CHAPTER TEN
--The conscious efforts we put in daily makes the opportunity a moment of Victory--- Marcus Chidinma Glory
The bell rang for break and she immediately packed her books and hurried down to his office, anxious to show him her write up.
"This is a great improvement, Helen!" He exclaimed and asked her to sit.
"When you write use a catchy introduction. You don't have to start with, what is failure? Almost everyone will start that way, be unique, you can start like this instead.- the trend of happenings around, causes me to wonder if all is well. A Nation that was meant to be a place with peace and prosperity, free of poverty and sickness is now a home of flies. The land of milk and honey is now a place of feast for demons seen in human flesh. A mixture of hatred and injustice has become a daily occurrence. What went wrong?"
She nodded her head and looked at him in awe.
"You must make your readers hungry to read your write ups. I like your improvement. You know what? We will have practice everyday after school hours till your first week of exams" He said gesturing with his hands.
"After your exams, we will continue everyday till the day of the competition" He continued and ended his statement with raised brows as though he dared her to disagree with his new plans.
She thought for a moment about the stress, he seemed to read her thoughts as his next question proved that.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes, I am Sir" She replied even though she was far from ready. As she walked down the hall back to her classroom, she thought of how grand it will be when she gets the award but...
"Will I ever get to that stage?" She asked herself as she entered the classroom and sat down.
"Where have you been?" Sarah whispered.
"Mr Ben's Office"
"Doing what?"
"Why do you have that look on your face?"
"I am just puzzled because you have written your tests. Haven't you?"
"That's true, but I am practicing for Day of Words." Helen replied with a smile.
"You?" Sarah asked and laughed.
"Common tell me something else" She continued with more laughter.
"Why are you laughing?" Helen asked surprised at the laughter.
"Why shouldn't I laugh? Helen of all people going for a competition" Sarah replied throwing her hands in the air and the girls nearby who heard her giggled.
"That's not funny!" Helen replied as the teacher entered the class. Throughout the day, Helen never forgot her statement not even when Brett came over to meet her during sports hour.
"Maybe she was right, why should I go? Who am I?" She questioned herself.
********
She didn't wait after school hours to see Mr Ben.
"To hell with the competition! I am not even good!" She thought to herself as she walked past the streets. A car glided past.
"I thought we were supposed to meet after school?" He questioned.
Helen turned shocked, "What's all this, must I go for this competition?" She asked herself under her breath frowning.
"Helen I am asking you a question?"
"I am sorry Sir!"
"Don't sorry me Helen, come inside the car and explain why you left"
She obeyed but kept quiet.
"Start talking!"
"Erm..I..tho..ugh.t..of..telling.. my..aunty..that.I..needed..to..wait" She stammered.
"Is that the reason? I don't think so" He said looking at her intently.
"Sir I am not qualified" She blurted out after some seconds.
"Woah!" Mr Ben said clapping his hands.
Helen bent her head.
"Why did you say that?" He asked as his face turned serious.
"I am just a girl from..."
"Exactly! A local girl from the small country of Lesotho, Who doesn't even know her Nigerian Origin right?" He asked her shouting.
"What's your name?" He questioned as she cringed in fear.
"My name is Helen Adams" She replied slowly and quietly.
"What did you win?"
"I can't win. I am a nobody! Please look for someone else" She replied with tears and opened the door to leave.
"Who told you that? Who told you?" He asked shaking her by the shoulders and pulling her back inside.
"When I told my classmate...."
"Which of them?"
"Sarah Williams Sir" She replied still shaking.
"So you think Sarah Williams has a the power to define you right?" Mr Ben asked angrily.
Helen didn't answer.
"Is she God? Answer me"
"No Sir"
"What did God say?"
The young girl kept mute because she didn't know anything about what God said.
"Go to the back seat and open that Bible to 1 Peter 2:9"
She obeyed and opened it.
"Read it out aloud"
"But you are a chosen people...."
"Stop"
"Okay Sir"
"So back to my question, what does God say about you?"
"I am a chosen one!"
"If you are chosen of God, why are you thinking about what Sarah said? If you are chosen, how can you fail? If you don't know your background, it doesn't matter, because you have a background with God" She looked at him, it sounded impossible to be true.
"Open to Ephesians three verse twenty and read it out loud"
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us"
"Stop and close your eyes"
Helen obeyed.
