TITLE: A NEW DAWN
STARRING: BLESSING DIKE
LOCATION: PORT HARCOURT

The story begins.
Post your comments as you read.
Make corrections where available because it will help me in the final editing of the work.
Constructive criticism is allowed.
Fighting and derailing is not allowed here.

Finally, stay tuned and enjoy the Jolly good ride.

CHAPTER ONE

“Kpam kpam kpamkpam kpam kpamm”!!
That was the sound of the continous hitting of the hand on one of the desks by one of the students.

“Good morning Sir. We are happy to see you. God bless you” the students chorused still standing.

“Good morning all. Please sit down” he allowed them to sit comfortably before he continued “how was your weekend?”
This was a rhetoric question which did not really need any answer from the students.

The class was SS1B and the day was Monday. Monday of all days! They had just finished the morning assembly and some of them had their hands and “bombom” still smarting from the punishment they had received at the hands of the teachers and their prefects. The chapel prefect from SS2 had conducted the morning assembly with prayers being said by a junior student and hymn 194 – All hail the power of Jesus Name– was chorused in unison by all students present.
Inspection Time!

Some students began to shiver. Inspection time was really going to be a tough one on them. Either you cried or you did “Odeshi”.
Odeshi was for stronger students who had gotten used to the cane or those who were ashamed of crying in front of their classmates.

Inspection period was a time when a student’s overall appearance was checked. It was for students who wore dirty uniforms, whose socks were dirty, those keeping long nails, those keeping ‘afro’ hair style and those with bushy hair. If you didn’t comb your hair, you were not exempted also. You went to a secondary school right? I believe you can instantly guess the group of students with the worst of appearances.
The JSS1 students!

Danger was lurking in the air and it was okay for them to be afraid. They were not going to be let off so easily especially with the kind of prefects the school had and more with the fact that they were recently made prefects. Your guess is as good as mine….

“Aaaaaahhhhhhh” that was all that was heard as the cane landed on the ‘bombom’ of one of the female students….!

*following*


welcome Jeff

Thanks dear. You're equally doing so well with your own story. Keep the good work up.

was? do you now bear a new name

My second update will be today

This girl was the dirtiest student of all and this prefect did not waste time in bringing down the full weight of the law on her.

It seemed like the JSS1 students were born to be dirty. Of all students, it could be purely noted that they had the worst uniforms as their formerly white uniform had turn brown from too much of play. They would have to pay for their laziness. The SS3 students were exempted from these inspections due to the fact that they were now 'WAEC students' and prefect 'emerituses' having handed over power to the SS2 students. The teachers took care of the SS1 and SS2 students while the prefects took care of the Junior students.

-It was done to me in my own time.
This could be judged from the way the prefects were flogging the students mercilessly as though they were on a revenge mission.

'Thwack thwack' went the sounds of canes coming from all directions. The prefects had a field day in punishing the students.
Finally,they finished flogging and announcements were made and a marching song was raised in a sorrowful voice due to the fact that most of the students were crying;

"Oh my home, Oh my home
Oh my home, Oh my home
When shall I see my home
When shall I see my waiting for me
I will never forget my home"

They all chorused the song as they marched into their various classes sorrowfully.

laughing at this update
keep going

Short update, but its a nice work you have here

Dear wonderful literature landers and nairalanders in general, my next update will be by April 19th, after my exams.. I beg & crave for your understanding and patience. Thanks in anticipation.

Sorry to keep you all waiting for a long time. I have been busy. I'm going to post right away.

The first class for SS1 that morning was Biology and Mr Chukwuma, the Biology teacher had sauntered into the class. He was clad in a suit with a white inner shirt and a red tie which was almost reaching his belt line. He smelt of the famous Uomo Maliza perfume for men. After they had greeted him, he began teaching.

“I was here last week Thursday and I taught on the sense organs. Can anyone give me the names of the sense organs?”
Chants of sir sir filled the air and each person raised his or her hand in a bid to surpass the other or even get to the ceiling so as to get noiticed by their teacher.

“Henry Jacobs, please can you tell the class the names of the five sense organs?”
Henry Jacobs was one of the notorious and most feared boy in the class. He was highly notorious and so block headed that the class was surprised to see him raise his hands today.

