“And?” she asked again with a tinge of impatience.
The class fell silent. The atmosphere grew heavy with the weight of her expectation and our wariness as we waited to see what would happen next.
“And?” she snapped.
“We build the house?” the most quiet girl in our class whispered with her eyes aimed downward.
“Yes!” our teacher exclaimed to our collective relief. “You build the house. And you start by laying the blocks with the cement in between. This is just an explanation. Remember we were talking about--”
“The ‘cell’ of basic science,” Tope said.
She laughed. “Yes, the cell of basic science and the cell of our bodies.”
We stared back with wide eyes filled with incomprehension.
“Just like our buildings are made of blocks, our bodies are made of very tiny cells that can only be seen under a powerful microscope.”
She stopped to catch her breath and eyed us in turns. “Remember what a microscope is?”
Everyone fell silent.
I slowly inched a hand up.
She nodded.
“We use a microscope to see things we can’t see with our eyes,” I said.
She nodded with a smile. “Yes, the microscope makes the tiny images large enough for us to see them. You can’t see the cells mounted like blocks in your bodies because--”
“They are too tiny to be seen with the naked eye,” Tope said.
“Good,” she replied with a clap. “Now let’s redefine a cell. A cell is the smallest and functional unit of life.”
Our teacher paused. By this time, I was enraptured. Did I mention I loved science?
“It is the smallest because we can’t see it with the naked eyes and the functional unit of life because it is the smallest part of our body that can do something.”
“What can something that’s that small do?” Tope asked wonderingly.
“It can eat, it can breathe, it can excrete, it can--”
“Can it talk?” A voice asked from the back.
Mentally, I rolled my eyes. What a stupid question.
“Yes, it can,” our teacher answered.
I gaped at her. Something else occurred to me.
“Can it give birth?” I asked tentatively.”
Tope turned towards me and shook his head. “What kind of question is that?”
“Yes, it can,” she replied calmly.
“Jesus,” I muttered under my breath.
It was Tope’s turn to gape. “Can it walk?”
She laughed in enjoyment. I knew she loved teaching because she had said so many times. “Yes, actually, some of them can.”
This created a buzz in the class.
“What can it not do?” a voice I recognized as Yusuf’s, the class clown wondered aloud. “And it’s in our bodies? Inside me?”
“It makes up our bodies, every living thing,” our teacher explained.
“Can it dance?” he asked.
Everyone burst into laughter. When the noise died down, our teacher smiled.
“I don’t know about that. Maybe those of you who will become scientists someday can answer that question--”
“I will surely be a scientist!” Tope announced vehemently.
“Can they fight?” Yusuf asked, “because if they can fight, they will fight Tope not to be a scientist because he will just be boasting in the lab.”
She laughed. “Some of them fight actually. Some very special ones.”
“Really?” I breathe in amazement.
“Really,” she repeated quietly.
“So if the cells are blocks like in a building, in our bodies, what forms the cement between them in our bodies?”
Our teacher laughed. She did that a lot. “You will find out in a higher class.”
She also said that a lot too when class became interesting.
References
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Thanks for reading.