"You are late again!" The labour master shouted across to Akin who was running towards the assembly to join his mates who were just marching into their class. He had been 10 minutes late for class yesterday and today, try as he could, he had just missed the marching in by a whisker. His hands began to perspire in anticipation of the canes that will land on them. Yesterday, after receiving ten strokes of the hard guava branches, five on each palm, he could barely hold his pen steady in class and today, here he was again, the sacrificial lamb, holy and acceptable before mr Bakare, the skillful in flogging labour master.
"Come with me, all of you!" He shouted to the latecomers. Six others have joined Akin and were kneeling yards away from him, nobody wants to take the fire dose so they tried staying away as discretion can allow, one trying to stay behind the other, not minding who came first, everybody becomes a gentleman.
They followed him down the long block B corridor until they came to the entrance of the school library. The labour master went in while the latecomers stood at the corridor.
"Come in!" He barked.
They went in cautiously and when they were all settled in, he pointed to the far end of the long library.
"Arrange all that accordingly. Any misplacement in the arrangements, you will be in spicy soup!" He said coldly.
They all look at the direction were he pointed and to their dismay, they saw an almost ceiling height piles of books!