Short story:Things will be better
Hannah lived with her parents, Papa Konkraba and Oforiwaah. Although her parents earned a moderate income, she had over the years learnt to be content with whatever they were able to give her.
She was hopeful that their situation was not a permanent one and that one day, things would change for the better.
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She believed strongly that the positive change will come from her.
That was why she made her studies her priority. She studied hard both at school and home. In fact, in school, some of her teachers nicknamed her the ‘pester’ due to her penchant for following them with books for them to provide further explanations to topics they treated in class but she did not get the understanding well. While others were joking and talking unnecessarily in class when a teacher was not around, Hannah would pick her notes to study.
Because she was always studying, she is able to ask relevant questions in class. These things endeared her to her teachers who saw her as a serious student. Because of that, they were fond of comparing her to other students whom they saw as lazy.
One of these lazy students was Gloria who had never been serious in class and was always talking.
She would not do her school assignment but rather pay for others to do them and was insolent towards her teachers.
What was so annoying about her behaviour was the fact that she was always fighting her mates. There have been numerous complaints about her behaviour but she cared less.
Lately, the person she had been picking fights with was Hannah and it was all because the teachers have been comparing her to Hannah.
As much as Hannah tried to avoid confrontations with her, Gloria always had a way of picking fights with her. Gloria came from a financially sound home and she had the believe that her parents’ money could do everything for her so she could afford to do anything — even if it was bad and she would get out of it. It was for that reason that she had been putting up that mean behaviour.
It was almost time for them to write the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and so most of the serious students were now busy with their studies. Those who needed help in certain subject areas have been going to Hannah to assist them.
Gloria lagged behind in most of the subjects but would not avail herself to such studies because as usual, she believed that with her parents wealth, she could easily sail through to senior high school.
Indeed, the time finally came for all candidates to write the BECE. Hannah and the rest of the candidates who have studied hard towards the examination had it easy but not Gloria. It was really difficult for her.
When the results were released three months later, most of the students including Hannah had excelled and gained admission to their first choice schools.
Luckily for Hannah, her parents had gotten better job offers that were fetching them enough income. For this reason, she was not lacking anymore. The opposite was the situation for Gloria. The businesses of her parents had collapsed so they did not have money.
They had saved towards her senior high school education but because Gloria did not perform well, no public school was ready to admit her. The private ones were ready but the school fees was so outrageous that they could not afford it. In the end, Gloria could not go to SHS and ended up sleeping with men to live the kind of extravagant life she was used to.
Hannah completed SHS, went to university and was gainfully employed. She was able to provide all the things she had dreamt of for her parents.
Gloria, on the other hand, ended up with a sexually transmitted disease and lived the life of a pauper. She did not plan her life well and that is the prize she had to pay.
Nurudeen Mohammed,
Gray Memorial Basic School,
P. O. Box 399,
Accra.