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1. The Wooden Bicycle
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1 The Wooden Bicycle and Other Stories 1 The Wooden Bicycle T here are times when despite the feelings parents may have for a child, they still wish they had not brought that particular child to life. Such was the case with Jonas Bikwibili and his son, Moses. He was the first of seven children Jonas had with his wife, Judith. Moses was 13, and now in Class Seven, the final class in primary school. If all went well, that is, if he passed both the First School Leaving Certificate Exam (FSLC) and the Common Entrance Exam into Secondary School, he would gain a place in college. It was his father’s greatest wish that the boy should pass the entrance in List ‘A’ in order to gain an automatic government scholarship. If he didn’t make it, things would definitely be difficult, for his father depended very much on his coffee farm. But for some years now, harvests had been poor, and it was clear he would not be able to afford the boy’s school fees. The two hardly ever saw eye-to-eye, for, Jonas often said of his son that he had ‘a certain madness’ which he didn’t like. He called him a devil and an unworthy son. Perhaps this was because being a hard working man himself; he couldn’t bear to see a lazy son. Moses’ “madness,” Jonas said, consisted of wasting valuable time, carving he knew not what out of wood which his mother would have used for cooking. But the boy always said he was “producing” a bicycle. He carved two wheels, a large one for the back of his bicycle and a smaller one for the front. Several times his father 2 Tikum Mbah Azonga smashed the bicycle before it was completed. “Is this not madness, for God’s sake? Aren’t you just stupid? Have you even seen a bicycle made of wood? Instead of revising your school work, or helping your mother, or even looking after the younger ones, you keep carving nonsense!” But disapproval from his father never dampened the boy’s spirits in his craft. It is true that he never really gave his school work all the attention it needed, although of course, he always passed his exams. But his teachers just like parents, were deeply concerned about his performance. No doubt his teacher had commented on his end-of-term report card: “an intelligent boy who could do better.” Clearly, his bicycle business was like an obsession although his father beat him every so often. Moses would steal himself away to work on the bicycle. As might be expected, because of the repeated threats from his father, he moved his tools away from the latter’s compound to a thicket near one of his mother’s farms , situated about a kilometre away. Once she had run into this hiding place of his, but although he wasn’t there at the time, she hadn’t any doubt that this was a place of her son’s making. But she never mentioned this to Moses or his father. She had a soft spot in her heart for her children whom she said she had borne all alone. “A father can bear to beat a child the way he likes, for he knows not what bringing forth one involves,” she would say. All she told Moses was that he should do his household chores and take his studies seriously. The time for his exams came and he sat for both the FSLC and Common Entrance. The schools broke up for the long holidays. If all went well, he would be going to college, and hopefully on government scholarship when the new academic year started in three months’ time. Even so, his father had great doubts about his prospects. How could a child who spent his time on pointless and fruitless activities ever do well in his exams, he wondered aloud. Moses’ [34.238.138.162] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 00:09 GMT) 3 The Wooden Bicycle and Other Stories mother for her part, in her heart of hearts had one prayer: “Lord, you made me and you gave me this child. If what he is doing is right, let him continue; if it is wrong, may you stop him.” During the holidays, Moses worked even harder on his craft. But he made sure he did his chores such that his parents had no reason to complain...