Episode 7

The day Bro Frank left Mrs. Oduro’s house Kwame’s joy was full. He couldn’t contain his excitement. His mum was also pregnant and near delivery. So he could now spend time with his parents. Mummy took a leave from work and daddy came home early most of the time. Kwame was now in the adult class in Sunday school. He was also preparing to write his Basic Education Certificate Exams. Right after his papers, he got baptized in the church. They gave him a baptismal certificate. They said he was new. He didn’t fully understand it and he didn’t debate it. He just went through the motion like all the kids in the church who were grown enough for baptism.

Image credit- Google images

When it was time to go to the senior high school, he felt he wasn’t ready. Was he also going to live in the same room with many boys like him and seniors who might bully him? Were there seniors like Bro Frank? Every time that thought came to him a shadow of fear enveloped him. He had heard stories of how some seniors could tell you to sing to them until they slept. Joe told him, a friend of his was made to carry a chop box from evening until it was morning. All these scared him but in his heart, he knew what scared him most.

 On the first day at school, the seniors were all over the place. Some of them were assuring the parents of how they would take good care of their wards for them. Some parents were paying money to the supposed big boys and gangalias to spare their sons from cruel punishments. In the midst of the chaos, Kwame sneaked out. He wanted to go and meet with Joe at House 4. When he managed to cross the lawn to the pavement on his right, he heard a senior call him;

 “Hey, fresh form one boy, come here!”

He stiffened.