From the crowd of pupils I could see Stella, she looked at me with a face and hand gesture that conveyed the message ‘be strong’, I walked to the table climbed on it and laid down with my tummy and my buttocks facing up, I was thankful in my heart that it wasn’t Wili-wili that would be the one oozing out his venom on me with his revered whip, Mr Ekpo walked to were I was lying down with a long cane, he faced the crowd
as he raised his hand up ‘Fiam!’ The cane landed on my buttock in a rather odd way he wasn’t flogging me hard as the crowd joined almost immediately in counting
“One!, Two, Three,… Six”
He was barely flogging me as the cane was used to give my buttocks a light pat, Mrs Ekpo got angry as she walked from where other teachers were lined up, walked to the table, dragged the cane out of Mr Ekpo’s hand and said
“Your not flogging this silly girl well, excuse me please” she sighed as she held the cane so firm and looked at the crowd saying
“You guys would join me in counting again, let’s start afresh” she said
There was instant shouts of injustice
“Aaah Aunty its unfair o” a voice from the crowd said
She smiled and said “Yes, its not meant to be good, this would make none of you to try such”
She then used her hand to arrange my skirt straight and then pressed my buttocks to know if I had anything like a padding under to reduce the pain, because that’s some trick we student implore to resist the harsh strokes of the likes of Mrs Ekpo and Wili-wili, when she touched and felt I had nothing under, then she began to flog me ‘Fiam!’ And the crowded joined immediately to count, the pain from each stroke was like a hot metal placed in a furnace to get red-hot and then stamped on my skin to leave its imprint of horrific pain, I had resolved not to cry or shake no matter how painful her strokes were, all I did was clench my fist and closed my eyes, by the time she got to fifteen she was breathing like a sprinter who just finished a 100metres race, gasping for breathe as her strokes became weaker and students burst into laughter screaming
“Burner! Dirty Diana!”
Mrs Ekpo raised her head up and flashed her eyes at the crowd as there was instant silence!, she then screamed saying
“Let me just catch one person, infact if I hear piom! from anybody here, you guys would cut grass the whole day”
And she continued with her flogging by the time she was done and I did not shake neither did cry, I came down from the table, as I walked to join my classmates as we stayed in rows, the ovation I got was the loudest the school had ever received since its inception, the students went wild in celebration screaming
“Dirty Diana!! Burner!!”
We all were ordered to kneel down as the principal ordered that all students should be punished, we were shared into groups and made to work on farmlands and the school football field.
How I turned from the ‘Dirty Diana’ in the real word to a very popular student in less than three weeks was a huge surprise to me, the more my popularity grew, the more the thick wall of enemity between Amanda and I grew.
It was on a sunday morning, as we all prepared to go to church, dress in our plain white gown and white shawl tied round our heads and our bed dressed in white bedsheets, the usual early morning rush as we all struggle to get a spot in the wide bathroom, the bell that signifies we had only five minutes was rang and we all hurriedly wore our clothes, those who either not prepared or are not willing to go church would sneak under their bunks to hide from the boarding house mistress who normally walks round to make sure nobody was left behind in the hostel, and anybody caught would not only be disgraced, denied the sunday rice and stew with our nut sized meat but would was toilet for one week or would wash plates in the school kitchen for one week, I had just dashed out of the hostel as we all heard the voice of our hostel mistress screaming
“Time up! Time up! Leave the hostel before the count of ten”
All the student in the hostel began to run helter skelter out of the hostel, struggling to pass through the door at the same time, I had just passed the door when I remembered my locker was left open in a hurry and my bible was also on my bed, if I leave the locker open and go to church, those naughty student who are left behind in the hostel might steal my beverages, if I go to church without my bible, I would be made to stand up all through the service for that was the punishment melted out to defaulters, I had no other option than to struggle my way through back into the hostel to get my locker locked and quickly carry my bible along with me to the church.
By the time I struggled my way through the crowd and got into the hostel, I ran quickly to my locker and discovered that my beverages were missing, someone had banked on my carelessness and stole my beverages, I was left dumbfounded, I looked round to see if I could notice any funny movement from any of the students but the hostel was empty by the time I looked round, only person standing in my front was our boarding house mistress, I turned immediately and locked my locker, carried my bible and tried to hide the tears that was cascading down my chin, she flashed a straight face at me and said
“Why are you crying?”
I tried so hard to fight crying out loud but the moment I opened my mouth to talk I burst into a loud cry
“Ma someone stole my provision…”
She shook her head in pity and said
“It must be out of your own nonchalant attitude, when your mates are back from church I’ll ask to see if there was any good samaritan that saw the thief”
I walked slowly thinking what would be of me till the next visiting day when my parents would visit me, I was at the door about to leave when the boarding house mistress call me back
“Diana! Oya go round and look under these bunks to see if you would catch those people who have decided to be defaulters for this new week” she said
I turned back, starting from the door I began to look under each bunks one after the other while she stood akimbo at the middle of the large hostel, I walked down the hostel without seeing any defaulter until I got to the last bunk at the end of the hostel, I bent down only for my eyes to meet that of Amanda, she stared at me in total submission, as she was scared to her bones as she laid there helpless with her faith lying solely in my own hands, I raised my head up and said
“Ma nobody is here”
She was surprised as she looked up and said
“Thank God these students are now changing oh!”
I walked out of the hostel with my bible clinged to my hand, all through the church service my mind was troubled, I could not concentrate I was worried, my mind was trying to think of a way out of the eminent doom that would befall me for one month before my parents visit me again, when the church service was over and we went back to the hostel, I climbed my bunk and laid my head on my pillow, crying for that was all I could do as I dozed off, I felt a hand on my shoulder as the person shook me until I wokeup, I raised my head up and opened my eyes as the blur vision became clear and it was Amanda that stood in all her might before me
“What can I do for you” I asked
She looked at me with a very saddened face and asked
“You had every opportunity to tell our boarding house mistress that I was under the bunk why didn’t you do it?”
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