Meg Searches
Meg fights off a short stocky lone bully who slaps him without provocation and challenges him to a fight. Many eyes on him, he lets the assault go without retaliation or complaint. Meg, a tall slim good-looking soft-looking boy with a sharp clean haircut stands looking much older than his twelve years of age at the gate of Kings College, Ikoyi.
The school was the premier school in Nigeria for several decades till recent years when the government began de-funding education in the country. Kings College retains high prestige through its alumni that forever feature in the Who is Who of Nigeria.
The boy is waiting at the school’s gate for a ride home in sweltering heat with no breeze to avail his sweating. He uses his forefinger to wipe sweat off his forehead to avoid its saltiness getting into his eyes. Earlier, bullies have taken the two hankies he brought to school this morning.
“Meg! Have you been misbehaving again?” his mother asks from inside her car after opening the electric windows, her eyes blazing at him for no reason strangers can tell.
“No. I’ve done nothing,” Meg says, his face as fallen as shocked.
“Why is your shirt pocket ripped?” his mother inquires scrutinising him with keen unfriendly eyes.
“I don’t know,” he says.
“Eh! Get into the car before I lose my temper with you. Do you know what it took me to get you into Kings College and all you do is get into fights, whine about bullies and do poorly in your exams.”
“Mummy why don’t you believe me when I tell you Coker’s son and his gang of boys bully me any time they can, daily.”
“Meg, look here, Ojukwu attended this school. He slapped his white teacher in colonial times because of regular punishments. He was only ten. You are twelve and you can’t even slap the boys bullying you? You want me to slap them for you?”
“No. If I do that you will punish me like the school will,” he says.
His mother tries to open her driver’s seat door to come out but a rethink stops her.
“Are you a sissy?”
“No, mummy.”
His mother goes silent fuming with anger at Meg.
Perplexed he opens the back seat door of his mother’s Lexus and enters. The air-conditioning in the car provides him with relief, perhaps the only relief he would get for the rest of the day.
Home is local, less than a mile from the school. His father is an associate professor of actuarial studies at the University of Lagos and his mother is a manager at the Central Bank of Nigeria. Both his parents are statisticians and his older sister got a first-class bachelors and a distinction masters in statistics at the University of Sussex, England, her parents alma mater.
This is the possible reason his parents are hard on him. None of his grandparents went to university and his parents believe they pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. Meg in contrast, in his family’s eyes, is set to squander a great opportunity to become whatever he wants to be in life. He is no black sheep to his family; he is an alien. Meg forever feels dejection, isolation, and emotional neglect within his household. The only thing that could earn him his parents love and concern is top grades at school. Meg is not achieving them. He is the C+ student whose parents celebrate when he gets a B, a single A in his exams would guarantee him holidays overseas.
The only relative Meg is comfortable with and trusts is his doting maternal Granny. His granny’s love for his grandad is unquestioning. Grandad is in his seventies but still behaves like a twenty something on his exterior. Meg is a replica of Grandad. Meg’s mother resents her own father for undying laddish ways.
“Leave Meg alone, give him time. It is not easy to be a boy in these modern times. Be patient with him,” Granny would say often to his parents.
Madeline, his older sister, treats him the worst. His parents think her the perfect daughter and she believes that too with sanctimonious aplomb. She is thirteen years older than Meg and cannot stand him in any way. Candide was her nickname for Meg till he knew what it meant to her.
“Daddy, Madeline is calling me Candide meaning I am a fool.” He once told his father.
“Who told you Candide means fool?” his father asks.
“My teacher told me so,” he says.
“The book Candide has been on my bookshelf for thirty years. Have you ever read any books on my shelves?” his father further asks.
“No, daddy,” he says
“You see how not reading books makes a fool out of you. Go to your room, my friend!” his father yells.
He goes to his room feeling self-hate and frustration grow on his insides like a massless weight heavier than rocks. Someone knocks on his door. “Come in,” Meg says. Madeline enters his room eyeballing him.
“I will not call you Candide anymore. Your behaviour outs you as unintelligent every time if you don’t know. Accept my most sincere apologies little brother,” she says with biting sarcasm.
“My name is Meg!”
“Whatever!”
“Meg, Meg, we are going to the supermarket. Three minutes!” his mother yells from the living room. With helpless reluctance he goes downstairs to join his mother on a trip to the supermarket, an excuse for catching the latest gossip. Meg does not look forward to it, the wasteful hours of chatter that never interests him.
It’s yet, another bad day for Meg at home after a terrible day at school. Blanking his mind completely to his environment is his special defense mechanism. How else could he cope with the world?
Meg is short for Meghoghore (I am now happy/joyous). The name signifies joy after his parents inability to bear children after a thirteen year drought and along comes a boy looking like Grandad. Meg believes the name is a curse on him for he cannot remember much joy in his life. He once told his Granny that his name should have been Meriojabe (I have suffered for so long).
To be continued…
Be good, not Lucky
Grimot Nane