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She was greatly distressed. Sincerely, she looked gloomy and ugly. If that was her normal appearance, not even a dog could ever have looked on her face. She sat all by her self. The boys joked, "Golden girl has eaten dust." She burst into tears.
I wonder how the word came to the Deputy that boys were making a crown of his idol. He summoned all of them to his office, reprimanded them with all crude words he knew. He accused them of harassing an innocent girl and he promised to withhold their certificates until they paid a fine of three thousand Kenyan shillings.
Angelina smiled when her only friend Teddy came with a message from the Dean's office. I was left in suspense. The last thing I ever wanted was seeing Angelina entering any of the houses of our male teachers. How can you trust hyenas with safeguarding meat! One hour later, she turned up. Excited. She and Teddy headed for another place. My heart started beating hard. Before they could skip my eyes, Jamo, a rather funny, stubborn and persistent boy went after them.
“Stop. Share with us what you have got from there." They knew he was a never give-up rogue boy. So they ignored him.
"Give me what you've got from the Dean," he insisted.
"Nothing Jamo. In truth nothing," pleaded Teddy.
"There's something."
"If there was, I would share it with you," said Angelina rubbing her eyelids.
"Then what the hell were you doing with that man. Does he want to suck your saliva?"
"NO...no. don't speak such careless and silly words. He's a friend. A family friend." Angelina explained playing about with her fingers. She looked down and her brown face turned pale."
"You see...you're cheating." Jamo glued his eyes on her.
It took Waweru, a former Head prefect to run to the rescue of the two girls.
"Why don't you give the girls some peace? When will you ever respect ladies?" he intervened.
"I respect only your mother." Jamo joked to the annoyance of Waweru.
"I'll punch your face." Waweru decreed as he struggled to contain his anger.
Jamo saw his opponent was turning red. He showed him the back and ran off citing a proverb,
"What you hide from a neighbor, it's the rat that uncovers it."
The next day was Geography. The sun rose quite early that morning. I thought it had risen for me. While I sunbathed, I passed through my summary notes for the last time. The supervisors were punctual. The policeman stationed himself at the door. We lined up for the check up.
"Bring in only your pens and geometry set. Nothing more." She announced rather in a male voice. Nobody laughed. She looked like a tough lady, capable of bullying anyone even the strongest among us. She searched everywhere to the extent of touching the untouchable. Reason she gave, "I'm looking for mwakenyas."
"If I get you dubbing," she warned, "I'll straight away cancel the exam. Start."
Barely three minutes passed, Angelina's hand was up.
"What's up girl? Don't tell me you want to go for a short or long call!"
"No madam," Angelina said in a pleading voice. All our eyes were on her. Somebody whispered to a neighbor,
"Golden girl is through."
That wasn't the case. She continued.
"Madam, this is not the paper!"
"What?" the madam begged pardon.
"This is not the set exam."
"You mean, it is not Geography?"
"No. It's Geography but the paper is different." Angelina betrayed herself.
"How do you know that?" the supervisor interjected.
"Aaaaa..." she stammered. She wasn't able to finish the word. Angelina collapsed on the floor. The examination hall went into commotion. Angelina's skirt tore exposing her thighs. Boys looked closer. The thighs were not her orange skin. They were blue.
The policeman saw her first. Moving closer she pointed to the fallen girl calling out to the supervisor.
"See madam. This girl is a crook number one."
The blue ink explained the mystery behind the changed paper. She had written an exam on her thighs. But none of the numbers were in the given papers. "That was the secret of her flying A’s," noted somebody in the corner.
The supervisor fumblingly called for the headmaster.
"I'll give you a lesson. Dubbing, rather copying is an offence. A crime of the highest degree," she shouted on top of her voice as she walked up and down.
"I told you. Didn’t I?" she reminded us.
The headmaster came in trembling.
"Look at your girl." She pointed a finger without covering poor Angelina's nakedness.
The headmaster froze. He got into his pocket pulling out some cash. He handed it to the lady. The madam got it with her two hands. Looking him in the face, she tore it into pieces. She then ordered the policeman to have him cuffed. She got her mobile phone. Rang the District Education Officer. We were on fire. The night closed on my dreams. I couldn't say a word. I felt like going for a short call - I don't know whether it was supposed to be a long one. Then I changed my mind. I was afraid I might faint before I reached out of the door.
"The exam is cancelled." Madam supervisor announced bluntly without a dose of mercy in her voice.
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Mike
Mike Ssegawa
ssegy2001@yahoo.com
A Journalist with Daily Monitor, Uganda. I have a passion for development, especially for the youth.
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