"The travails of Ojo" [Writer's contest 3]

Not only did I tell him to stop the pretence, but also to stop being naive. He was always find of underestimating himself, which has contributed a great deal to his failure.

Ojo, as we always called him, had been my childhood friend. We grew up in the same neighborhood. When he was exactly three years old,he lost his parents to the very cold hands of death, in a ghastly motor accident. He was the only survivor.

Ever since, my parents took it upon our family to take good care of him. He was a brilliant boy,right from his early days in school, but only God knows why,in the course of events, he couldn't make it into the honours' roll.

Mr. Wiseman, our head teacher, came to see my parents, on a Saturday morning. In fact,my dad and mom were already at the main gate, set to leave for an outing. Mr. Wiseman was highly respected in the community, being a no- nonsense man.

His ( Mr. Wiseman) presence in any of the pupils' home meant two things. One,either such pupil had gravely landed in trouble or such pupil deserved a pat on the back. In Ojo's case,neither of these was the case, and it was therefore intriguing.

After exchanging pleasantries,Mr. Wiseman was ushered in by my parents. He was offered a bottle of wine. Now,down to business, he told my parents what brought him to our house concerning Ojo. He told them he believed something must have gone wrong to affect Ojo psychologically and my parents had agreed with him.

Mr. Wiseman proffered few solutions to rectify the anomaly. He advised my parents to always study Ojo, to know when he was alive (Happy) and when he was moody. The head teacher also advised against unnecessary intimidato. After the discussion, Mr. Wiseman left. Dad and mom also hurried out to grace the occasion they had already prepared for.

After they had left the house, I went to Ojo's room. He was full of tears. I asked him what the issue was that made him to cry. Ojo wouldn't answer me. He had almost cried his life out. He was so weak that he couldn't stand on his feet. I had to prepare a cup of tea for him and asked him to take a quick shower. Thereafter, he sat on his bed and slept off suddenly.

Half an hour later, after waking up from his sudden sleep, Ojo almost jumped out of his skin,seeing that I was still sitting down beside him on his bed. Then,he smiled. This sent a cold chill down my spine. I smiled back, nervously.

I told Ojo to stop pretending that all was well while nothing was well. I told him to learn to share his sorrows just like we all share our joys. We talked at length and he promised never to underestimate himself again.

Dad and mom came back later that day and they summoned Ojo to their bedroom. I tiptoed after him and eavesdrop at our parents bedroom door. Mum asked him to check the package beside their bed. Ojo did. He was amazed seeing the numerous gifts contained in the wrapped bag. He embraced Mum and Dad simultaneously.

Both of them advised Ojo to continue being a good boy and never to keep his problems to himself. "Problem shared are problems half solved", Dad had said. Ojo was quite happy and he promised and he promised my parents never to disappoint them. I quickly hurried to leave the door as he prepared to get out, but he was too quick for me. I turned to catch his look. He looked straight into my eyes an gave me a rather strange look. I understood it. He was so surprised to see me there. I told him I heard everything that had been said in there. He tickled me at my right ribs and it went down my belly! Then we started running down went outside, chasing ourselves in the garden.

NAME:  OLUBAMBI KAYODE