Where are your shoes?

By now it is no news that I am a twin. I have a younger brother who looks much like me. At least that's what people say. As much as beauty is in the eyes if the beholder so is resemblance. That's my quote. You may not validate it.

We went to the same primary school. A couple of miles from home which we gladly walked.

We lived in a Government Reserved Area for Civil Servants that worked with the Nigerian Railway Corporation at the Lagos Headquarters situated between Yaba and Oyingbo, Ebute Metta. It was a serene environment. We had a lot of games and relaxation centres even the prestigious St. Saviour's School was in the compound. The house were made with wooden frames and finishings like those of the country side.

You will agree with me that when you set an alarm to wake you and it rings as scheduled, you can decide to stop it and do the needful or sleep back, but for us we needed no alarm to wake us to prepare for school. The early morning trains were enough for that purpose( Just that it wasn't the kind of alarm you switch off and sleep back). The horns were louder than a Rock band's state of the art sound gadgets.  Even the baby in the womb will ask for the an ear plug to  be protected from the  deafening horn producing about 140 decibels  (some even reach up to 152 decibels).

So our day starts with reluctance. We don't feel like waking, we don't feel like brushing our teeth and we ran from bathing as though it will hurt us. If we manage to bath, you will hear screems like those in the horror movies. Ask my Elder Sister (Sis B), she can testify. And after the "war" has ended in the bathroom we don't want to go to school. The look on our faces  will make you think we were being sent to an old grandma's house known for emotionless discipline. Maybe that was what those eight hours we spent in our classrooms were actually(Don't tell my teachers I said so.lo). Bells rung for break time were our escape(nothing like short or long breaks then).

So wasn't there a day we were willing to go to school? Were there no times we were excited to embark on the journey to grandma's? Hmmm...actually there were a couple of times we wanted to go at least before we became matured enough to know why. A motivation was the driver. Mum and Dad knew how to do just that. Apart from the usual way of including special goodies in our food packs they did something else.

Has is ever happened to you that you have a big day tomorrow and you could barely sleep a night before because the praying mantis in your adrenal glands wouldn't rest? That was our case. Mum and Dad will get us new stuffs as part of our school uniforms and going to school will suddenly be our top priority. We will even be the ones to wake them.

One of such times they got us new pairs of school shoes one pair for each of us. O boy! Sleep disappeared as we kept watch gazing at the wall clock for the dawn to come out from wherever it was hiding. The anticipation was high as we check ed the shoes out from time to time as if we were protecting them from disappearing. We kept trying them on a couple of times until we dozed off.

By the morrow, you could be sure who woke up first. We did! Got ready for school and super ready to try our shoes out and show them off. We made a display. We were noticed. We were almost raising our legs up instead of our hands when we opted to answer questions in class just for the shoes to be recognised. Every minute, we visit the shoes will brush and duster to keep it shinning.

"Now the day is over, night is drawing near..." was the school song for closing the day(the school that did not sing that song, is that one a school...lol). We barely sang the second part("Glory to the Father...") when a cloudless rain stared drizzling. We were on our way home when my younger brother called our attention to the stains on our shoes. Ahhh!!! Our precious shoes. Guess what we did. We removed them since it will keep getting stained due to the rain. Walked home bare footed.

Sighting us from the window upstairs, Mum thought didn't see well. Until we got inside the house and she confirmed what she saw. She shouted "Where are your shoes?" With guilty faces we brought them out of our bags and you can imagine what happened to our buttocks that day(A typical Nigerian Mum's disciplin). We dare not do that again. In fact, the next day, we wore them to sleep. Lol.

If I had known, I would suggested a raincoat for our shoes, our precious shoes. Lol.

Day  Three...

You  can drop your comments on any silly thing you did while growing up. Moral perversion should be avoided , please.

Cheers!!!