“Sir, the name of he five sense organs are the nose, the eyes, the ears, the mouth and the skin” he said grinning to himself.
“You tried” Mr Chukwuma congratulated him “but try harder next time”
The class was only able to stiffle their laughter because of the fear they had for him.
“Please sit down. Who can correctly tell me the names of the five sense organs?”
“Sir, I”
A tiny shrill voice could be heard. The class didn’t need to look around to know who it was. They all knew that it was her, with such a melodious voice which was rarely heard except when an arse needed to be saved or when the entire arses of the class needed saving. Just her!
Blessing Dike!

She was one of the smartest girls in the claas and well mannered at that. She was beautiful and of a slightly fair complexion. Her hair was plaited with thread into a basket form which made her look even more lovely and was also of a slight tall stature. She had this particular dark dot on her cheek close to her mouth.

“Yes, Blessing please can you tell the class the answer to my question?” Mr Chukwuma asked.
“Yes sir, it’s the tongue, not the mouth.” She corrected before proceeding “therefore, the five sense organs are the eyes, used for seeing, the ears used for hearing, the nose used for smelling, the tongue, used for tasting and the skin used for feeling.” She concluded.

Mr Chukwuma was very impressed.
“Please clap for her” he ordered
The class wasted no time in giving her a thunderous clap.
“Today,” Mr. Chukwuma began, “we are going to be talking about the respiratory system.”
“Sir, please excuse me”
The class turned around to see who it was.
It was Chima, another notorious boy in the class. It seemed like he wanted to ask a question.
“Yes, chima what is it?”
“Sir, please according to our scheme of work, after the sense organs, you’re supposed to teach us the reproductive system” Chima said.
Chants of yes, yes filled the classroom. It seemed like the students were in agreement with what he had said.
“Are you serious?” Their teacher asked
“Yes sir” Chima replied
“Well, since I’ve already introduced this topic, we have no other option than to finish it. If we can finish it on Thursday, then by next week, we will begin the reproductive system. Is it okay by you all?” Mr Chukwuma asked
“Yes” the class chorused in unison.
********************

Two hours later when Mr Chukwuma left the class, he couldn’t help but smile to himself. These children could actually be silly. He had purposely skipped the topic on reproductive system because he didn’t know how to teach it to the class with all the unmentionables. He could picture them giggling while he taught. He then remembered his own class days, how they laughed and laughed when there biology teacher who was a woman had taught this particular topic and now he was in her shoes and he just wanted to avoid it. There was no need to avoid it he said to himself. He just had to do it.

It was 4pm. The sound of the closing bell could be heard. Blessing finished up the note she was reading and began to pack her bag. When she was through, she picked it up and headed for home. She had just passed the gate and was headed home when she heard her name. She turned around to see who it was.
It was Henry Jacobs!!

She stopped so that he could catch up with her. When he had reached her, she politely requested to know why he had called her name.
“Yes, Blessing, I called you. The way you answered the question in the class today was impressive. I couldn’t help but come to see you to congratulate you in person.” Henry said.
“Thank you Henry.”

“Blessing, I would like us to be friends. I love the way you do your things, I like the way you smile, the way you walk, everything about you in short. I would like you to be the one closest to my heart. If you do, no one will ever disturb you again. I will make sure of that.”

“Henry,” Blessing began “If I say I will think about it, I will only be doing you a great disservice. I like you just as I like every other person. I understand what you are saying but I can’t be your girlfriend. But we can be close friends. What do you think?” she concluded giving him a wide smile

Henry couldn’t help but smile. She was not even afraid of him like others were and this startled him. She had this air of confidence hanging around her.This was the first time he was talking to her. He had expected more but at least for starters, her proposal wasn’t that bad at all.
“Yes my dear. Its okay by me as far as it is okay by you. I won’t want anything to disturb you. Can I escort you home?” he asked

“No, you dont have to worry. I can take care of myself.”
“Please take good care of yourself” Henry said while waving her goodbye.

Please encourage this humble writer with your comments and your likes.

Nice write up. Keep it coming

chapter two loading

Like ow many percent.

85% loading. Tinu please no vex for me. I had almost lost interest because of lack of comments and folllowership. I will try to update today at least for your sake. Thanks for following!

Nice, nice story. . You gotta continue. .

bros..i don vex

Tinu, I'm sorry I couldn't post yesterday cos I'm trying to make sure that the update is long enough. But while you wait, you can check out this my other work;


www.nairaland.com/1280356/thread-short-stories

I love you all.

