PARENTS FOR HIRE
The things we got up to whilst in high school were memorable and somewhat stupid-when we reminisce about them. I belong(ed) to a very wonderful set of boys called JOGS 8893 SET and a good number of us remain good friends till date, just as we were years ago in JOGS.
We had a rich blend of the good, the bad and the ugly and it made the authorities try to tighten their grip on us but in the end, we always found our way to beat the system, with our favorite pastime being breaking bounds most especially the boarders. When we got to SS2, we unleashed a reign of interesting illegalities on the school and got the principal fed up to a point that he resorted to suspension on a regular basis. The school fence was low at a side of our class block and that was our getaway spot most times when we went out for parties, to the cinemas, to buy moi moi and whatever you could think of whenever we were bored and wanted to shake the school a bit.
One event I vividly remember was when a group of us organized a “jeans/mini skirt carnival with our pocket monies when others had gone home for the break not knowing there was a mole amongst us and of course that should be expected. The event was slated for the day after Salah but plans swung into action just a month before the Salah celebration and everything went according to plan till the day of the event which started so slowly and we became apprehensive it was going to be a flop but alas, the party went into full swing later in the night and we got into all kinds of what teens get up to when they tasted freedom( pls don’t ask me) till the very early hours of the morning when we were supposed to return to school for resumption. We were all lined out the following morning and the list was as accurate as you could get while the whole school including the not so innocent ones (we had various caucuses in my set) stared at us as we got our verdicts; of course we were suspended and asked to bring either of our parents on the appointed date.
And so the rat race began and off we went into town in search of rented fathers (who born u well to go home) to play according to scripts. The D-day we had all been waiting for came and we sauntered into school one after the other with our “so called” parents but a couple of us actually brought their real ones. One of us came into school with his mum and just as they were entering the school gate, another notorious one who was serving a daily punishment on the school field cutting the grass started hailing him oblivious of the fact that he was with his mum apparently thinking he had done the usual with a rented mum and one can imagine the kind of look on his mum’s face. As we lined into the principal’s office one after the other we listened as our “parents” pleaded. One who came with his real uncle tried altercating the discussion and he got an instant screamer of a slap from his uncle and the next thing that came out of his mouth was that the federal government will surely hear about the slap. Everyone roared in laughter which angered the principal more but what could he do as we had already served our punishment of two weeks suspension both from the hostel and school. Our dear “Mr. Lit” having rented a bros from a very popular barbing salon opposite the school overstretched his laughter and also got a less than mild slap from his rented uncle to make him shut up, the scripts were playing out just as we planned. Sensing that this may not be his real uncle, the principal gave a verdict that he was not impressed with the slap. Ha, Mr. Prispal, na only you waka come? The rest of us played out our script so well that the suspicion wasn’t as high as some others.
We were going back into the school and hostel to reunite with our guys and we were released back into their fold at break time when everyone was out of their classes. Expectedly, we were well received by everyone with hailings, backslapping and what have you; in the full glare of the authorities and our parents who were just leaving while they watched in utter consternation. What more could they do than smile; these boys will never learn. We still do not know the mole who gave us away till today.
