The Custodian Read online

CHAPTER 3

  Months had passed since the introduction of the illegal development fee by Mr Solanke and his staff. They now made more money than they made before the introduction of the free education policy by the governor of the state. Over just a few months, the fee had increased by fifty percent. Robert, who was greatly infuriated with the way injustice was dominant in the school, decided that it was time he did something about it. He wrote a letter to the school principal and tagged it, “From: The Custodian.” Mr Solanke arrived at school about an hour after the students had been in class: late coming by teachers was no crime in Waterfall High School. As he approached his office, he could read anger on the faces of his vice and other members of the staff. He moved closer and observed a letter in the hands of Mrs Sarah. On sighting him, he was welcomed and the letter was passed to him. Before going to his office, he carefully perused through the contents of the letter from an anonymous fellow simply called, “The Custodian”. The contents of the letter was very shocking to him, even as the self-acclaimed custodian wrote in the letter that he was a student of the school and was infuriated about the imposition of illegal fees on them. He warned the principal to stop the collection of the illegal fees or risk regretting a continuance of the practice. Mr Solanke was astounded, “What!!!!!!” Exclaimed, Mr Solanke, ”Call all the students to the assembly ground immediately.” He instructed. In no time, all the students gathered in front of the principal’s office, waiting to know the cause of the sudden call. Mr Solanke asked the student if any of them was nick-named, “The Custodian.” He was highly disappointed when he realized that none of the students knew anyone among them who bore the alias. He then read the letter to their ears and warned the students that any form of misconduct by any student in reaction to the imposition of the development fees would not be tolerated. He further assured them that whosoever wrote the letter would soon be fished out and expelled from the school. All the students returned to their classes, happy that someone was bold enough to challenge the corrupt principal. Many prayed the fellow who wrote the letter would be able to come up with something that would put an end to the situation, while others mockingly suggested that the letter must have been written by a drunken student, who just felt like doing something comic. As the closing time for school came close, David came to Robert and told him he had something to discuss with him. They both left the class and headed for their usual relaxation center, underneath a big tree in the school compound, located at a point which was out of the view of the teachers and principal, whose offices were far from the tree. As they walked up to their relaxation point, David demanded to know who had written the letter. Smiling as usual, Robert asked David whom he thought was responsible for the letter. “You wrote it,” replied David. Robert simply nodded his head in return, affirming he was “The Custodian.” David was almost speechless. He was scared of what would happen if the school found out the fellow behind the letter. However, Robert tried to allay his fear and assured him that he would be very smart in his attempt to ensure justice was done in the school. On further insistence by David that Robert should not go further in his attempt, his first opposition to any of his plans since they had been friends, Robert turned red eyes to him and said, “Keep a good head if you will, I am not asking you to join me in this. You are free to stay away from my plan. If you are scared of being caught with me, cease to be my friend, but I won’t have you stand up to my way.” David was shocked and confused. Never had he seen Robert in such a mood. Being a gentle boy, he tried to explain that he was only trying to protect Robert from getting into trouble and would never cease to be Robert’s friend even in death. Robert felt sorry for his sharp reaction and apologised. He further assured David that his plan would succeed and soon, all the students would be set free from exploitation by the school administrators. Robert carefully explained his proposed plan tagged, “Roadmap of Freedom.” David was greatly impressed by the proposed plan and he agreed to be a part of it, however he warned Robert to be careful with it and to be prayerful. On hearing about prayer, Robert called David a pastor and confessed that he greatly admired his closeness to God. David was well known for his emphasis on prayer and holy living. Robert was a free thinker before he met David but months after they became friends, David helped Robert to become a Christian and had since then been helping him to grow spiritually. The closing bell rang and they all packed their school bags to head for their various homes. David bid a goodbye to Robert and went to pick his bag in the class. Robert on the other hand was well known to stay in school after normal school hours. All he could boast of was a desolate home, hence, he often stayed behind to read his books alone in class after all other students had gone home. Soon, the school compound was almost deserted and he left the tree and headed for his class to begin his studies. As he passed by one of the departments of the fifth year students, Robert spotted a young girl in one of the empty classes. She was 17 years of age, tall and dark in complexion. She sat alone crying. Robert secretly walked straight into the class, sat beside her, and quietly demanded to know why she was crying. The young girl was a bit shocked to look up and find him beside her, as she was so lost in her grief, that she hardly noticed that anyone walked into the class. For a long time, she had always secretly wished she was much close to him so he could help her with her studies. Robert was the best student among his mates but the young girl, Jane, was an average student. She thanked him for his concern but told him it was a private issue and she wouldn’t want to share it with anyone. Robert was not the type that easily gave up on his curiosity, hence, he pressed further to know what was wrong with Jane. Jane thought of the possibility of the event getting her closer to him and she opened up. ”Everyone says I am a bad girl, I have no friend in the class and no one likes me,” lamented, Jane. Robert felt the pains the young girl was going through and decided to see her from a different point of view so as to help her out of her worries. “Don’t cry Jane, no matter how bad you are, I would be your friend, I would do everything I can to make you a good girl and I will always love you as I love all my friends”, said Robert. The young girl felt like the happiest in the world. She wondered if she was dreaming, she cleaned her tears and all she could manage to utter was, “Thank you. I will be your friend too.” Jane picked her bag and headed for home. Robert accompanied her to the school gate exit and they bid each other goodbye. Robert returned to his class feeling happy that he was able to make someone happy. To him, life wasn’t just all about living a single and happy fellow. He always desired to be a hero who will fight for justice, possibly turn the sadness of every sad heart to happiness unlimited and generally make everyone happy. Jane was the happier one. She felt on top of the world that she had finally found a friend who would care about her. She was excited for the rest of the day. Having lost her parents to a ghastly car accident at the age of five, she lived with her uncle about 3 miles from Waterfall High School, who did not care about her. She grew up feeling unfortunate and wished she never existed, but her encounter with Robert made her to see life in a different way and she hoped the event would be the beginning of a new life for her.

