By Pascal Mwandambo
Despite the numerous setbacks that we have been going through in Mavumbi Boys, including the loss of one of our workers to Covid-19, the KCSE results brought us some excitement and inspiration.
I have been riding on cloud nine over the sterling performance by our boys in chemistry, with twenty straight As and several A minus.
This is something to light up faces; passing science with flying colours is no mean achievement.
I am cork sure we shall produce medical doctors from this ambitious lot in the near future.
In fact, one of the top students told me that he aspires to become a top chemical engineer in the country.
They say all dreams are valid but I hasten to add: some dreams are more valid than others.
Marashi, my English colleague, has also been smiling from ear to ear after she produced 15 As and over twenty A minus.
She has been savouring this success with amazing gusto, saying that her prayers had not been in vain.
When all is said and done, nothing can be more gratifying for a teacher than producing grades after burning the midnight oil and labouring tirelessly for a pay that cannot be said to be handsome.
Obote, the principal, called us to his office to congratulate us for our hard work and producing excellent grades that made Mavumbi Boys the talk of town.
He spiced it up with a promise to arrange for a party to celebrate this major feat so as to inspire us to continue rendering our invaluable services to the institution.
Anyway, it’s said that the teaching profession is more of a calling than just a career.
After the brief meeting I left for the lab to arrange for some chemistry practical lesson.
It behoves me as the science teacher to inspect all chemicals and substances to ensure they meet all laid down safety standards to avoid injuries or damages by students.
While at it, I noticed that two five-litre containers of ethanol were missing. This was strange. The only two people with direct access to the lab are yours truly and Rambo the lab assistant.
I summoned Rambo and asked him if he knew anything about the missing chemicals. There was guilt written all over his face.
He stammered ,”I know nothing about the missing chemicals. In fact I cannot remember the last time I used ethanol in my experiments.”
“So between me and you, a devil or an evil spirit sneaked into the lab and stole the chemicals or it just evaporated into thin air?” I enquired.
Rambo was just biting his nails, his eyes downcast. For one, I have come to like him because he is not a habitual drunkard like Bangaiza, the other lab assistant we fired last year.
However, that did not exonerate him from culpability. Looks can be deceiving, and not everything that glitters from the outside is gold.
In the evening my investigative instincts began firing and I immediately got down to finding out any leads to the missing chemicals.
The only suspect was Rambo and I couldn’t let him off the hook easily.
I visited his home discreetly. His wife was not at home, but his two children were playing near an old truck.
One of them ran to me and shook my hand, calling me “uncle”.
I asked him where his parents were.
“My mother has gone to the salon. Daddy is still in school,” he replied still fondling my hand.
After exchanging pleasantries, I asked the boy if dad had come home with anything unusual recently.
“Yes. He came with two plastic containers which he said had alcohol. But he warned us not to touch it because it’s bad for children,” shot back the boy.
I swallowed hard. My worst fears had been confirmed. There was no way Rambo could exonerate himself from blame. Between the devil and the deep blue sea, his goose had been cooked.
