"Ojo, are you not going to school? Why are you still lying down by this time?" My dad called on me from the sitting room.
I raised my blanket to look at the clock hung in my room. It was a few minutes before 7 am. I didn't respond.
After a few minutes, he walked into my room and tapped on me to wake me.
"You have to get up and prepare for school," my dad said to me as he tapped repeatedly.
"My head is hurting, dad. I am cold too." I began to shiver under the blanket.
"Headache? When did that start?" He asked me.
"It started over the night," I responded to him.
"You have to take some medications and stay back at home for today."
That was the comment that I needed. I buried my head under the blanket and smiled. Mission accomplished.
"Okay dad," I responded in a shaking voice.
My father got me the drugs and my breakfast before leaving for the farm.
"Call me if your situation isn't improving," he concluded before leaving the house.
My two siblings prepared for school and left. The attended a different school. My mother had traveled to another state and she was expected to spend a week before returning. The care of my siblings and I were under my dad.
Immediately my dad left for the farm, I flung my blanket aside, jumped up a few times on the mattress in excitement before finding my way to the bathroom. I quickly brushed my teeth and washed my face. I went to the kitchen to eat my breakfast. All these were accomplished within ten minutes.
I locked the door to the house and headed straight to CMS field, a popular open field where kids, mostly out of school, play football all day. I joined the kids to play football.
In those days, if you placed food and football side-by-side for me to pick one, I would go for football.
I played for hours with the other kids before remembering to go back home. I asked for the time from one of the players with a wristwatch and I was told that the time was 12 pm. I quickly picked my shoes and ran home. On a normal day, my father used to return from the farm by 4 pm but since to him, I wasn't feeling well that day, his time of return could be anytime.
As I was approaching our house, I sighted the sitting room windows wide opened. I slowed down my move to imagine who could have arrived home at that time. "My mother? My siblings? No, it can't be anyone among them."
"My dad is back from the farm," I told myself confidently.
I diverted my movement and went to a public borehole to wash my legs and hands and to brush my pants. "I can't allow my appearance to give me away easily," I'd thought.
When I finally stepped on the entrance of the sitting room, the question that came out of my father's mouth was; "where are you coming from?"
Lies of different kinds competed in my head. I was contemplating on which one to spew out that would convince my father. My few minutes of silence didn't go down well with him. He directed me to kneel down at a corner of the room.
"When you are ready to tell me where you are coming from, you will stand up," he concluded.
He turned the television to his favorite channel and forgot me in my kneeling position for hours. I knew that I was in trouble.
I was still in the same position when I heard a knock on the door. My dad opened the door and I couldn't believe who I saw, Mr Ade, my class teacher. As I set my eyes on him, I wished that the ground could open so that I entered.
"You are welcome, Mr Ade," my father welcomed him. "Please have your seat.
"I believe you have come to find out why your son wasn't in school today."
"Ojo," my father called me. "Tell your teacher why you weren't in school today."
I raised my head to look at both faces before considering what to say.
"I was feeling a headache in the morning," I responded with my face back to the ground.
"If you provoke me, I will slap your mouth that you are using to lie," my dad flared up.
"What's the problem, Sir?" Mr Ade asked.
"This boy told me in the morning that he was having a headache," my father began. "I got him drugs and prepared breakfast for him. His siblings left for school while I left for the farm. When I arrived at the farm, I realized that I left the seed that I went to plant at home. I came back immediately to pick the seed. I arrived home and couldn't find Ojo. This happened in just less than 30 minutes from the time that I left the house initially. I decided to remain at home till he returned. This boy returned home four hours later, with dirty clothes. He lied that he was having a headache in order to avoid going to school."
"Playing around the community is now more important to you than going to school. You are in trouble," he turned to give me the snippet of what was awaiting me.
Without being told, I knew that I was in trouble. The revelation that he came back home shortly after he left for the farm was enough to tell me the level of trouble that I was in.
"Mr Ade, see your student."
Mr Ade turned and shook his head before explaining what brought him.
"Ojo, when did you start these stubborn habits?
"He fought with his classmate in school yesterday. I told both of them that they were going to receive their punishment today for flouting the rules of the school. To my utmost surprise, I didn't see him in school today. That's why I have come to find out what he might have told you to stay out of school."
I turned to look at my father and I saw his upper teeth hitting the lower lip gently. I knew that Mr Ade had come to add fuel to the fire.
"Thank you for deeming it fit to come and find out the challenge yourself. Please, whatever the stipulated punishment for fighting in your school is, I want you to double it for this boy," my father told Mr Ade.
Mr Ade left the house a few moments later.
My father took me inside the room. He read my offenses to my hearing before unleashing the punishment on me. I regretted my actions right there in the room.
The following day, I faced the music in school.
That was the last time that I faked sickness to avoid going to school for any reason. I also stopped fighting with my mates no matter the provocation.