Stranger in his Homeland

Chapter Thirty-One

243 Chapter Thirty-One A ntony described Zaché in his dairy as “the most pernicious little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.” One thing was now very certain: the two of them could not work well together. Zaché certainly had quite a different attitude towards his work and towards the people. He was not anxious to see them improve. But he remained his boss, to whom all important questions regarding the school should ultimately be addressed. The conversation of Zaché to sanity was therefore a priority if the school was to take off the right way. He attended school for one whole week and then decided to make a few observations to his boss. The first concerned the students’ use of their free time. They were the only two teachers available, and he could teach only English. Zaché too never spent more than an hour in school, although, being French speaking, he was supposed to help the students in the other subjects for which teachers were not yet available. And it was a rule that these students had to come to school at 8 o’clock, remain until noon then come again at 3 o’clock and then leave at 5 o’clock. These were instructions contained in a Ministerial circularconcerningstudyprogrammesinallgovernmentcolleges.Zaché made a fetish of sticking to rules from the Ministry, especially when application hurt the people around him. Antony had decided to teach two hours of English in the morning and two in the afternoon. There were several other free periods, including those assigned for Physical Education. He thought he could take up these hours. When he asked Zaché what the students had been doing during those periods he said: “Notsingz. No cowz fer zhem to drive. Zhey eurr “Why don’t we get them say a football? Then we also arrange for them to dig a playground? They are already men, and are strong enough to do that.” “Zhey cennot to be ebel to play anytsinggz et all. Heve you eveur heurd zhat a team frem zhe nort hes beaten a team frem zhe sout?” 244 Linus T. Asong Antony thought he had been misunderstood. He pointed out: “I am really not talking of first division games sir. Just something for them to kick about for exercise only. We the English believe that much work and no play makes Jack a lazy boy. We could get somebody to weave a net for volleyball…” “Zhat will be doing zhe jobz ef somebody else,” Zaché said. “Zhe gouvernment sent a sportmasteur. Bot he refused not to arrive. If he iz hieur zhen he cen be ebel to occupy wit zhat. Ei cennot be ebel to come hieur in zhe bush end begin to spend my money on sush tsingz. Zhe gouvernment bez to provite zhe equipments fer zhiz college.” *** Perhaps Zaché was just being miserly, Antony thought. He himself was very poor. But he managed to squeeze 700 francs from his very tight food budget with which he bought a large rubber ball. He gave it to the class prefect to take to school the following day. The morning session of the English classes ended at I0. as Zaché was absent the students decided to organize a small game on the lawn in front of the school building. About one hour afterwards Zaché arrived. Antony was sitting in the classroom and working on his manuscripts when he heard Zaché call for the ball. He went out and told Zaché that he was the one who gave them the ball. Zaché repeated his orders as though Antony had not spoken, and one boy brought the ball up to him, swearing in the name of Allah that it was the “professeur d’anglais” who brought it and gave it to them. Zaché took the ball, drew a penknife from his pocket and, giving it to the boy asked him to tear the ball into pieces. The boy promptly obeyed. Antony received the act as though the knife was piecing through his very heart. He turned away in anguish. What crime had he committed in offering the boys the ball? And even if he had committed a crime. Could Zaché not see the injury he was on his reputation? He stood for a while and then went into Zaché’s office to inquire what he had done wrong. Zaché said: “Mr. Entony, ei know what iz good fer zhe nort. If you give zhem...