Dear Neduzze, don't be discourage i would suggest u update more frequently.

Tinu-02:
Dear Neduzze, don't be discourage i would suggest u update more frequently.

Tinu my dear ardent follower, please don't be vexed. Let's say I don't think I can finish this story because I don't know what to write again. The way is going in my head makes it look as though I have read this type of story before. Well, by today, I will decide if I will continue it or not. If I don't, then I will give u a link to the new one on board. But if I do, then I will update here. Thanks lovey dovey.

Tinu come read story oh

Chapter Two

Blessing Dike was the daughter and the only child of Mr and Mrs Michael Dike. They were from Imo State but were among the sets of immigrants that fled their state of origin during the strife that threw Nigeria into a turmoil. That strife is what we know today as the Nigerian Civil War which was fought between the Igbos and Nigeria, spearheaded by the Late Col. Odimegwu Ojukwu in which he fought to create a sovereign nation for the Igbo citizens. That dream nation whose hope of existence was quashed by the Nigerian soldiers was and is still known today as Biafra.

Back in their place of residence in Imo state, they had been very comfortable and possessed lots of lands and a very beautiful house. But since moving to Portharcourt in Rivers state where they had settled with the largely Ikwerre citizens, things had not been very much easy with them. It was difficult to find a job since he hadn’t gone to school. His means of livelihood in the vilage was farming and trading. But here, whose land would you use to farm? He was though able to perform some menial jobs through which he was able to open a shop for his wife. Through the sales proceeds from the shop, they were able to feed, clothe, pay their house rent and pay the school fees of their daughter Blessing.

Although, her parents were poor, Blessing was intelligent and humble. She carried herself with pride and grace and did nothing to tarnish the image of her family. She was 19 years old and was a student of Bright Model Primary and Secondary school. Although she didn’t always take the first position in her class, she was always among the first ten students. Anytime she was not thinking and read her books devoid of any problems, she came amongst the first three but anytime she thought of things such as how her family would feed throughout that week because of the absence of money or when she thought of where her school fees would come from for the next term, she always fell sick which made her not to read as she ought to thereby bringing her position down. Despite the various problems she went through, she always managed to scale through and never went below the tenth position.

The next day was a Saturday so Blessing didn't have to go to school. She swept and mopped the house, cleaned the kitchen and made everywhere sparkle. After that she went to her mother's shop to help her out with sales there. Her mum’s shop was stocked with provisions and cooking items. It was like a mini supermarket and was among the many chain stores that was housed by that particular street. At around 8pm, it was time to close up the shop. Her mum sat inside at an extreme corner of the shop and counted the money aloud to her self.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight....” she continued counting
“Who’s here” a bass voice asked from outside the shop. It was a man and he was putting on a face cap.
“Yes, what do you want” Blessing asked
“Is your mineral cold?”
“Yes” she replied
“Get me a bottle of coke” he ordered
“Please sit here while I get it”

The man sat down on a plastic chair and waited for her to get the drink. While sitting, he watched Mrs Dike closely as she counted her money noisily at one corner of the shop.

She brought the mineral for him and he requested for one gala which she also brought. He then gave her two hundred naira and she went over to where her mum was.
The man on the face cap listened attentively.

“Twenty two, twenty three” Mrs Dike concluded. She had made twenty three thousand naira from sales today

“Mummy give me ninety naira change” Blessing requested

“What did he buy” she asked

“He bought coke and gala and gave me two hundred naira”

Her mum gave her the change and she walked to where the man sat and handed the change over to him and went back to sit with her mum.

“We made twenty three thousand naira today” Mrs Dike informed her daughter.

“Really” she asked with surprise written all over her face. She never knew that more than ten thousand naira could be made in a day.

"Yes oh. I will be able to buy you new clothes by next week”

All these while, the unknown stranger sat and drank his Coke silently while listening attentively to Mrs Dike and her daughter as they conversed.

@neduzze well you are back and firing..more inspirations...

oyestephen: @neduzze well you are back and firing..more inspirations...

Thanks Steve. Watch out for more.

Oh dodo oh dodo
When shall I eat dodo
Ireti give us food o

That was d bastardized form of 'Oh my home' when I was in secondary school. Neduzze thanks for bringing back memories. Well done.