Don’t get me wrong. I love to learn; my teachers and my friends were great, but there was just this one problem.
He’s name was Atama. In my humble opinion, this boy was a beast. Yes, that’s what I meant to say. He can be likened to a wild animal and till this day, I have no idea why he was allowed into a school with innocent children.
Atama was bigger than every one of us in the class. He had a big head, big belly, fat legs, flabby arms, huge yellow teeth, unkempt hair and his uniform was always filthy. This lad was a nightmare to all.
At lunch time, his food was never enough for him. Whenever he was done, he would stand up and begin to scavenge other people’s tables. From behind, he would snatch your lunch, leaving you with fork in midair. In no time, we had mastered his tricks. So while eating with the right hand, we held on to our food flasks tightly with our left hand. He too caught up with our trick and changed his tactic from surprise attack to being confrontational.
Anyone who tried to stop him from taking their lunch got yelled at. If that didn’t work, he would shove your food in your face, spilling it all over your uniform. We reported to our class teacher who would punish him continuously, yet he did not desist. He constantly tormented us. So we all asked our mothers to double up our lunches so we could give Atama half freely and then get to eat the remaining.
Unfortunately, this plan didn’t work. Atama was a beast; he always wanted it all. So rather than ruin our uniforms, we graciously surrendered all we had each time he asked until today.
I have had enough of Atama’s unruly behaviour. He probably doesn’t dread school like we all do because there’s no one to fear or worry about. I’m sure he wakes up excited everyday looking forward to break time when he gets to have a variety of international dishes. This was going to stop today and I was going to be the one to make it stop. While mummy prepared my meal, I told her to make it extra spicy and also put a lot of green vegetables in it. She gave me a puzzled look, but all I did was flash my tiny pearly whites. Then I proceeded to get the laxatives mother always gave me. I put a tablet in my juice flask and shook till it dissolved and then I went to school smiling.
I refused to tell my friends about it because I didn’t want to get them in trouble. Morning classes came to an end and it was time for lunch. Rather than go around the class, Atama made a bee line to my seat.
‘Give me your lunch.’ He said.
‘I’m hungry and I would like to eat it today for a change,’ I said.
He snickered and said, ‘Give me or else I would pour the contents on your head.’
I said nothing.
He made a move to take the food flask but I did not stop him. He then took both the food flask and the juice flask and then he left.
That was the very last time that Atama ate another person’s lunch.
Oluwaseyi Lawal
