All stand, greet!
Our class captain Tade declared.
Good morning ma.
The whole class stood and greeted Mrs. Johnson, our English language teacher. Since we resumed senior secondary school, one teacher that you must not joke with was Mrs. Johnson. She was so disciplined that even the principal accorded her so much respect. My first encounter with her was in the first term of my class one in senior school, we had written an essay about a village scene. She marked every single line of that writeup with the utmost thoroughness, underlining the misspelled words and bad tenses.
Since then, I ensured to stay focused in English language classes and to complete my notes. On this particular day, I thought I had my English language in my bag. As Mrs. Johnson asked us to have our seats and bring out our English language notes. I launched into my haversack but could not find it.
Thankfully, Mrs. Johnson did not detect that I was not with my English language note in the class. It was one of my terrible class experiences. Throughout the period when the class lasted, I grew goose blotches because I was taking down notes on a piece of paper.
As the class was ongoing, I started to reflect deeply on where my notes could be. I am not one of such careless students who would toy with his note. Since it was the last English language class of the week, I thought I could borrow my friend's English language note to re-copy everything from the beginning to the end.
The fear of being punished made me not report the case to my parents. That weekend, I was assigned to clean the living room. It was one of such chores I hated to do but since Papa was at home, I dare not refuse to do it.
In our house, there were big black rats. Big enough to consume to devour any edible in sight. Several methods we had adopted to alienate the rats did not work. This is one of the reasons why I do not like to do the cleaning chores. There will be lots of debris under the sofa and beds. The kitchen was the worst.
Copying my English language note was at the top of my priority at that moment. Each time I remember what Mrs. Johnson would do to me if I failed to produce my English language note. I felt like running to a place free from any errands so that I could concentrate on writing it.
Hence, I took the long broom to clear cobwebs and the short one to sweep. The dining was my starting point. It was the easiest, so I quickly completed the removal of webs and swept the floor then proceeded to the living room. I took about ten minutes to clear the cobwebs in the ceiling then I began to sweep the floor.
To my utmost surprise, I found my missing English language note under our three-seater sofa with its edge eaten by our co-housemates, the rats. At that point, I did not know what to think. Part of my heart was glad that I would not have to write the whole note all over again but how do I explain the edge that had been eaten off? I have Mrs. Johnson to face because it is very clear she would mention it.
Our English language class day approached with so much enthusiasm for me. Mrs. Johnson asked us to open our notes to the last topic we discussed in class and just as I had thought, her eyes glued to the edge of my note. It was like the whole sky had covered me completely. I had to explain how the rats in our home had kidnapped my notebook and how I retrieved it unexpectedly but she would bulge. That was all she could do though, I did not have to re-write the note all over again. I swallowed the scolding from Mrs. Johnson, hook, line and sinker but was grateful that I cleaned the house, my reward was that I located my lost English language notebook.