‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’ Since our mean deputy head Wangu Wa Makeri discovered that the school head Mr Okonkwo had been by passing her and calling Annette for updates on the affairs at Meta Meta secondary school while attending the Heads Conference at Mombasa, she has thrown up a mega tantrum.
She has been behaving as if, other than being Okonkwo’s Depa, there was some other ‘manenos’ between the two. During last Monday’s morning assembly, she refused to address the school and welcome Okonkwo back from ‘Mwambao’. According to the Meta Meta pecking order, she is usually the last to speak before inviting the principal.
Any teacher who breaches this protocol is immediately reminded that she is number two. The tantrum she throws reminds one of the protocol wars during the ‘Nusu Mkate’ government of Tinga and Mzee Emilio. Her inaction on Monday led to an awkward moment as Okonkwo kept on looking over his shoulder until the students who had sensed the animosity broke into whistles and catcalls.
It was Vasco Da Gama, the teacher on duty, who saved the situation. All the while, she stood defiantly at the back typing away on her Techno Tablet. She refused to attend the break time briefs and concerned colleagues led by Madam Flo asked Magarita, HOD guidance and counseling, who also doubles up as the C.U patron to counsel her.
Self-imposed exile
Magarita who claims to carry all Meta Meta’s spiritual burdens on her shoulders took the opportunity to declare that she had foreseen such. “God is unhappy with Meta Meta. Unless the school turns to him, what happened at Sodom and Gomorrah will be nothing compared to what will happen here,” she declared, eyes half closed — an indication that perhaps she was receiving instructions from Jehovah Himself.
“There are demons tormenting Meta Meta and unless they are exorcised, there will be no peace,” she prophesied. When Gloria and her friends had turned a classroom into a night club under the guise of celebrating Gloria’s birthday, she had prayed and fasted over the matter. At the conclusion of the three day dry fast, she bought a bottle of anointing oil which she fortified with a pinch of salt for the purpose of cleansing the classrooms. Okonkwo and the BOM chairman, however, thwarted her plans.
And indeed things did get worse in a most dramatic way. Last Friday, during lunch hour, Wa Makeri was in herself-imposed exile in her office when the heavens-nay ceiling - opened up above her. A shower of dust cascaded down enveloping her. As she looked up, a student tumbled from the ceiling board and landed on the floor in front of her table. Screaming loudly, she hurled her techno tablet at the invader.
Her screams brought us to her office. The sight that met our eyes was rather comical. The normally immaculate Wa Makeri was covered in a fine layer of brown ceiling dust which made her bushy eyebrows and eye lashes look menacing. A dust covered form 2G boy sat on a ceiling board on the floor too stunned to talk while another clung to the rafters in the style of Bugoma’s ‘James Bond.’
“Kevo, come down!” thundered Thunder to the swinging legs. Thunder has the uncanny gift of identifying boys by funny items like their shoes. He had taken command of the situation as Wa Makeri was led out by Madam Flo. The two boys were marched to Okonkwo’s office to explain the reason for their apparent interest in the school’s roofs.
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