Boy

Fifteen of June was a special date in my life, not just because it was our founder’s day at school, when we would be opportune to eat more food at school, but it was equally my father’s birthday. That of 1996 was a special one. I was meant to have a test at school. It was my second test in SS 2, and I had prepared quite well for it. As a fourteen years old teenager I knew that a re-test was usually ill prepared for and with promotion at the back of my mind, I studied studiously the night before, studying from 8pm till 4am only to take a nap for one hour. I was dressed at six as usual, as my father regularly takes me to school. Breakfast was served and I opted to take a bite. After breakfast, I handed over the cheap birthday present that I bought for him. I bought that primarily to prevent tongues wagging and just to get a better birthday gift when I had mine in October. After the meal I cleared the dining table and picked up by school bag. My mother jetted out of the kitchen and asked my father, ‘So soon?’ I didn’t understand the question as it was no news that we leave the house early on regular bases. I was still standing when my father said I should wait in the car. I asked him if he wouldn’t be long as I had test that morning and my mother replied with a yell, ‘Are you deaf? Wait in the car, he will join you soon!’ I wanted to be sure because I could trek to school and get there in good time. Trekking to my school was just twenty minutes and it was 6:20am at that time. I got into the Hyunda Elantra as a patient child. I remembered the ‘So soon?’ of my mother and something told me that probably they wanted to work hard on getting another baby. I knew that the Toyota Corola 1.9GLI had flat tyres, and that the four other cars were at the mechanic’s workshop for the quarterly servicing. The only vehicle in out compound was the one that I was in. I closed up side glass, started off the engine and switch on the AC. Something told me that the fuel was way passed half gauge but I didn’t mind. I was in the cool vehicle doing my final revision. I dosed off only to open my eyes around 7:45am. My dad was yet to get into the vehicle. The fuel indicator was blinking but I didn’t mind. Something reminded me that my old man had board meeting at 10am, and as the Chairman, who just queried his directors for lateness in a public establishment, the meeting was crucial for him to justify the rationale for his action. 8:45am and there was no dad, my AC was now off because the fuel dried up, as planned. It was obvious that I would miss my test and I felt that he needed to be taught never to play on anyone’s intelligence. I deflated the front tyre by the right and the back tyre by the left. That will ensure no balance at all even when a generous neighbour would give us a litre of fuel to get to the petrol station. My wise father showed up hurrying at 9:30am. ‘Sorry about the slight delay, you know women,’ he spoke casually. I told him that the gas was exhausted and he started sweating. I told him that I switched-on the AC considering his ‘I will join you soon,’ and the gas went out after about two hours. My father was shivering with anger and his eyes were almost in tears. ‘You know that I have a crucial meeting for 10am, didn’t I tell you?’ He queried tearfully but I wasn’t moved. He was wrong and he needed to be told, or better if he was brought to the understanding of that fact. It was wrong to feel pity, it was better to be rational. He picked up his phone to call Mr Jude, a neighbour, who took 15mins to get us a gallon from his car. It was after Mr Jude fuelled my father’s vehicle and drove off to his office that my father observed that his newly fixed tyres were flat. He looked at me as though I had a hand in it, and I in return had the face of a criminal. At 9:50am, my father resolved that I wasn’t going to school, and we would both go to his office. We trekked for 20minutes before we saw a bike that zoomed off to my father’s office. 10:20am, we got to his office and the board meeting had commence with one of the director moderating the meeting instead of my dad. My father tried to enter but he wasn’t allowed. My dad came to sit beside me and my unrepentant face at the lobby. He looked at me and asked me never to talk to him all my life. I should never call or text him. He told me that I was still a boy and was too irresponsible. I was quiet, but within me, I vowed to obey him. That I was a boy was mere compliment and I had nothing against him. I only acted based on his words. He felt that he could play on me, not knowing that he was playing on himself. Someone said that I should forgive him after years, but I said I hold nothing against him, but would not call, text or talk to him based on his instruction. How wonderful is it to be straight forward. Just a fiction ONI AFOLABI AJIBOLA 08036126690 21:21pm 15/11/2013