"Imagine yourself winning"
She tried to imagine.
"Imagine your audience clapping and cheering you on"
She tried to do so too.
"Now read that verse again"
She read it and then he asked.
"Can God do what you just imagined?"
"Yes He can" She replied.
"So what's your name?"
"My name is Helen Adams"
"What did you win?"
"The Star Prize of the Day of Words"
"Now you are talking, let me take you to your Aunt" He said and started driving and as she drove, she kept on reading Ephesians 3: 20.
********
They entered the house and for some seconds, Aunty Eva forgot her manners, she was just staring at Mr Ben.
"Good afternoon ma'am, I am Mr Ben." He said and stretched forth his hands for a handshake. She took it reluctantly still looking at his face with that wide grin as though she just saw a miracle.
"I am Helen's teacher" He continued his introduction.
"This is one handsome face" She thought and aloud she said "She told me so"
"Alright" Mr Ben replied and removed his hand.
"Is he married?" She asked herself, she looked at his fingers in a flash for any visible signs of a ring. She was glad when she found none.
"Forgive my manners,you can have your seat" She said to him and gave him a fantastic smile. She turned to face Helen who had an amused smile on her face.
"Get him a drink" Aunty Eva instructed.
When he was done, he explained to Aunty Eva the real cause of his visit, that Helen will be having rehearsals everyday. Aunty Eva replied that it was okay by her as long as Helen came back before six.
"Thank you" Mr Ben replied.
"It's my pleasure. Helen deserves the best" Aunty Eva said.
"Sure" he said and announced that he was leaving.
As soon as his car left the school premises, Aunty Eva walked to the kitchen where Helen stood with a spoon in her hand. It was obvious she had just finished stirring the soup.
"Why didn't you tell me your teacher was coming, I would have dressed properly" Aunty Eva started with a surprised look.
"Aunty!"
"You don't know, any young man is a potential husband"
"Holy Christ born on Christmas!, no wonder you stared as though you were looking at a ghost!"
"He is so handsome. I couldn't stop staring"
"He must have noticed" Helen said as she remembered that her teacher had a knack for observing things.
"I pray he returns!"
"Jesus! Aunty you are behaving like a school girl"
"Is that bad?"
"No"
"So...?"
"What are you planning to do?"
"I won't do anything, I just wish he would see me more than your aunty and start thinking of me like an available young woman"
Helen shook her head laughing.
"I need to get married"
"That's true though" Helen replied sadly.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"I was just thinking...If you get married, where will I stay?"
"You will move in with me, you silly head" her Aunty replied pushing her slightly and laughing.
"You're the best Aunty!" She said and hugged her tightly.
********
Ben drove back to his house deep in thought. He didn't expect Helen's Aunty to be so young. For some reasons, he thought she lived with a married woman.
"She is beautiful" He whispered as he remembered her smiles and the smooth skin of her oval shaped face.
"Now, what's this?" He asked himself as he caught his smiling reflection in the mirror. He laughed at himself for considering a relationship with the young woman.
"The woman hadn't even said her name" He thought. He hoped that she bore a name that will fit her beautiful look. It has been long he got into a relationship and he didn't want Helen to misunderstand his help towards her.
He turned on his music as he continued his thoughts.
"What if she had a boyfriend?" That will be the most disappointing thing. Few years ago, he dated a young lady for a year and a half before realising that she went out with almost every man in town. It was so embarrassing when he found out. He was out with friends and they had been having fun until he showed them a picture of the woman that stole his heart away.
"Lilian is your girlfriend?" His friend, Mike, was the first to ask.
"Yes, what's wrong?" Ben countered back surprised at the tone of his voice.
"She is my girlfriend. I just left her place now"
"Impossible!" Ben asked looking shocked.
The worse of it all was when Mike showed him the pictures on his phone, he looked in disgust as the girl posed in several intimate positions and not only that, on further discovery, she went out with three other men he knew.
He was shattered after then and decided not to love a woman again. But Helen's Aunty had triggered some kind of response in him and it was as though when she gazed at him, she opened the keys to his closed heart.
He drove into his compound and parked his car. It was wise to put thoughts of the woman aside until he found more about her character. He couldn't afford to make any more mistakes, he thought as he made his way into the house, going straight to the kitchen for a nice meal and finally resting for a while until it was 5pm when he would begin to read.