HARD WORK PAYS
CHAPTER ONE
It was day
break at Ozurumba village. Chike woke up with a loud yawn. He stretched out his
hands as if to punch someone, but he punched the air instead. He did the same
with the other hand. He turned around and saw his wife Obioma still sleeping.
He tapped her delicately. “Obioma, wake up!” Obioma woke up and stared at
Chike. “What is it?” she asked. “Let us have our morning devotion”. Chike
answered.
After
praying, Chike called out to his son. “Oluchukwu! Oluchukwu!”
“Yes papa!”
Oluchukwu shouted.
“My son, you
will not be going to school for a while”.
“But why
papa?” Oluchukwu asked
“I have not
paid your school fees my son”, Chike said “You will help your mother and me at
the farm to make some money”, Chike concluded.
Oluchukwu
brightened up, “Okay papa! I will help you at the farm”.
Oluchukwu
rushed out to help his mum to set the farm tools. While doing that, he nearly
stepped on a baby chick. The mother hen flew up in anger. The hen chased
Oluchukwu round in circles, and then chased him into the hut, “Mama, Mama!”
Oluchukwu screamed. Obioma ran to her son’s rescue.
On the way
to the farm that morning, Oluchukwu saw some children going to school, handling
their raffia bags proudly. He also saw the chief’s son Chukwumobini. Chukwumobini
was the son of the village chief. He was one of the rough boys in the village.
As Chukwumobini approached, he started teasing Oluchukwu. “Why is it that your
father never has money for your school fees?” he asked, and continued on his
way, laughing mockingly. Oluchukwu did not mind Chukwumobini. “Don’t worry”,
Oluchukwu thought to himself. “You will soon be going to school with others”,
he merrily hopped to the farm.
Soon he
could see the borders of his father’s farm and the chicken going about their
daily business, calling out to each other in a language that no one but they,
could understand, and getting ready to pick their morning feed.
Oluchukwu set
about the task of tilling the soil. Soon he became quite hot and very tired,
but he continued working for the benefit of his family.
On the way
home, Oluchukwu thought about how he and his family would get money for their
upkeep. That night, while eating a dinner of nicely made garri and okro soup, he
reminded his parents about the tuber of yam they had left at the farm and
decided he would go there early the next day, to collect it.
The next
day, very early in the morning, Oluchukwu set off to the farm to get the yam
before the village thief could get to it. When he brought it back, Chike and
his family used the yam for a delicious meal of pounded yam and Ogbono soup.
Oluchukwu was happy he had paid that price of going back for it.
CHAPTER TWO
One evening
after dinner, Chike surprised his family by making an unexpected announcement. “I
have paid your school fees my son” he quietly announced. Oluchukwu was full of
joy, “Chukwu dalu o!, papa dalu o!” he shouted excitedly.
The next day
Oluchukwu woke up very early. He wanted to be in school early. He had missed
his school. Oluchukwu arrived to a warm welcome from his friends. Everyone had
missed him, his teacher also welcomed him with a warm hug. At the end of the
day, when Oluchukwu was going home, he noticed a group of boys following him.
The chief’s son was their ring leader. Oluchukwu was scared, “I hope they’re
not going to beat me up”, he thought. His guess was right. As he heard the pounding
of feet behind him, he ran swiftly until he reached the bush. The boys
continued to chase him, he ran until he reached a tall tree. In a hurry, he
climbed the tree. The boys were confused, “Where is that stupid boy?” they
asked one another.
After a few
minutes of thorough searching, the boys left in anger, wondering where he had disappeared
to. Oluchukwu looked left and right, the
boys were nowhere in sight and he came down from the tree. “It’s lucky that I
help my mom in the farm, I was able to climb that tree with ease”, he thought.
The rest of
the trek home, Oluchukwu was on the lookout for the bullies. He was afraid the
boys were hiding somewhere near and would spring out from nowhere and beat him
up. As he continued the trek, he heardthe sound of pounding feet again and his
heart skipped. He started running as fast as his legs could carry him. Soon, he got tired and decided to turn back
to see whether the chase was still on him. He turned back only to find that an
old woman was chasing her nanny goat. Oluchukwu stopped running. He helped the
old woman catch her goat and she was really grateful to him.
While eating
dinner that night, Oluchukwu told his parents how his day had gone. He
expressed delight at being able to finally go back to school. He explained that
exams would be coming up soon and he would have to read very hard to pass. He
was determined to pass the exam. Every night before going to bed, Oluchukwu
read with his kerosene lamp.
On the day
of the exam, Oluchukwu did very well and he passed the exam. That evening,
there was a knock on the door. “Poi, poi, poi!” Oluchukwu ran to answer the door.
He opened the door and to his surprise, Mr. Nubuezee was standing happily at
the door. “Papa! Papa! Onye nkuzi is here!” Oluchukwu called. Chike came out
wearing a white singlet that was now brown with holes all over. Chike welcomed
Mr. Nubuezee and Oluchukwu back with two stools and a bowl of kolanuts.
When kola
had been eaten, Chike spoke up. “Has my son done any wrong? Let me discipline
him!”
“No! he has
not, rather he has made us all proud! I am happy to tell you that your son will
be joining those who will be writing the big exam”. Mr. Nubueze said. Chike was
overjoyed. “Obioma! Obioma o!” he called his wife. Obioma came rushing out.
“What is it
my husband?” she asked
Chike told
her the good news and they prepared with Oluchukwu for the big exam.
CHAPTER
THREE
The exam
came and went and Oluchukwu was the only one from his school that passed. When
the good news reached Chike, he was overjoyed. There was jubilation. Obioma and
Chike danced until they were tired and their feet ached. Oluchukwu was now on
scholarship. He was happy but a little sad that he would not be staying with
his parents anymore. He was admitted into the famous Cambridge University and
was excited about his stay.
Years later
when Oluchukwu had graduated from the University and had become a medical
doctor, he was driving along the road one day when he saw someone waving him
down. He pulled over and took a glance at the person. It was his old classmate
and friend who had mocked and bullied him when they were both small. It was the
chief’s son, Chukwumobimi. “Aaah! My friend, I have not seen you since I came
back. I have missed you despite what you did to me!” Oluchukwu exclaimed. They
hugged each other and Chukwumobimi spoke up “I have missed you too but I will
forever live in this village because I did not work hard enough.” Oluchukwu
patted his friend on the back. “My friend, it is never too late.” And with
that, he entered his car and drove away. “Hardwork does pay.” he thought to
himself.
The
End.
Written by Ekeoma Onyebuienye
A primary five pupil of Hopespring Foundation school.
Written by Ekeoma Onyebuienye
A primary five pupil of Hopespring Foundation school.
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