A glimpse into yester-years .

My elder brother , Wesonga ,
and I
were in different classes ; he was in 7
East while I was in 7West . The former class was for repeaters , those
who had been unfortunate enough not to have attained the average
pass-mark
required by the board of examiners to enable one proceed on to Standard
eight , the senior-most class that was the gate-way to high-school ;
while 7 West was for those of us fresh from Standard 6 and who were
trying it out for the first time .

Most of the pupils in 7 East had out-grown the class ; the boys were
initiated adolescents with pimply bearded chins and breaking voices
while the
girls' features were more rounded with jutting breasts and wide hips ,
thus they considered themselves adults as compared to us naive boys and
girls whose only idea of the difference between male and female was that
the one wore shorts while the other put on skirts . But funny enough ,
much as they ridiculed us on account that we often played with pupils
from as lower a class as Standard 4 ( we were of almost the same build
and height ) we used to beat the 7 East guys pants down in class-work .

Wesonga and I used to share such items like text-books and
geometrical-sets and so on because we had different lessons at different
periods . So it was not unusual to find me in 7 East when the
teacher was not around because I normally went to collect the said items
.

I sneaked out of our class and raced down the corridor towards 7
East which was just around the corner adjacent to the Common-room . The
bell had just rung , signalling the end of English lesson and start of
P.E. for our class . The school had no teacher for the lesson so we were
usually free and on our own then . I took such liberties to read novels
or write short-stories , my favorite pastime back then . My brother had
a novel I was craving to read and he had told me to collect it during
P.E . I entered the class without knocking , knowing perfectly well that
there was no teacher in . The class was unusually quiet and I took it
that they probably had been given a few floggings for noise-making or
maybe for failing simple sums , which is always the case with 7 East
because nothing short of that could make them that timid .

Nobody looked up from their books , even Wesonga . The novel I had
come to pick was in his locker so I pulled it out since my brother
seemed
too petrified to speak . Holding the book in my left hand , I took a
piece of chalk , trotted up to the chalk-board and wrote in bold
capitals ;
" SEVEN EAST ARE SUCH TIMID-SOULS TODAY . BECAUSE OF THEIR
THICK-SKULLS , THEY GOT WHACKED AND NOW THEY ARE SULKING . BIG FOR
NOTHING IMPS . "!
I did a little jig in front of the now cowering class , pranced about
like a sophisticated monkey , saluted and floated towards the door . At
the door , I stopped , took one last sweeping look across the still
forty or so pairs of eyes that glibly stared back at me and froze in my
tracks .

One pair of eyes danced back at me from the back , laughter spilling
out from the corners . Mr . Ndalila , the Head-teacher straightened up
from the locker on which he had been marking a pupil's exercise book
just
before I came in . Since he was a relatively short man and most of the
pupils in the class were tall it was easy for me to mistake him for one
of them .

" Is that boy alright upstairs ?" he asked of no one in particular .
The
class burst out into uncontrolled fits of raucous laughter .

I shot out of the class like a bat out of hell , dreading what the H/M
would have done to me under normal circumstances , for obviously he
took the matter lightly .

The incident could have died a natural death had not Mr. Tenya , our
English teacher chosen to come back to class to mark the exercise he had
given us . Evidently , he had come in while I was doing my gimmicks in 7
East .

I scurried into our class with the momentum that had propelled me out
of 7 East...... Too late for me to notice the presence of the teacher .

" Hey ! Are you a creature from Planet Earth or from some other globe ?
" he demanded furiously . He was one of those strict disciplinarians
who believed in never sparing the rod . His customary slogan was
ironically , " Spare the child , spoil the rod ! " So in essence , I had
practically landed myself in boiling soup .

I stood before the class , trembling like a chick that had escaped the
talons of a hawk only to land in the fangs of a python . The teacher
walked towards me scrutinizing my attire .

" And so you have been drinking porridge over your sweater ? " he
barked . A girl giggled at the far corner , a boy near the window
suppressed a guffaw .

" Follow me to the staff quick . I need to know why you are loitering
outside during class-time ."

I followed him meekly , like a reluctant sheep being led on a rope . 7
West was going to bear the brand of being the cheekiest class .