  On a sunny morning, Mr Solanke stood in front of his office. He was there alone, restlessly deep in thoughts. Robert approached him and greeted him with utmost respect but the principal’s pensive mood took his ears too far away from his immediate environment to hear the greetings. Robert stood in front of him, waiting for him to regain his consciousness and respond. Almost immediately, to his shock, Mr Solanke turned around, opened his office door, but as he carried himself into his office, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He was very surprised to find Robert following him into his office. He did not bother to demand to ask why he was following him. In anger, he knocked him on the head. Robert could not understand his action. Mr Solanke accused Robert of failing to greet him. Smiling as always, Robert replied that he had greeted him but he probably did not hear his greetings. Annoyed, Mr Solanke asked if he looked like a deaf and dumb. It was obvious that the w
hole issue was gradually becoming more complicated, hence, rather than give further explanations, Robert decided to play a simple trick on him. He told Mr Solanke that he came to give him and the school a gift. The principal’s rising temper was immediately brought down when he heard this. He told Robert to come into his office. On entering into his office, Robert placed a bottle of palm wine on Mr Solanke’s desk.

  “That’s my good boy, thank you very much,” said the principal. Robert smiled and replied, “Don’t mention Sir, this is just for you, I have a gift for the whole school too.”

  “Really!” exclaimed Mr Solanke, who was so excited about Robert’s generosity. Robert then went on to explain that he observed that despite the fact that the school administration changed the school’s time keepers four times in just a term, none of them had done their work accurately and this often caused confusion in the school. Mr Solanke affirmed it was true and he urged Robert to proceed further. Robert went further to explain that he believed the best thing the school could do to solve the problem was to have a wall clock in every class, office and the teachers staff room. He then assured the principal that he was ready to buy all the whole clocks the school needed. Mr Solanke became more excited, he thanked Robert abundantly and prayed that he would be a success in life. Robert told him to keep the thanks and assured him that the third day, he would donate the wall clocks to the school. They both spent the next hours discussing on various issues pertaining to the school, especially concerning the reluctance of the students to pay the development fees. Robert agreed with every single statement he made, pretending that he was in full support of the corrupt practice of the school administration.

  Two days after Robert’s meeting with the principal, he went to school with a load of wall clocks. They weren’t just clocks, they were stealth cameras. He had ordered them from the United States, in his quest to fight to a dead end, the injustice being perpetrated by the school administration. Each clock had a port for SD cards, which could be attached to them to record videos. With the load of wall clocks, Robert came to school much earlier than anyone else. Jane arrived at school about ten minutes after. Having noticed Robert in his class, she dropped her bag in her class and went to greet him. Surprised to see the load of wall clocks which Robert brought to school, she requested to know what he intended to use them for and Robert replied he wanted to donate it to the school for use in all classes, offices and the teachers’ staff room. Excited, Jane commended him for his philanthropy, admitting that she had never met anyone as noble as Robert. However, she questioned the extension of his good gesture to the teachers and school administrators, reminding him that they were exploiting all students, therefore, they did not deserve to be helped with the wall clocks. Robert burst into laughter. Surprised and disappointed, Jane demanded to know why he was laughing. He apologized for replying her with such laughter but was quick to explain to her that it was impossible to separate the teachers from anything given to the school. Jane agreed, headed back to her class and picked up a broom to sweep her class. David was not surprised when he heard about the clocks he donated to the school because he was well aware of Robert’s plan. The principal, who often came late to school, was in school as early as 7:15 am. Preparations were made for the presentation of the gifts before all the students. At 7:30 am, all the students and teachers were all gathered at the assembly ground. After the usual songs, prayers and recitations of the national anthem and pledge, Mr Solanke left his office and walked to the assembly to address the students. Beaming with smiles, he greeted the students and informed them that one of them was presenting gifts to the school. They all looked at one another with surprises, wondering why any reasonable student would present gifts to such a school as Waterfall High School. However, they were glad to hear that the students would be benefitting much from the gifts. Robert was called to come before the students and each class captain was handed a wall clock for use in each class. It was a great day in the school, a memorable one for everyone, as the principal showered commendations on Robert and asked the students for understanding on the reasons for the collection of the development fees. Afterwards, Robert told the principal that he had something to tell everyone. The excited principal gave him his express permission. Robert held the microphone and began his speech, “I have a few things to tell everyone. Firstly, the clocks have a few advanced features which consume much battery, therefore, every week, I would purchase new batteries to replace the batteries in the wall clocks, this I would do from my own purse.” Rounds of applause thundered all over, as everyone admired the generosity of such a young man. Smiling, Robert continued his speech, “Thank you everyone for your encouragement. Today marks the beginning of new things. I believe in a better society where we all will live happily without hurting one another. This is not the last you will see, I am assuring all the students of Waterfall that many better things are coming to this school by the grace of God. God bless.” As he finished the speech, all the students came around him and thanked him profusely for his generosity. It was a beautiful morning, such which had never been seen in Waterfall High School. The school administrators never understood what he meant by saying better things were to come. Robert actually meant that the corrupt acts of the school administrators would soon come to an end. Like a hunter baits a bird, Robert set a great trap for the school administrators; like a blind prey, they hasted to embrace the bait, doomed to be trapped in the twinkling of an eye. Every day is for the thief and one day for the owner. That day began lurking around for the exploiters, who took delight in making life difficult for innocent people in the society. Robert was on the quest to bell the cat that had tormented them for so long.