My Jolly Jolly Good Friend

My classmate Cosmas was one of those jolly good guys I have told you about before. Among those jolly good guys of that my secondary school set, there is always the best among equals. I am sure Cosmas was the person holding that title then.

 “ Best jolly good guy of the mid 80s” 

At times, I used to wonder how a guy of that age his father or mother is his best enemy copes. How do the home remain a home and not a house. 

This my jolly good guy Cosmas was in the same class and the same corner at the dormitory with me in our junior years. Naturally, he was my jolly good guy then. I saw him for the first time the day I came with my parents for registration, he was the one that helped in taking my things inside the dormitory.

That era, living in the dormitory is seen as something else. Like children of the rich. You might be thinking that your parents needs to break into any central bank for them to put you there or work their ass off for dormitory fees.

Nah, nothing like that. The only thing then was unstable economy. Magic economy some named it then. When the currency has value, people terms to be short of money, when money has value and that can compete with other currencies, people has less and less when it turns into Indonesia, Zimbabwe or Nigerian currency, everywhere is full of bags and bags of worthless money. Witchcraft economy. Very funny for sure. Anyway, it is our second nature this part of the planet.

Our school and dormitory fees then weren’t even up to 100 naira. Each set then from year one to final year has few students living in the dorm then. I guess in hindsight that people must be poor really then.

Well, this my jolly guy Cosmas I really don’t know well outside things I gleaned under a year plus of knowing him. I guess one should know only things others wants to talk about or wants them to know. 

In that my alma mater, we had creatures of many characters and compositions. Some clearly sound, some claiming to be sound. There are those all inside that place knew that all isn’t well with them. Their queerness is so pronounced that even the blind saw it clearly. In my set then alone, we had about three or four of such creatures. I guess that dorm is a way of their parents offloading them onto the school management to rest for a while.

You might be wondering if the school was special one, Nah. It is normal school but as you know, this thing call normality rest with whoever is doing the judging. Only time is the best judge.

There was this guy who later became my class monitor or is it rep, I have even forgotten the moniker that post is assigned. He was bigger than all of us, but not more than a year older than us. In our first year, the day Sam( that is the bigger guy am talking about) came to school for the first time, shit. He was in white and white. White short, white shirt, white socks, even white gloves and was holding one semi middle white cross. Walking like some one counting his steps. 

He was with his mother and master responsible for the boarding house students who was leading them towards the dormitory. The open space between the classrooms and the dormitory is almost like a full football pitch. We already in the dormitory had ample time to view this holy spirit as the first student that saw them referred to Sam. There was a scramble for window spaces to view this holy spirit visiting us. 

From afar, many of us concluded that all wasn’t well with the guy. 

Fast forward to our year two:

Sam was intelligent, obedient, docile and friendly to be around with. The problem is that, at times he would switch from joking and laughing this minute to seeing things and people only him can see the next. He would start shouting to the unseen, pointing in anger and even removing his shirt to battle them. Shit, it wasn’t pretty sight to behold whenever those unseen came calling. 

This happened over and over not minding the lengthy prayers that accompanied each exchange. Master Okolo the dorm master decided in his wisdom that the guy needed to be away from others. He seems to believe that crowd was his problem. 

At the security wing of the school, there was three unoccupied rooms behind the building. Meanwhile, there was a teacher behaving exactly like Sam at times. She saw Satan in everything in the staff room. Talks to herself and prays like Sam too. Principal assigned her one room in that isolated building as office. Beside that her office was where master Okolo gave Sam one room as his own dormitory.

The problem is that the place is isolated, far from staff room, classrooms and dormitory. Behind the building is nothing but forest all the way. Sam was afraid despite security guys occupying the front rooms. The teacher goes home each day. So, master Okolo decided to shift my jolly guy Cosmas to go live with him. You see why I believed my guy was the best jolly good guy of our set. Even the teachers saw that. 

That was how both became occupants of that isolated place. The only advantage I saw there was not being subjected to dorm laws. They eat like others from the dinning hall and cook their own food too. But who was complaining of dorm meals? 

One day, Cosmas mother came visiting. He was in their isolated building and I was sent to go and call him. When I rounded the corner there, he was standing in front of their room alone washing plates. 

 “ Your mother is looking for you”

 Wow!, He reacted with fear and took a step backwards eyeing me without seeing me actually from what I saw in that face. I became confused. Family visits are what we jump at. I was even wondering if I had said another thing, so, I repeated myself. 

   “ Your mother is waiting for you at the visiting room”

But the same thing happened again. My guy was still far from me. He was starring at a the thick forest behind me. 

   “my—my mother?” he stammered.

  “ Yes, your mother at the visiting room”

As I turned walking away, I noticed he wasn’t moving or even realized that I wasn’t with him anymore. He was rooted on the ground there, moping. I turned back and repeated myself over and over again before he retreated into their room and changed into another day wear and followed me meekly without responding to my small talks. 

   When he saw the woman that came for him from afar, he burst out laughing and clapped me on the shoulder and said:

    “ She isn’t my mother but stepmother”

It was my turn to mope for that was the first time I was hearing that part of his story. 

    “ Step what?”

It was after the visit that I approached him again for the full take and some goodies the woman came with. It happened that his biological mother died few weeks before he entered the school. His father had remarried not long and the woman that came visiting had introduced herself as his mother. 

You see, my jolly guy is still referring to the lady as aunty and his dead mother as mother. So, I said that his mother was looking for him, he panicked. Not actually that my Jolly good guy was into seeing unseen for he never manifested the teacher or Sam's pointing and shouting matches unless if it was infectious. Spirits and possession is not my thing.

Living with those that has special powers or problems, anything can happen really. Stories and narrations always have many parts, innuendos to them. Whether my jolly good guy have started seeing his dead mother since living and staying with those two, I don’t know. My stand is always for the dead to remain dead and the living remain living.