HEADS-UP! THIS IS A LONG STORY.

THE BOY WHO LOVED BIG WORDS



Steven knew that he need to get home before his mother arrived from the market. He wanted to finish his chores and get to his homework. He also wanted to finish reading the novel he had found in his brother’s locker. H had sneaked it out and had thoroughly enjoyed the few chapters he had read so far. He knew though that asking his brother for it would meet with an emphatic NO and even an inquiry into how he had discovered the book in the first place,followed by a flogging with the belt.

“Stevovo!”
“Nor dey call me that your atrocious name abeg.”
“You don bring another one again! Atrocious!”
All the boys burst into laughter and began talking at once.
The truth was, as much as Steven liked to sound knowledgeable with his big big grammar,he seldom knew exactly what those worlds meant and often misused them and so he often provided for comic relief among his friends and his parents friends whenever he let one fly.

One day,the teacher asked Steven to get her something from her office. Steven went there and and decided to show off his big words to the teachers there. He stood at the door and said loudly:
“Please teachers of masculine and feminine genders,may I come in?

There was a beat of silence where nobody reacted. Then the lady seated nearest the door stuck her neck forward to see exactly who it was. Talk about general commotion. Teachers howled in laughter as they held their ribs. Some stood up from whatever they were doing before and come to the door to see the wonderful person person that had decided to entertain them that afternoon. Steven was carried from where he stood outside the door right inside the staffroom and placed at the middle. They gathered around him and laughed at him with fresh takes coming up by the second. At last when they had exhausted themselves,they went back to what they were doing leaving him standing there literally wilted in shame.

One other time,Steve was accompanying his mother to an event in town and they had to take the bus into town. While they were in the bus,the conductor started to collect money and he did this in the usual fashion. He would stretch out his hand and take the money from the passengers,sometimes over the head of other passengers. Other times,someone would volunteer to pass the money to him. When it came to his mum’s turn,The conductor said in his usual brusque manner,”Oya madame,bring your money.” And Steve immediately responded: “Don’t use that grandiose voice to talk to my mother!”
The conductor was momentarily shocked. He looked down to see the owner of the the big words and he roared with laughter. By now,everyone in the bus was completely invested in seeing what was about to happen next. But Steve’s mother only smiled and shushed Steve as she gave the conductor his money. The Conductor nick-named her Mama Professor and specially held the door open for her when they alighted. All the way to the meeting,Mama Steve was begging Steve to keep quiet during the proceedings because she she wanted to be spared the embarrassment of his big grammar.

2
She woke that morning and remembered that today was the day She was starting as a new teacher at a new school. She jumped up and started to prepare and one hour later she was ready. She walked into her first class behind the Vice Principal of Academics of the School.
“Good morning students. This is your new French Teacher,her name is Miss Edigin and I expect you all to make her feel right at home!”
“Good morning Miss!”, the class chorused.
“Good morning students. My name is Miss Edigin and im going to be your French teacher for the foreseeable future as your Vice Principal has just told you. Now,I would like to know all of your names because I believe that we are going to be friends. And we will make this interesting by doing it in French. So who will start?
The teacher finished speaking and turned to look around the class expectantly. All the students stayed quiet. So she moved to the back seat and spoke to the student who was the tallest and biggest boy in the class. She had spotted him early and suspected that he would be either the class bully or the class leader. She smiled at him and said: [i]Salut.
“Salut.”
“Je m’appelle Mademoiselle Edigin. Et je suis professeur de francais. Et toi?
“Je m’appelle Jeremy.”
“Enchante”
“Oui,Enchante”
From that moment,she had no problems convincing the class to follow her instructions because she had received the seal of approval from Jeremy and no student would dare cross him by making things difficult for her.. And she had been right. He was the class leader and sometimes bully. Whatever he supported was unanimously carried and if he decided he didn’t like a teacher,woe betide that teacher as explainable incidents and constant disruptions from the students would be the other of the day in such a teacher’s classroom. All the while this was going on,the teacher observed Steve. He was quiet and seemed to be studying her before he would start talking and being freer in her presence. There came a day when his seatmate was missing his pen and he demanded a search of Steven’s bag. Of course Steven refused. The boy went straight to the teacher and reported the matter. Steven retorted,” I am innoculent. I didn’t take or even see his writing equipment.”
There was silence during which the teacher wore this expression on her face like she was trying to hold back a laugh. She pursed her lips.
“James,(this was the name of the boy accusing Steven.)Steven says he’s innocent and I believe him. Here’s a pen. Use this until you find yours.”
She then turned to Steven and smiled. He fidgeted under her gaze but never looked shifty. “where did you learn the word innocent?”