Humour: Childhood Dreams

Bongo woke up with a start, more from disappointment than shock because once again, he’d been taken for a ride by a dream. Although four years of age, he was smaller than average, but his mind more alive and inquisitive. Unlike his three older siblings, he claimed some firsts in his family. At ten months he was able to walk unaided, and uttered his first word at one year and three months. Surrounded by more role models than he could bargain for, he seized every opportunity to learn quickly.

He sighed wistfully and tried in vain to relive his dream. For several minutes he couldn’t recall his dream. Instead, his mind was awash with memories of his first day at school the day before. It wasn’t exactly what he had been eagerly looking forward to for weeks. Although his brother Kim had warned him that snacks won’t be allowed in school, he hoped that hundreds of things in his new wonderland would compensate for a missed snack or two, from his mother’s kitchen.

He thought he could survive the mug of diluted porridge and a bun on offer at St. Thomas Pre-school, but was not anticipating the wailings and tears he encountered on the way to school. When he met the usually cheerful Chalo tearfully running after his mother near the school gate, he felt that it had something to do with his sore knee. But encounters with three other wailing children triggered his doubts about his new school.

Soon he came face to face with one feature which to his young inquisitive mind, had something to do with all the sobs and running noses around him. No doubt committed to her calling, sister Gao (short for Gaudensia) was nonetheless a creature of contradictions. She was small in stature, but deep of voice. One of her two large eyes seemed to be at right angles with the other, and when she was talking to you she appeared to be staring fixedly sideways. If her physical features were a let-down to her heart’s commitment, she attempted to overcome that by an unnatural zeal that somehow drove her charges away from her.

She came to the door of her classroom when Bongo was brought in by his mother. He looked warily at the catholic nun who seemed to be staring at something above his head, and held his mother’s hand tightly.

‘Good morning young man’, she clucked, holding her right hand to Bongo.

‘Morning ma’, piped Bongo as he held out his hand.

Her hand right hand clamped tightly around his tiny hand in a vice-like grip. Her palms felt rough under his fingers but he lamely followed her as she led him to a tiny desk next to a small girl with a pony tail. All around him were about thirty or so glum looking and bewildered children.

Sister Gao fussed over them like a hen that had just hatched new chicks. This morning she was trying to cheer them with a new song:

‘rondo spurning, rondo spurning,
‘rook yonda, rook yonda,

Paya paya, paya paya....
Powota powota.....’

Timidly at first, the children repeated each line after her, and soon a few faces brightened. They had no idea what they were singing about, but they could tell by Gao’s passionate tenor that it was a merry song, so with childhood gusto they refrained:

‘paya paya... powota,powota.’

Sister Gao would later explain to them, that it was about a big city somewhere in Europe which was on fire, and water was needed urgently. And it was now time for toilet break, necessary as some had already wet themselves. The queue to the two toilets in use was very long, and Bongo felt hard pressed to relieve himself. On second thoughts he decided that he would go and look for Kim in the primary school section. He looked round for a few minutes, didn’t see him and decided to run home. He was just about to disappear round a corner when he heard a familiar voice:

‘Hey Bongo!’, Kim had somehow noticed him walking towards the gate from the playing field where his class was helping to mark the Athletics track. Kim caught up with him and told him that he couldn’t walk in and out of school at will. He had to stay until classes were over, and he had to obey school rules like everyone else.

In Bongo’s young mind the school world was one he could live without. He decided that that was his first and last day at school. He had to go to the toilet quickly, and he also was feeling hungry. Kim took him to the toilet and led him back to class where everybody was being served a mug of porridge and a bun. Gao stared at him crossly with one of her eyes and handed him a mug of cold porridge. This one doesn’t look as unsettled as the rest, she thought. Once he makes friends, he’ll be alright she silently concluded.

Bongo’s mind came back to the present, and he moved over from the left side of the bed to the drier patch on the right side. The left side of his body was wet from his shoulder to his waist and he felt miserable about it. For the umpteenth time, he kept telling himself that it won’t happen again. He tried to piece together the events that led to his current predicament, and decided that his mother should take the blame.

He recalled his dream of the night before. His mother was taking him for his first visit to his grandmother in Alara. Alara a small rural village was thirty miles away from Manga Township where Bongo and his family lived. He couldn’t wait to meet his grandma whom Kim said spoiled everyone who visited her. They had just alighted from the bus, and were walking the two mile country road taking them to Alara.

The countryside surrounding Alara is a beautiful pleasant region. Large fertile plains are bordered on both sides by green rolling ridges as far as the eyes could see. Large farms of green maize stretched for miles on both sides of the small road. The soil’s fertility here is legendary, producing yams and sweet potatoes as large as a man’s torso. This has earned the county the nickname: Alara the female county.

Bongo and his mother met many women, colourfully dressed in brightly embroidered clothes going to or coming from Chiro, a nearby market. Baskets or pots of fresh produce neatly balanced on their heads, they cheerily called out greetings. Most of them knew Karen, Bongo’s mother from childhood:

‘Yoo Karen, it’s good to see you. Your boy has become a big man.’ Someone called out.

‘Hey my man, what have you brought for your wife?’ Another teased Bongo.

Bongo giggled and hid behind his mother’s skirt. After a short while, as they approached a little stream running alongside the road to Alara, Bongo felt he needed to go for a short call.

‘Ma, I want to wee.’

‘Hold it for a bit till we reach grandma’s home.’, She said.

‘I can’t Ma.’ Bongo whined.

‘Okay, run to that little bush.’

No sooner had Bongo reached the edge of the road, joining the bank of the stream than he noticed a boy of his age on the other side. The boy seemed to be in a similar predicament as Bongo. The only remarkable thing about him was that he was in no hurry, and was trying to achieve what Bongo thought was a spectacular feat. He was trying to push his wee across the small stream. Bongo thought it was a great idea and tried to emulate him. The best he could do was a trickle near the edge of the stream. The boy looked at him and laughed mockingly. The sly look and chuckle reminded him of someone he knew. Yes, that was it, Kim!

‘Bongo where are you?’ he heard his mother calling him. That was when Bongo woke up and his frustration was palpable.

‘Bongo are you going to school today or not?’ his mother continued.

‘No Ma, I’ve a headache.’ He replied, trying to work out how he was going to wiggle out of his current predicament. He thought his mother should bear some of the blame, but he didn’t quite know how to figure it out. He promised himself that no dream will ever make a fool of him again.

A brilliant idea suddenly came to him, and he called out:

‘Ma, are dreams from the devil or from God?’

‘Bad ones are from the devil, and the good ones from heaven.’ She said, suddenly realizing that something was coming. She had come to learn that her youngest child only adopted this conciliatory tone when he had committed an offence. During such moments he was always amenable and so she was ready to seize the opportunity.

‘Ma you’ll have to ask God to help me ‘cause the devil always make me wee in my bed.’ He pleaded.

‘I’ll do that my child, and then we’ll go to school. Agreed?’ she asked triumphantly.

‘Yep.’ Shouted Bongo, as he jumped from his bed.