Ameria and a male dog are scaring away the cacophonous chickens and sniffing the waste bins.
I pass them, stand in the banana plants and begin peeing. Once done, I insert my palm into my pocket, throw the paracetamol away, and turn around.
I hear the sound of playing children and I am sure I hear Sika, who is from the school I attend.
“Hey, hey Wayo, look here pass the ball, pass the ball!”
“Ampofo, Ampofo attack, attack!”
“Hey, hey, you pushed me it’s a foul!”
“Liar, I didn’t touch any ball I swear!”
“You too liar, your mother!”
“Stay ball, stay ball, stop them they are fighting!”
Agona Circuit inter-school football and volleyball competitions are just around the corner and teachers want to prepare the children physically and mentally for the task ahead, telling players what to do and deciding on who would be in which team.
Sika is my best friend. I like him because he knows how to do magic with pencils. A quick thinker with large and intelligent eyes. We make things together, good things and some bad things like every friend. He drew the Spider-Man on my notebook. He designed the image and I bought the crayon and painted it nicely blue and red. Miss Frema and the other teachers like Sika because he also helps them with the drawings on the blackboard.
He is never easy to find when there is no school. Sometimes even his mother would not know his whereabouts. However, other children would help me locate him. Then we would take our crayons and run to the hill. From the hill, we would eat our biscuits, draw, and watch what is happening to our village and our houses.
Now, I am on the veranda leaning on the wall. The sun is shifting to another part of the globe and the aroma of Oparebea’s supper fills the house. The male dog is mating Ameria, he is unable to pull out, and the dogs are stuck together, both he and Ameria facing opposite directions.
I hear the sound of a bell. It is from the school I attend. I hear it when all the classes cheer and rush out to the soccer field for our morning and afternoon assembly. After a while, I hear the school begin to sing:
“In our dear Lord’s garden
Plantain let me grow
Many kinds of flowers
Beautifully grown
Aaaamen!”
The kids are going home wearing school uniforms mixed with sweat and I behave like I did not see them. They carry a weight on their backs in a never-ending train. The boys are speaking at the top of their voices, shrieking, and running off. The girls are gathered in fours and fives like beauty queens to gossip.
Crentsil and Oduro walk past our gate, engrossed in conversation.
I call out, “Did Miss Frema give homework?”
But Crentsil tells me Miss Frema did not come to school.
Tell us: What did you learn in the story that you didn’t realise before?