Little Johnny walked home aimlessly, looking so tired, dejected, and devastated. He thought of so many things, first of all how his mother will deal with him for being so careless, he also thought of how his mother will spank him and might be buried alive. Great fear enveloped him.
He couldn't hold it any longer. He started crying. He had sneaked out of school to report himself to his mother. "Why would I be so careless?" he thought. "I've never been this careless." He added, "As he walked across the street, his cry became so intense, drawing the attention of passersby as he walked through the road, unfortunately, nobody cared." He kept crying and sobbing at the same time. Cars were passing on both sides of the road, and many people were minding their own business.
He passed from one street to another, heading home. It was 11:00, and school was still in session. Johnny had no choice. But to cry. As young as he was, a child of nine years old, he could understand how difficult it was for his mother to cough up such a large amount of money for his school fees.
Among other things they had passed through since the demise of his father, it has been difficult for him and his mother to feed well, talk more about buying new clothes and being able to cater to other responsibilities. He knew that he was finished. He recalled that morning as early as 5:00 when his mom called him from sleep, dolled the money into his hand, and told him, "This is your school fee. I borrowed this money from your auntie. Please be careful with it. Immediately you get to school, hand over the money to your class teacher." She folded the money and put it inside Johnny's school bag. To be sure that Johnny understood her, she asked again, "Do you understand me?"
"Yes, I do," Johnny replied. So she left early for the market to meet up with her business. As this thought ran through Johnny's heart, he cried even louder.
As he walked across the street, a woman called him, "Young boy, why are you crying? Why are you not in school?" she asked. Johnny couldn't look at her. But the woman insisted, "Talk to me. What is the matter?" Johnny struggled to talk, "I lost my school fees. My mom just gave me the money this morning. I took it to school only for me to look for the money I couldn't see. The woman looked at him and had pity on him. So the woman asked further, "So how did you lose your money?" Johnny couldn't tell.
“As I got to school, I checked my bag, and I couldn't see the money” he sobs,
"How much was it?" The woman asked, but Johnny couldn't tell. "I don't know." He replied, "My mom just folded the money into my bag." He added, "It's okay. Cry. No more." The woman told him.
The woman went with him to his house and fortunately, Johnny's mother was home. And she explained everything that happened and promised to place Johnny on scholarship throughout his university. Johnny's mother was surprised; she cleaned her two eyes to be sure she wasn't dreaming. So she fell to the ground and thanked the woman. Her joy knew no bounds. Johnny was happy as well. Moreover, the woman, seeing their condition, promised to take care of most of their responsibilities, first, by getting them a new apartment and stocking the kitchen with foodstuffs. It was a great turning point for Johnny and his mom.
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hello @team4 your piece references 'spanking' and being 'buried alive' as potential punishments for a child. I'm sure the latter was an exaggeration, and perhaps even tongue in cheek, but our guidelines do not permit the reference to child abuse in any form. If you would like to amend your story to remove these overt references, we can revisit it with a view to curating it.