Unbridled
I can’t wait to take memorable photos tomorrow. I am told there's going to be a partial solar eclipse in the country.
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I still have my photos of March 29, 2006, when we experienced the total eclipse. Those of November 3, 2013 are equally pasted firmly in an album.
This time around, I haven't gotten my solar shades. A friend who promised to bless me with one has suddenly began telling me "stories". If she doesn't make true her word, I’m afraid I may have to view the interesting phenomenon through a black polythene bag.
History has it that in ancient England, people could not have sex without the King’s permission. To have a baby therefore, they had to get the King’s consent.
To have sex, they were given a card to hang on the door while doing it.
It said "Fornication Under Consent of the King (F.U.C.K). That's how that F-word came about.
We may not have a king ruling over us. But at least we have city authorities. With the way things are going in certain circles of our society... maybe permission should be sought with an authority or authorities of some sort before certain individuals are allowed to copulate.
A young man of 23 years has put my friend's daughter in the family way. It hurts so much because the girl is only 16; a science student.
Is there a way permission could be granted to some people before allowing them to copulate? I am just so troubled, I keep repeating this question.
What is it about this thing called love? Eh? Why won't the youth listen? What do 16 year olds know about love? She is supposed to be in Form Two when school reopens.
After all her parents went through last year seeking earnestly for admission in a secondary school in the Eastern Region, this is how this young girl who had a promising future paid them back? I’m so pained.
The gentleman responsible for the pregnancy came across as a studies teacher. He was hired to teach her Maths. What I don't understand is how their lessons were scheduled during the day time when no one was available in their apartment.
Fine, they live in a compound house so there always seemed to be someone in a room or two, or in the house in general. But ...
Initially, Efe didn't want to tell us the truth. On Tuesday morning, however, after much persuasion from her mother's observations, she did!
Apparently, she had informed the culprit of her predicament and he had in turn blocked her phone number. She didn't know his house too. Thankfully we were able to use an "unknown" number to reach him and ask for directions to his place of abode- we pretended we had need of a teacher for our ward.
It was real drama when he saw us heading towards him, with Efe trailing behind. He looked confused and confounded. Were we not surprised to know he lived with his mother in a single room apartment?
He was a National Service Personnel. So how did he manage to become a self-styled teacher if he was supposed to be having his Service?
Ask me how Efe's mother employed him as a studies teacher: in a WhatsApp group his number had been forwarded as a Maths teacher who could come to the home of whosoever wished, to teach.
You should have seen how his mother yelled and placed her hands on her head in awe of the "good news". She made the other tenants approach our gathering, which took place on the small corridor in front of the young father's mother's room.
As the new grandmother on the block narrated the reason for her screams to an elderly co-tenant, the wrinkled woman went like "Eigh, again? So Francis won't you learn? Do you want to send your mother to an early grave?" He sat there, head bowed.
Apparently Efe's was his third baby. He had already had two babies with two different young women when he was in the second and final years respectively.
How a young man his age could choose to possess an unbridled organ still baffles me. His mother is a retired civil servant who looked like a reserved person; someone whose phlegmatic nature wove nothing but peace into society.
"Madam", she said to us, "as for Francis I don't know what else to say to him to know that I may not be alive always to right his wrongs".
She wiped her tears and said, "please we will take up responsibility. We will take care of the young lady and the baby. I don't have much. But I will try. After all, I don't know who this child is going to become in future".
The woman made our mission to that home so easy. As for Francis he couldn't utter a word till we left. In fact, he still sat when his mother arose to see us off.
Efe! How does she go back to school this term? Eh? Such a brilliant girl. Do we plead with the school authorities to allow her stay in there till her due moments when she can take a bit of a break from school and then later continue with her school work?
Otherwise she will have to stay at home and watch her mates tread joyously into SHS 3 to take their final exams.
I took time out to ask her why she stooped so low to get herself into such trouble. She told me everything that took place and said they fell in love with each other. Love? What does a 16-year-old know about love? Oh my Efe! Hm.