“Emeka!”
Mr Balogun’s sharp call drew Emeka back to reality, making him jump. The class laughed quietly.
“Sir?”
“I asked you a question.” Mr Balogun said.
“I-I’m sorry sir, I didn’t hear the question”.
“Apparently, since what I’ve been saying since doesn’t concern you, right?” Mr Balogun said, walking up to Emeka’s desk.
“Yes- I mean, no, sir.” The teenage boy quickly flipped his notebook over but it was too late.
“What do you have there? Mr Balogun picked up the notebook and stared at the drawings of people, symbols, shapes, letters and things he couldn’t even place combined to form a giant ball.
“What is this? Is this a fine art class?”
“No sir, I’m sorry sir.”
Mr Balogun sighed. At that point, he didn’t know what else to do with Emeka. The kid was smart but getting him to focus in class was a problem. It had always gotten to Mr Balogun since he started teaching the class two months ago.
It wasn’t too long ago that he was also in a similar class listening to Mr Emmanuel drone on and on about things that meant nothing to him. He had thought Mr Emmanuel was a terrible teacher. Now look at him; he couldn’t even hold the attention of one of the brightest students in the class.
“You’ll remain standing for the rest of the class.” He told Emeka and resumed his position in front of the class.
As a member of the National Youth Service Corps, he was new to the teaching world and told himself he deserved some allowance whenever he couldn’t keep the students engaged. But the truth was that his students were always happy to see him and he enjoyed teaching them about the world through Geography. In fact, a good number of them had shown more interest in the subject since he started teaching them.
But Emeka was different.
The kid was smarter than most of his peers but was never able to focus in Mr Balogun’s class. And truly as Mr Balogun started teaching again, explaining the formation and composition of stalagmites, he noticed that Emeka had once again drifted and focused on a blank patch of the wall.
The young teacher’s heart sank a bit, but he kept on teaching. He wouldn’t waste his time anymore on this one kid–at least not today
Emeka didn’t dislike Mr Balogun or his class but he couldn’t explain why he always found it difficult to focus.
Like earlier when Mr Balogun mentioned Ngodo Cave as a place where they could find stalagmites and stalactites in Nigeria, Emeka’s mind drifted back to wheb visited Abia state for one of his uncle’s wedding.
He didn’t like the feel of the state then, especially since they had to travel quite uncomfortably to get there. And his mother had been too eager to make a good impression on members of their extended family that they rarely saw that she demanded an all-round perfectness from him and his sister.
He remembered vividly the colourful dress of the bride’s mother and the tree nearby he had gone to sit under when he could no longer bear the noise from the speakers positioned to entrap him. He remembered the embroidery on the shirt of a member of the Boys’ Brigade Band that had performed as the bride and groom arrived at the reception venue.
“Emeka!”
Mr Balogun’s voice pulled him out of his reverie.
“What is this? Is this a fine art class?”
“No sir, I’m sorry sir.”
He had done it again. He didn’t know why, but whenever his mind wandered, his hand always paid attention to the unstructured thoughts in his mind so that he somehow ended up drawing things he had been thinking about as well as other stuff he couldn’t explain.
When Mr Balogun told him to keep standing, he was a bit relieved. Maybe now he would be forced to listen. He knew it was important that he paid attention. So he listened.
“Anyway,” Mr Balogun continued, “Personally, one place I look forward to visiting to see stalagmites amongst other wonderful things in nature is the Yellowstone national park.”
“Where’s that, sir?” Ibukun asked.
“It’s in the US, Ibukun. It is the first national park in the United States and perhaps the first in the whole world.”
Wow, Emeka thought. That must be something. He had travelled to the Yankari Game Reserves during the last vacation and had been spellbound by the beauty of nature. That was when he decided that whatever job he was going to do as an adult would be something that involved exploring nature.
Maybe even photography where he would capture the beautiful scenery around the world for everyone to see…
“My assignment for you this week would be to name ten other caves in different parts of the world where we can find stalagmites and stalactites.”
Damn, he had missed the rest of the class again, Emeka thought, writing down the assignment. At least the assignment would help him read up on what he had missed in class.
