The Thorny Path - Episode 9

 

The proprietress began to prepare Fuad and Tolani for the spelling bee competition. During the assembly, one of the teachers in charge always reminded them of the spelling bee competition. "Study very head. And everyone should pray hard for them," one of the teachers said.

 
The assembly ended and they all walked to their classes. They sang, "Oh my home, Oh my home..." while marching to the classes . The drummers beat their drums and others played the musical instruments.

They all walked in and sat down. Soon, Ms. Aliyu walked in too, and Yewande hit the table.

Everyonestood up and began to greet her. "Good morning, Ma. We are happy to see you. God bless you. Amen," they said.

"And you too," Ms. Aliyu said and instructed them to the seat.

They all sat down. She walked to her seat and stopped opposite the wall. She looked at the calendar on the wall. She turned to them. "Examination is starting soon and we are happy about it," she said. "You guys should prepare well," she said.

She began to teach them different subjects. Social studies were to start at ten A.M. It got ten A.M and she was so excited when it was time

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. "Who remembers the topic I said I will teach in class today," she said.

Everyone raised their hands up. She looked at all of them and pointed at Yewande. Yewande stood up. "eh. You said you will be teaching us how to achieve our goals."

"Ah!" a boy at the back shouted.

"What?" Ms. Aliyu said, then asked him to stand up.

He stood up and shook his head. "Nothing, Ma," he said.

"Why did you scream like that?"

"Nothing," he shook his head and said again.

Ms. Aliyu stopped looking at him. "You can sit down now," she said.

He sat down on the chair and Ms. Aliyu continued.

"We are talking on how to achieve your goals," she turned and wrote it on the whiteboard. "Yes. Who can tell me how to achieve their goals?"
Some of them raised their hands up. She looked at them and pointed at Tega. He stood up and began to talk. "We can achieve our goals by being a good child and doing the right things at the right time. They said a lazy man will never finish his work and we should all be a hardworking man."

Ms. Aliyu nodded her head. "That is such a beautiful thing to say. Wow. I love this class. You can seat," she said to Tega. "I need one more person to say something."

No one raised their hands up. It looked like they didn't know what to say. Ms. Aliyu looked disappointed. "I trust this class so much and I don't wish it is Tega that know what we are doing today," she said.

She finished talking and Tolani raised her hand up. "Yes. Speak, please" she said.

"We can achieve our goals by doing everything that is worth doing well," Tolani said.

"This is beautiful. Clap for her," she replied.

Everyone began to clap and Tolani sat down.
Ms. Aliyu began to speak. "I love how Tolani and Tega's answered my question. First thing to do when you want to achieve your goal is to be hard working before you start thinking if God is by your side. Don't forget God. God loves everyone. Be hardworking. Work hard and God will bless you," she said.

She glanced at Yewande. "I have a way you need to follow to achieve everything you need in life. After hard work and prayer, nothing else. It is also about doing your works everyday and never stop. No matter how you fail, don't give up," she stopped and scribbled something on the board. "Who know God?" She asked.

Everyone raised their hands up. "Can you stand up, Nnenna," she said.

Nnenna stood up. She did not want Ms. Aliyu to ask her a hard question. And she liked to tell her or Tega to stand up everytime. "Good. Everyone can put their hands down now," she said.

"Do you think God will give up on you when you fail?" she asked.

"No," she replied.

"Why?" She asked.

Nnenna scratched her head and stammered. "Because God loves his children and will never give up on them."

Ms. Aliyu nodded. "Good. I love it, but you did not finish it. It is also because he will never give up on us and watch our life spoil."

"Mmm," some of the students murmured.

"Now that means if you do not want your life to spoil, you need to get serious with everything you are doing. Your studies, your life, etc. And it will never spoil. From there, you are about to achieve your goals," she said.

"Do you understand?" she asked all of them.
"Yes, aunty," they replied.

Ms. Aliyu looked through the mirror and saw the proprietress looking at her and smiling. "I love how you teach," proprietress said and walked into the classroom.

"Good morning, proprietress. Welcome to our class. How do you do?" they said and stood up. 
"I am good. God bless you," she replied and told them to seat down. "I wanted to remind Tolani to meet me in the office today," she said before walking out of the class.

The spelling bee competition would happen at the Lagos state government house. Ms.

Read " The Odds Are Against Me " by the same author ( Obinna Tony )

. Aliyu told them it will take place before their examinations started. Tolani was so excited about it. She had read so much. She forgot her other books and read-only spellings.

The school bus took Fuad and Tolani, with two other teachers, to the Lagos state House. They tied scarf on their necks, and shook hands with the governor and deputy governor. Tolani was so happy. They had two hundred questions. A woman dictated it and a man came to repeat the spellings again. There was food, ice-cream and gifts. When they were done, the bus took them back to the school.

"I hope you did well," Ms. Aliyu and the proprietress asked them