Chapter 4

• One morning, I woke up to see mum shivering. She was very sick. I took her phone and called a number which she had saved as “taxi”. It was for the cab owner who had helped us move to the place. He came and took her to hospital. He told me to go to school. I went to school late that day. I could not concentrate on my examinations. I would think of what would happen to me and my siblings if mum would leave us like dad did. I said a prayer for mum and asked God to heal her. I did not finish my examinations for that day. It was mathematics and Composition. My teachers could not understand. We had been putting on a brave face all this time. People started questioning me. I couldn’t tell them what was going on at home.
• In the evening we went home and found mum already there. She was feeling better and had made us supper. This would be the first time we would share a meal together as a whole family since dad died. Mum asked us to forgive her for not spending quality time with us but we told her that we understood her situation. She was loving and hardworking. We never slept hungry and never lacked anything needed for school. She had worked hard and bought two beds. One was a double deck bed. Greg slept on the upper bed while Anita and I shared the lower bed. The other bed was for mum. She had also bought us other clothes. We looked like other kids who had both parents.
• I sat my primary school examinations with great hopes of passing.
• When the results came, I had scored the highest marks in the whole Location. Mum was very happy. She promised that she would work harder to ensure that I got the best education. She started shopping for the requirements needed to join high school. In January, I got an invitation to join a provincial school which was very far from home. Mum said that she would ensure that I school there. She made all the necessary arrangements and sent me to the school. She paid school fees for the whole year for me. I promised her that I would work hard and make her proud and help her take care of my siblings. I was admitted to Jontile Girls’ High School. It was in a region where majority of the students were from the neighboring community. I was light skinned and most of my school mates were dark skinned. This made me very conspicuous. I was beautiful. I looked like my mother. I had long hair, about 15'’ long. I had a very beautiful smile too. My height and well distributed weight made me look like a model.
• Teachers would come and introduce themselves to us. There was this one teacher who would teach us mathematics, his name was Mr. Komen. He was young, probably the youngest teacher in the school. He was a womanizer as other students made us know. He gave us a test and I scored the highest in my class. He therefore decided to make me the class representative for his subject. He would call me to the computer room as that was the place he liked hanging around in the name of giving me assignment for the class or to take the books to him after the lessons. Mr. Komen wanted to have a sexual relationship with me but I refused. He became very persistent. I guess he wanted innocent school girls because they had not discovered much about their sexuality at this age. All I wanted was to wait for the right guy. A beautiful girl got to have standards. At this time I was the pretties among my peers. I was one of the brightest in class, if not the brightest. I was also the wisest, the best leader and very confident. I was always chosen to lead the others in whatever group I got into. My confidence made the teachers not to punish me whenever I was found in the wrong. I walked with the assurance that I am in the wrong because there is no other way. All this made me stand out among the others.
• Things changed when Ray came. He had come for his teaching practice in my school. He taught mathematics and physics, the subjects which are considered hardest. I got a thing for sharp-minded men. He was tall, dark and handsome (every ladies dream man). He had a charming face with very cute eyes that looked like those of James Gardiner, the eyes which will look at a woman and she will find herself undressing. Our physics
• teacher came and introduced Ray to the class during one of the lessons and told us that he will be our teacher for that term. Ray told us his name, Mr. Raymond and other things about himself that up to now I can’t remember. He said his name in a deep sexy voice that sent me straight to the world of imagination.
• I did not know what was going on. All I can remember is me fantasizing about my virgin breasts being foddered by this charming man. I imagined us making love in every corner of the school. If only he could look at me the way I imagined, he could have me anywhere and anyhow he wanted.
• The class burst into laughter. What was funny? I was confused and at the same time angry that my dream fantasy had been cut short by these annoying classmates with their laughter. Laughing for God knows what. The gentle man tapped my shoulder and asked me my name. I looked up and saw him smiling at me. His dental arrangement and his well shaved beard sent a cold chill down my spine. “Your turn beautiful”, he said. My turn? I didn’t know what to do or say. I just smiled back at this handsome angel who had just been dropped from heaven and was now looking at me smiling, expecting me to say or do something that I had no idea what it was.