It was 4:30 am. 30 mins away from the rising bell. As we all anticipated 5 am it wasn't because of the early morning inspection, nor was it about the bread and egg with custard that would be served at the dining that morning. It was Mr. Ejidike's mathematics exam that was hopefully on the minds of almost all the students. Mr. Ejidike was known to be one of the most feared teachers in school then, not only because of his strict nature, or because of his weird punishment, but also because his exams seemed like ICAN professional exams. His penchant for setting very confusing questions gave him the nickname "Mr. What do you understand by".
Once the bell rang by 5:00 am, we were welcomed by the noisy stereos of the prefects on duty. In their normal style, they came looking for scapegoats amongst us who were still sleeping. For those of us awake already, we had headed to the bathroom behind the hostel to take our shower by 5:15 am a handful of us were already dressed and ready to go by this point. We all wanted to get an early start to the day so that we could make the most of our time here. To our utmost surprise, Ikenna was still lying down on his slim bed-down bunk in his corner. Baffled, I had asked if Senior Elijah hadn't come into the room to have found Ikenna sleeping.
Elijah was known to be one of the most demon-possessed prefects who had extreme joy whipping students who he found sleeping on the soles of their feet. Effiong quickly responded that Senior Elijah had already exhibited his whipping skills on Ikenna. At that point, it was needful to be sure that Ikenna was still alive. The entire boys in the too agreed to pour water on his bed. With a scream, Ikenna jumped out of his bed. Just then did we hear the deputy head boy Hassan call out all the SS 2 students for inspection as expected. Ikenna was not ready. Of course, he got his fair share of strokes from Hassan.
By 7:00 am, we were already seated in the dining hall awaiting one of the most anticipated meals in school. By 7:30am, all students were headed to the classroom area to write their respective exams. At exactly 8:08am, the dragging footsteps of Mr. Ejidike were heard, and in less than the minutes we could count, he was right before us in class wielding a bamboo cane.
Just as he was dishing out instructions, Ikenna ran into the class as exactly 8:14am "come here you stupid boy" Mr. Ejidike exclaimed, "where are you coming from? "
As Ikenna tried to explain, " I I I...", Wiam! Ikenna got one at his back from Mr. Ejidike. As Ikenna made to run into his seat, Mr. Ejidike shouted at him " will you come back here". Ikenna paused. "You will sit in front today" Mr. Ejidike proclaimed.
The exam began at roughly 8:21am. This exam was timed to end in 3 hours. To the amusement of Mr. Ejidike, by 9:38am, Ikenna raised his hand. "What is it this time" Mr. Ejidike barked. "Am done with the exam Sir" Ikenna responded. "How can that be possible" Mr. Ejidike queried. He then stepped towards Ikenna's desk glancing through his script.
"How come you know so much but always sleeping in my class". The entire class was surprised to find out that Mr. Ejidike had taken notice of Ikenna sleeping during his class sessions. In annoyance, Mr. Ejidike picked up his textbook and flipped through. In less a minute, he went straight to the board and wrote down an equation that was from a topic to be taught in SS 3, and he turned at Ikenna, "come here and solve this".
In what seemed impossible Ikenna scaringly took the marker and in seven minutes, turned back at Mr. Ejidike handing him over the marker. Astonished, Mr. Ejidike turned to the rest of us in the class and ordered us to stand up and render a round of applause for Ikenna.
Ikenna's accomplishment seemed impossible at first, but he amazed everyone by taking the marker and turning it back in just seven minutes. Mr. Ejidike was astonished and ordered the rest of the class to stand up and applaud Ikenna. His achievement was truly amazing and showed what is possible when you set your mind to it.
And in his words, Mr. Ejidike exclaimed "this must certainly be brilliance".
