A stolen childhood by Onyeoziri Favour

Somewhere between my over an hour long chat with Okey my childhood friend, i had to confess that i would never forgive Ifeanyi for being the reason why my mum never bought me a bicycle as a Child.
Okey quickly grasped the meaning of what i said, seeing that he too and indeed many of us in the same class were robbed of the opportunity to earn any extra gifts from our parents, not because he intentionally set out to do so, but he was to blame nonetheless. The thing is that Ifeanyi was a natural genius, anything related to academics and books had his maximum interest and inclination. Whether he read or not was inconsequential as far as his position in class was concerned, his first position was automatically guaranteed no matter how hard the other members of the class studied or how excellently and legibly well they wrote. Thank God it was impossible for a single person to come both first and second positions in the same class, else Ifeanyi would have left all of us scrambling for third to last places. Not that it mattered anyways since the only position

that ever mattered to any of our parents and indeed mine was the first position. Coming first in class more often than not attracted gifts and special treats from one's parents, while second position till fifth attracted a mere pat on the back and admonition to do more, considering that the person who came first "does not have two heads". Once my mum noticed that i had a fate-induced flair for second place position, she immediately adjusted the terms of her promises accordingly. Every time i came up with one outrageous demand or the other, instead of my Mum waving it off as wishful thinking, she would instead oblige to grant me such a request only on the condition that i came first in class. Now that the ball was in my court, i had no choice than to wait for that school term to end, while hoping against hope that by some stroke of fate, Ifeanyi's luck would run out and i would finally put my mum in a position where she would have no other choice than to fulfil her promises. Term after term left me with nothing but a pat on the back, no wristwatches, no toys, no Bicycle, nothing but a pat on the back and the accompanying 'does the person that took first have two heads?' That was the most annoying and confusing question anyone could tell a student who just came second place. I was sure that Ifeanyi undoubtedly had just one head like the rest of us, the question i couldn't answer however was what exactly was special about him that had left him swimming in the ocean of first position while the rest of us played at the shores.

One fateful day, news filtered in that Ifeanyi was going to write common entrance in primary five, thereby foregoing primary six. When i got home that day, i went on my knees and earnestly begged God to facilitate the actualisation of that Rumour. Truly, He Did. When we resumed School in Primary Six, Ifeanyi was absent throughout the first week, then on Monday of the second week, he made an appearance, just to come show-off the fact that he is now a big boy and had commensurately gained admission into High School. I was overjoyed! Finally, Mum would have to buy my bicycle and every other goodie she had tactfully evaded these past years, yes! Finally i would automatically ease into the first place from my traditional second place position. That term was the best term of my life, i executed my assignments, wrote my tests and murdered my examination with extreme finesse, but when i went for my result, there was a problem. True, my name was written on the result card, but the position didn't reflect my expectation, i saw 'second' written clearly both in letters and alphabets. I quickly perused my scores in the different subjects and there was nothing strange, except for the usual 'D' grade in mathematics, but that wasn't strange either, since i had never scored above 'D' in the subject. Well, i rushed off to my class teacher for the gross error to be corrected, but to my utter dismay, She congratulated me for coming second in class, while scolding me for allowing 'that' Nnamdi to grab the first position ahead of me. Whaaat! Nnamdi came first? Nnamdi who had just joined us in Primary six, Nnamdi who transferred from Enugu? Nnamdi the Dude that always had the answers to the questions i couldn't answer and vice-versa? Nnamdi with bow legs and Ibo accent? Nnamdi Scored a 'B' in Mathematics, Nnamdi made sure i didn't cheat fate and so i went home with my one hundredth second position result. Throughout second term, i only talked to Nnamdi whenever it was absolutely necessary. We became unattractive just like the North pole and South pole, the class was divided betwixt I, the known evil and Nnamdi who had emerged from the blues to ensure that the status quo was maintained. Today, as i sit in this bus seat, my panama cap barely covering the fringes of my overgrown hair, i remember the two boys who prepared me for a future fraught with second place positions or less. Ten years from now, Isaac the dude who made sure i had the second best result in my university class may be the antagonist in my thoughts, but today, the brute of my grudge lies between Ifeanyi and Nnamdi for barring my Childhood from Toys and Gifts.