A year earlier, the family had been planning to relocate to London. Mr. Nerah was a manager in an oil firm, earning what a bloody' teacher like Bepo would call an 'armed robber's salary'. But he became fed up with the system and bought into the Japa (travelling) philosophy, vowing he was ready to sacrifice all because of his children.
"My children won't grow up here. They won't end up here," Nerah Ignatius had insisted, "I want them to grow up in a sane environment. I don't want other children that are being trained outside the country now to return and lord things over my own children. Youths are leaders of tomorrow. Not all youths. Many of the ones getting Western exposure will become the leaders. I work in an international organization; so, know what I'm saying."
Apart from the sentiment in favour of the children, the economic advantage which relocation promised made it an adventure more and more people were willing to explore. It was all about dollars and pounds! All you needed to do was work in any place for many people, just any place-earn the hard currencies and be able to send home, even $1,000 per month. Then, your life would not remain the same again.
Mrs. Ignatius greatly loved the Japa idea. She had learnt tailoring and hairdressing, having understood that the crafts fetched a lot of money in the UK. From the information she gathered, you could earn up to $100 braiding for a client.While preparing for a hairdressing career in Canada, Mrs. Ignatius had learnt the bridal art a year earlier, before pulling out of her job as a clerical officer. The husband also had wound down his clearing and forwarding side business, preparatory to relocation. But something happened that scattered the plan.
When the visa processing reached an advanced stage, a DNA test conducted on their three children showed that Ignatius was not the father of one of the kids-Favour, a 15-year-old SS2 girl at Stardom. The family never remained the same again.
"What is the matter now?" Justin asked, after his long silence, which the woman felt lasted 100 years.
"He still doesn't believe I did not cheat on him. He is now saying Favour and 1 have to go.
"Go where?"
"He says we should go and stay with Favour's father."
"Has Favour learnt of the entire saga? Does she know about the paternity crisis?" "No. I don't think so. But there is a kind of suspicion on the part of raymond, her brother.
He has been asking some disturbing questions lately. He says there must be a reason, a key reason, the embassy turned round and denied us the visas, I think he has read up why families may have visa issues." So, is he suspecting a DNA crisis?"
"Honestly, I can't say."
There was a stretch of silence. Then, she added: "Nerah left home two hours ago, as we were discussing the matter. Principal, don't you think he might never come back?"
Justin had no answer. He was equally set for his own relocation, believing he would soon have respite from the Ignatius' saga.
Experience taught Justin several lessons about running an elite school like Springdale. He hoped some of these would be relevant in his next station. He knew culture and policies differ from one country to another. But no experience was a waste. Every parent wants respect, and many seek to keep their pride. Some are rich, considerate and humble; some are rich, selfish and nasty. While all these traits reflect in the behaviour of the children, they kept the management on its toes as it pushed to achieve goals.
Justin reminisced on some of the major incidents that defined his stay at Springdale. He hoped that, some day, he would detail these in a book. He prayed his job in the UK would give him enough time to work on his professional biography. Among the memorable stories he would love to share was the sacking of Mr. Paeker, the Government teacher.
At her GRA, downtown, home, Mrs. Mary Cameron relaxed on a sofa, watching a movie. It was a Nollywood stuff, the type she liked -a romance. Some five months ago, she had been a devotee at Zee World, savouring Indian soaps that dripped with love scenes and intrigues. But recent visits to the cinema, where she saw about five Nollywood productions, rekindled her love for African films.
It was around 1:00pm. Her three children had all gone to bed. She was the only person in the sitting room. Her husband, Dele, was away in Los Angeles, where he worked as a senior civil servant. The kids could turn naughty and cook up excuses to hang around the medium-size Plasma TV, but she had mandated them to always go to bed at 10:00pm. The youngest, Bibi, was particularly notorious for wanting to flout the order, especially when her father was around. When you thought she had disappeared into the bosom of sleep, you looked in the direction of the sitting room door and saw her mischievous eyes peeping through the blinds. Then a mild battle would start between mother and daughter. It was Dele who, at times, pleaded for her or fought on her side so that she could stay awake till 11:00pm. On such nights, the mother would insist Dele wake Bibi up in the morning, knowing how tough it could be to get her on her feet.
In the movie, a female physician, Dr Ajayi, was about to conduct a Caesarean Section on Bimbo a bosom friend of hers. It was a task the doctor was quite happy to undertake, aided by three other colleagues. Two of these were invited from a General Hospital nearby because of their expertise and experience. The third worked at Legacy Memorial Hospital, a private establishment.
Many people had reservations about government hospitals. They dreaded them because of the large crowds they attracted, which usually left doctors overwhelmed. They were also often bogged down by inefficiency and corruption. Nevertheless, government hospitals were still famed for having some of the best consultants in the country. Therefore, regarding CS matters, many patients preferred taking the operation in public hospitals. And when they had to do so in private establishments, they opted for doctors from public hospitals on the team.
It was this synthetic arrangement Dr. Ajayi had with Bimbo. For Mrs Ladele, who had had the CS experience, watching the scene in the movie was an engaging treat. It was also good that the filmmakers chose to show the operation live. But what made the scene most captivating for Mrs. Mary was an imminent bubble burst. Unknown to Dr. Ajayi, her husband was responsible for Bimbo's pregnancy. As the truth was about to hit the doctor, Mrs. Mary, enthralled and caring little about her falling wrapper, inched closer to the TV set to see how the painful truth would unfold. Just then, she heard a scream. It was Bibi.
She rushed into the room and found the girl trembling, seated on the edge of the bed.
"Mummy!" Bibi cried, as she saw her mother. Her brother and sister-Tim and Love-had also been rudely awakened from sleep, looking bewildered. "Bibi, what is the matter?" the mother asked, as she carried the girl and cradled her in her arms.
"It's Mr parker!"
"Mr What? Who is Mr Parker?"
"Our Government teacher! He appeared to me in my dream!
With his tribal marks!"
Tim stepped in to clear the confusion. Popular in the school for the deep tribal marks he flaunted. So prominent were the incisions that students nicknamed him Mr. Owala, a derogatory Yoruba appellation for a person with wild facial marks.
Every time Bibi saw Parker in school, she became scared. They met at the basketball court the previous week, when Blue House - to which she belonged-held its maiden practice, ahead of the upcoming inter-house sports competition. Bibi screamed with fright as Parker, who was one of the Blue House officers, arrived at the venue. Every effort by Mr Ayesoro to allay the girl's fear was unsuccessful. Eventually, Bibi had to be reassigned to Green House, where Tim belonged.
None of the Ladies slept again that night. Twice, Bibi's mum tried to pet the girl into sleeping, twice the girl dreamt, crying out about Mr Wala. Mrs Mary could hardly wait for daybreak to launch a complaint at Springdale
Worried that it could lose Bibi and her siblings to another private school, the management transferred Mr Parker to Springdale Hub, the property wing of Springdale Group of Companies.