The Thorny Path - Episode 3

 

When Ms. Aliyu walked in, she began to talk about Muneerah. They all paid attention to her listening attentively to what she was saying.

"It's about Sickle Cell for today. Who knows about genotype?" she asked.

No one said anything and someone screamed, "Aunty, we have not heard the word before."

Everyone laughed and soon, they all remained calm. She looked at all of them and stared at Tega . "The youngest in my class is seven and the oldest is ten. You people should know about it. Are your daddy and mummy not discussing health to you people?"

Yewande looked around and stared at Tolani. Tolani was twisting her body and pretending like she knew the answer. Yewande covered her mouth to prevent herself from laughing at her. They both hated each other. They never talked to themselves, not even when they are walking past each other. Yewande would roll her eyes while Tolani hisses loudly. Tolani said Yewande was only jealous because she was smarter than her. Tega raised his hand and everyone turned to him.

Ms. Aliyu nodded. "What do you know about genotype? Just say what you know. I won't flog you."

He began to stutter, then stopped. He breathed in and out

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/the-thorny-path

. "Ermm, my mummy said I'm AA and she said it is the genotype. She also said there is AS and SS. That is all I know o, aunty," he said and stopped waving his hand in the air.

"You can sit down," Ms. Aliyu said. "You are so smart and I am proud of your mummy."

She turned to everyone else and coughed. She blocked her hand with her mouth to prevent coughing out particles from her mouth, into the air because it caused air pollution. She taught them air pollution yesterday in class. Every day, Ms. Aliyu took her students on social studies about life and she gave them assignments to learn more about it.

She turned to them. "This is why I am proud of Tega. He makes an attempt whenever I ask a question not caring if he will fail the question," she said.

Nnenna muttered and began to talk to herself. 
"What?" Ms. Aliyu asked turning to her.
"Nothing ma."

"This is why I don't like you. You don't talk. You are always scared of talking."

"That is how girls behave. They are shy and they don't talk unlike boys," a boy at the back Tega said.

"How did you know?" Ms. Aliyu asked.

He began to point at Nnenna. "She na. She. She doesn't talk."

"But no other boy talked here except Tega. How did it turn to girls do not talk?"

The boy began to laugh. He removed his face and hid it away from the teacher.

"We will talk about that one another day," she said and looked away from the boy.

She turned to Nnenna. "Okay? Talk," she said.

She began to chew her biro, "eh, I wanted to say I knew about it. When I was sick, my mummy said it is because of malaria and AA suffer from malaria a lot."

Some of the students laughed and Ms. Aliyu shouted at them. She was beginning to get angry. "She is right. And this one of the annoying behaviour I don't like you people to be showing. Laugh. Laugh and laugh," Ms. Aliyu said angrily. They stopped laughing, because they knew when their teacher was very angry.

Immediately the teacher stopped talking, Tolani turned to Yewande and pointed to her. "Are you minding her? She doesn't know anything apart from eating. See how she is fat like a hippopotamus. Olodo," she said.

Some of the students screamed and when they noticed their teacher's angry look, they stopped. Some covered their mouth with their hands. Ms. Aliyu walked to Tolani and pinched her mouth, then hit her with a cane. She vibrated. "That is a bad thing to say about another human being. It is bullying and she is not fat because she likes food. We will talk about it later," she said. She continued, "you girls are getting me annoyed and I am going to take it up soon. What am I teaching you, people, again? Am I wasting my time?" She said. The class became quiet and no one said anything again.

"After class, I will beat you, eh," Yewande said as she stopped.

"You can't do that," Ms. Aliyu said and turned to her.

"But she insulted me, aunty."

"Shut up. We will discuss it in our next class."
Ms. Aliyu was beginning to get tired of saying they will discuss it in the next class every time.

The students were stressing her and she wishes she will tell them off one day but they must learn under her till they move into the basic five. "Shut up. That is violence and we will discuss it another day. Now you guys should shut up!" She shouted.

They became afraid and the classroom calmed.

"We will begin by talking on genotype. Muneerah is SS and that is why she gets sick every day," she said and stopped.

"Ah!" some of the students said.

"Yeah. But she will live," Ms. Aliyu said. She wrote AS, AA and SS. "These are the ones you need to know about now. It is not only about you. It is also about adults you know.

Read " A Tale of Five Bandits " by the same author ( Obinna Tony )

. The uncles, the aunties, etc. Educate them on what it means," she said.

Everyone nodded. "AA can marry either AS or SS. But others shouldn't marry themselves. AS can try but there is a high risk of giving birth to SS. A child like Muneerah and the child will continue to get sick all the time."

A girl raised her hand up and Ms. Aliyu said she could speak. "So that is why Muneerah miss school every day?" she asked.

"Yes. And she is lucky because her daddy and mummy are rich and take good care of her and they can afford her hospital bills. Some people die so early."

After the class, she gave them the assignment to teach one or two uncles at home about genotype. They walked home happily.