It was 7.30 am, and loud screams of “Osaro, Osaro, Osaro”, gave way for the calming silence in the flat. The screams seemed like a football coach barking instructions on the touchline. Mrs. Aneto yelled out several times more as her young son remained barricaded in his room. She wondered why he had not come out for breakfast. She sent his younger sister, Ebehi after him. She knocked on his door, and Osaro yelled out, “I am coming oh”… It was a Saturday morning, and the Aneto’s were having Osaro’s favourite for breakfast; bacon, ham and sausages.
Mrs. Aneto had noticed that Osaro had gradually become withdrawn in the last few weeks. She wondered if it had something to do with his new school and difficulty in adapting to a different environment with new set of friends. Just before setting out for breakfast, she turned to her husband and said, “Jerry, have you noticed that Osaro has been behaving a bit quiet for a few weeks?” Jerry responded, “How do you mean?”… She said, “For some weeks now, I have noticed that he retires to his room once he gets back from school, and will chose to spend hours there until dinner. I am a bit worried though his grades have not dipped”.
Little did Mrs. Aneto know that only three months back, her son had struck up a dangerous friendship with a friend in school, and that the reason for her son’s withdrawal behavior was caused by the impact from Osaro’s toxic association with a colourful American friend, Ramon Garcia at school.
Dr. Jeremy and Philomena Aneto had just relocated from the quiet town of Ibadan to Lagos, during the summer of 1990. Jerry and Philo, as they were fondly called by friends, were proud parents of 2 kids, Osaro and Ebehi. Dr. Jeremy Aneto had secured a new job in Lagos. Prior to their relocation, Jerry had worked at the Department of Economics of the University of Ibadan, Oyo State. Philo, on the other hand had worked as a Matron at the University College Hospital Ibadan. The decision to move the entire family to Lagos was not an easy one, but financial challenges forced them to move forward with the plan.
Back at the dinning, the other three had tucked into their seats still waiting for Osaro. Philo turned to Jerry and said, “Honey, could you go and find out what’s keeping Osaro from coming out for breakfast?” Jerry got up and knocked on the door of Osaro’s room and said, “Little man, we have been waiting for ages, it’s time for breakfast and we can talk afterwards. Osaro stepped out of his room hugged his mummy and gave his little sister a peck on her cheeks. As they ate breakfast that morning, Osaro’s naughty behavior was quickly forgotten, but will resurface again, only a few days later.
On Monday morning two days later, June 23, 1990, the harsh effects of a paralyzing general strike the previous week, had begun to ease. Though normalcy was beginning to return to the busy streets of Lagos, the abandoned streets of the Marina area of Lagos that had been hitherto deserted by workers had started experiencing more vehicular and human traffic .
The drivers honked endlessly at the street hawkers as they all battled for space, like a confusing scene after a terrorist attack. It was 6.00am and the Osaro family, were not left out from getting ready to face the hustle for the day. Dad worked in the Marina and Mummy worked as a Matron in one of the government hospitals in Lagos Island. This meant that Osaro and his sibling had to go to school in Lagos Island. The weekly commute was made easy because the family could afford and maintain two vehicles, so Mummy could do the school runs.
Osaro’s new school was a private co-educational secondary school, which was a rarity in the 1990’s. The school had a few expatriate teachers and a number of foreign students that made up the community. The proximity of the school to Osaro’s mum’s workplace was one of the reasons his parents unanimously decided to enroll him there. Dr. Aneto being in the academia, felt a multi-cultural school like that would give his son a robust education in the arts and sciences just like his parents gave him too.
Few days after speaking to Osaro’s daddy about their son’s behaviour, a worried Mrs. Aneto decided to visit the school, perhaps, a brief chat with Mrs. Appleby, would be a good idea, she pondered. She had met Mrs. Appleby once, the charismatic British teacher, who had lived and worked in Northern Nigeria for decades in many schools. Her experiences with kids of Osaro’s age were priceless; she told Mrs. Aneto that she was satisfied so far with his academic performance at school.
Mrs. Aneto pressed further by asking if she had noticed anything different about Osaro, in the last few weeks Mrs. Appleby said she hadn’t noticed much, but always saw him in the company of a particular boy. She told Mrs. Aneto that she had nothing to worry about as his grades were the best in class. “If he is quiet at home, it is possible it has nothing to do with his school or friends. Madam, this boy is just a kid, just remember that for now”. “But, now that you have said this, I will keep a close eye on him.”
She returned to her workplace that morning somewhat relieved that all was well for now; she took solace in the fact that Osaro’s grades hadn’t plummeted despite his recent demeanour. She sat down to face her task for the day, and thought perhaps that the matter was not as serious as she had imagined it to be. She knew that her son was in the good care of Mrs. Appleby, who herself was a veteran teacher and a mother too.
Back at school, Osaro couldn’t wait any longer for the lunch break to be called; he had to see Ramon, his best friend in the next class. Ramon was an 11year old American student enrolled in the private school. He had arrived at the school just the same time with Osaro, and they had struck quite a close friendship after several meetings. Ramon’s father was an expatriate staff of the United States Embassy and was on a special assignment in Nigeria, after previous postings to Ghana and Sierra Leone. Ramon first met Osaro on the lunch break of the first day of school.
He was a bit shy, just like a few other kids in school who were seeing each other for the first time. Osaro happened to grab his lunch and worked towards the direction of Ramon’s table. Osaro sat next to Ramon and said, “Hello, my name is Osaro, do you mind if I sit close to you”, Ramon quipped, “Sure man, have a sit, I’m Ramon, from Miami, I will be here for a sometime, I go wherever my pop goes.” Osaro replied, “That sounds so cool, I wish I could travel to another country just like you”.
They chatted for a few seconds before the bell rang for the end of the lunch break. They both said their goodbyes before Ramon said, “You know, you are the first person I am making friends with here at this school and I hope we would see again”. “Bye”, said Ramon before picking up his bag.
The next couple of weeks witnessed…
[To be continued]
Written by Chineme Uzo
