The Lost Duty: Episode Two
Despite the voice spoke loudly over the radio, there was still an embarrassing silence that hung over between the father and son. The normal chitchat had been replaced with silent soliloquy. The details of the last night incident was still afresh in his head, the response had left him perturbed since yesterday stretching through the night, till the moment he was behind the wheel driving Jamal to school. Jamal on the other hand felt exuberant and anxious to reach The Vale College. He had missed his friends, the gossips, breaking and mending the rules, and the lifeless but enjoyable hostel life, he grinned as he thought, perhaps that (the Vale College) was the only haven he had on earth.
"how do we get through to you?" Mr Badmus had asked severing him from his thought.
"You can do that through the hostel master" Jamal replied, alighted from the car, his backpack held on one side and the luggage on the other and scooted towards the dormitory where his friends in groups were already waiting for him.
The hustle and bustle of The Vale College dawned on hi midway the dormitory, everyone he came across had threw him a friendly jab, and some of his classmates ran after him requesting his midterm break assignments to copy, and some perhaps, gave him helping hands for his reciprocate good gesture afterwards.
Jamal was such a precocious, unsecured but intelligent child born of Mr and Mrs Badmus. He was the second child of the four children, the first was lost to sickle cell anemia two years after her birth following a failed stem cell transplant. Even though his parent fell in the middle class of the society, he had enjoyed some things privileged to being the oldest child.
The bell rang for the assembly, and student trooped out in masses. It was the first day after the midterm break, and orderliness was something expected from them, but the students were in no way ready to show that. Momentarily, the school activities commenced as usual and the exhilaration of resumption faded.
--------------------------------
The term was diving towards the end, merrymaking was the order of the day, every student had found himself or herself partake in one activity or the other except for Jamal who was seated in the class with a sullen look.
"Jay Bee!" Christine called. Christine was the only one who had been paying attention to him lately, trying to figure out what had gone wrong with him. "You failed basic technology, mathematics and basic science. Your english language score was poor also, you've made the term less competitive for me if not for everyone in the class, what is wrong Jamal?" She asked.
"but what sense of understanding do you have to comprehend it if I tell you?" Jamal thought giving her a distasteful look hidden behind a feint smile.
"Do you mind if I accompany you? The class teacher requests your audience" She said pulling him up even before he gestured to do so.
The little time Christine spent with him was the best of the good times Jamal had had all his life. She had talked meekly each time they walked, and he had loved it. He looked forward to having more but the vacation ahead wouldn't permit that. It was late before he secured a close relationship with Christine but he had gotten smitten with her.
"I'll miss you Christine" He said, waved at her till her mother drove her outside the school compound onto the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
"What awaits me afterwards at home?" he thought as he walked the wooden fence of the school's orchard amid his dad's arrival. "Probably the endless blathers of his mum as it explained the wrongs of his dad, or the countless indifference feigned by his dad. Or the enervation that all would result to. Or... Or rather another hell of stories and words that would thrust him into the dungeon of boredom and decadence."
"Whatever it may be, it's another episode of horrific movie" he shrieked, his voice thundered and echoed, disrupting the blissful evening enjoyed by the cooing doves rested on the bougainvillea.
"how do we get through to you?" Mr Badmus had asked severing him from his thought.
"You can do that through the hostel master" Jamal replied, alighted from the car, his backpack held on one side and the luggage on the other and scooted towards the dormitory where his friends in groups were already waiting for him.
The hustle and bustle of The Vale College dawned on hi midway the dormitory, everyone he came across had threw him a friendly jab, and some of his classmates ran after him requesting his midterm break assignments to copy, and some perhaps, gave him helping hands for his reciprocate good gesture afterwards.
Jamal was such a precocious, unsecured but intelligent child born of Mr and Mrs Badmus. He was the second child of the four children, the first was lost to sickle cell anemia two years after her birth following a failed stem cell transplant. Even though his parent fell in the middle class of the society, he had enjoyed some things privileged to being the oldest child.
The bell rang for the assembly, and student trooped out in masses. It was the first day after the midterm break, and orderliness was something expected from them, but the students were in no way ready to show that. Momentarily, the school activities commenced as usual and the exhilaration of resumption faded.
--------------------------------
The term was diving towards the end, merrymaking was the order of the day, every student had found himself or herself partake in one activity or the other except for Jamal who was seated in the class with a sullen look.
"Jay Bee!" Christine called. Christine was the only one who had been paying attention to him lately, trying to figure out what had gone wrong with him. "You failed basic technology, mathematics and basic science. Your english language score was poor also, you've made the term less competitive for me if not for everyone in the class, what is wrong Jamal?" She asked.
"but what sense of understanding do you have to comprehend it if I tell you?" Jamal thought giving her a distasteful look hidden behind a feint smile.
"Do you mind if I accompany you? The class teacher requests your audience" She said pulling him up even before he gestured to do so.
The little time Christine spent with him was the best of the good times Jamal had had all his life. She had talked meekly each time they walked, and he had loved it. He looked forward to having more but the vacation ahead wouldn't permit that. It was late before he secured a close relationship with Christine but he had gotten smitten with her.
"I'll miss you Christine" He said, waved at her till her mother drove her outside the school compound onto the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
"What awaits me afterwards at home?" he thought as he walked the wooden fence of the school's orchard amid his dad's arrival. "Probably the endless blathers of his mum as it explained the wrongs of his dad, or the countless indifference feigned by his dad. Or the enervation that all would result to. Or... Or rather another hell of stories and words that would thrust him into the dungeon of boredom and decadence."
"Whatever it may be, it's another episode of horrific movie" he shrieked, his voice thundered and echoed, disrupting the blissful evening enjoyed by the cooing doves rested on the bougainvillea.
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