THE LEOPARD'S MIRROR (Part I)

as the first building ever raised when the school was founded. Its ground floor served merely as carports - one for the Principal's gleaming Mercedes-Benz and another for the Vice-Principal's

ar's office, the General Office, the

disrupting Mr. Ebube's heated lecture on plate tectonics. He stood like a

rincipal say make

nose. The boys had long called him "Computer" not because he knew technology, but because his memory was so efficient that he once reeled off

m dampness spread on the front of his shorts. One drop? Or two? He didn't know - only that it escaped without perm

thing serious, sometimes catastrophic. As Josiah marched him across the gravel toward the AD block, his thick-soled military boots crunching the pebbles with

he finally dared to ask as they approached t

ng. His voice carried no empathy - only the blunt delivery o

bladder pa

need toil

d become one of his quiet refuges. A place where one could think without being watched, where tiles were alway

e. "Why not Emeka too? It was his idea, not mine. I only fol

orchard at least once. It was like baptism. A daring act that earned you unspoken respect. And Emeka, ever the American, had

whose nightly prowls had exposed many boys studying by candlelight. But they had gone out earlier, well b

ce. Emeka had led the way, confident as ever. They had slithered past the tennis courts,

reamed when something sli

id of snakes? In Palo Alto we used to v

. They had changed plans, climbing the iron gate instead of the wall

s Josiah hammered

ou dey born p

long walk up the stairs felt

ffice, Ugochukwu met a d

ating a comical arc as he leaned forward. He wore a white shirt with sleeves rolled to the elbows, sweat glistening on his bald head

aid you must come home today. I tried to decline, but your House Master, Mr. Eigbe, thought we should let you go. S

at was it? Not the or

. Thank y

ir classrooms in a white wave, heading toward the dining hall.

ened? Are

ukwu replied. "They said m

immediately, fading

ian and one of the College Prefec

, ple

heard you were summoned. Hope yo

ily sent word. The Princip

ed out his wallet and handed over five shillings. "Take

ut Wale's soft-spoken nature also birthed bizarre rumours. That he was too pretty

kind. That's

d why he'd been summoned. His school was six kilometers from town, p

sick," he tho

sly ill. Then a new idea lit up his mind: maybe it was

his pace

al spirits had attended that night. He had stood proud, swallowing back fear, as he was presented to the ancestral host. He had crossed the threshold from

ivileges during the Ikeji Festival. Sc

the public square at Ukwu Udala. A sp

du-me!" it

sponded, stand

lutching his arm in awe, as spir

, red dust of Umueke filled his nostrils. Bag in hand, he began the sh