The Missing Key

Episode 4

"Sir, I will be there before nine, I promise. I will soon be there." "Where are you now?" his boss asked "I am on my way; I said I will soon be there sir." "You better be, I won't tolerate any late coming." He cut the line before dad could reassure him again. Dad stood up and started walking from one place to the other within the sitting room. A text message entered his phone. A welder's number. Dad quickly dialed the number. "Hello, is that welder?" "Yes who be this?" replied the incautious voice. Please I need you to come to my house immediately and help me break down my bullet proof door." "Oga, I de busy now, I no sure say I fit come." Came the reply. "Please send me your boy or any other welder you know." Dad pleaded. "Ahh, all my boys de busyoo, I no get welder number now. But give me two hours, I go come." "Two hours is too late, I need you now." "Okay, I go try, send me your address." "Thank you, please try and come immediately, I will pay you anything. I will send you the address now." Dad dropped the call and quickly sent our house address via text message. **** 8.50am **** My dad's cell phone rang again. He looked at the caller ID, it was a strange number. He picked the call. "Hello," "Good morning sir, am I speaking with Mr. Ikedi?" "Yes, who is this please?" dad asked. "I am the principal of Wisdom Child Academy and your son is my pupil. I am calling to inform you that he has not been in school yet." "Yes, em... he might come late; there are some unforeseen circumstances that arose at home," dad replied. "I hope everything is alright sir." The principal inquired. "Everything is okay, thank you very much. I assure that he will soon be in school." "Alright, but sir I want to use this opportunity to inform you that I have been getting reports that John's behavior in school has not been impressive lately.' Dad somehow became alert, "What do you mean by that?" "Yes he has been constantly missing classes, he sometimes leave before school dismisses for the day, his performance is very poor which I am sure you have seen in his last result. In fact he has already been marked as one of the students that will be repeating class this year. I think it will be very necessary for you to come around and hear what the teachers have to say about your son sir so that together we can come up with a possible solution." Dad didn't see John's last term's result. What the principal was saying was strange to him. He didn't know what to say. "Okay, I will try and make it to the school before the end of the week. Thank you for this information. I very much appreciate it." "Thank you sir," the principal replied and the line went dead. He went into the bedroom to talk to mum about the principal's call. "John's principal just called me. He told me that his results are poor and he could repeat class this year. Is there anything going on with him that I don't know?" Mum smiled, it was a rude smile, "there are a lot of things going on in this house that you don't know. Well I saw his last term result and spoke to him about it and he promised that he would do better this time around." "And you didn't bother to tell me about it?" "When last did you and I have a meaningful conversation? I am even surprised that you are reacting to the principal's call." She replied. "What do you mean by that? Well I am going to talk to him about it right now, how am I not sure that he does not have anything to do with the lost key." Dad was not happy with this news. He angrily and quickly walked into John's room. John was surprised. He couldn't remember the last time dad walked into his room. He sprang up from the bed, dropping his cell phone, which dad didn't know he had. Ada was the only child in the house that freely flaunts her cell phone. "I can see that you are not even worried that you might be missing classes today." Dad said. John didn't reply. He wasn't sure of what to say. "I got a call from your principal, what was he saying about you missing classes and having poor result? Where do you go during school hours?" dad interrogated him. John continues to look at him in fear. He was really surprised, he didn't expect dad to barge into his room asking him all sort of questions. How did he get this information about his school activities? "I can see that you have gone dumb. Did you purposely hide the key so that you would miss school? What are you running from?" "I am not with the key, I am not running from anything." He defended. Dad felt John was hiding something. He began to search his closet while he continued interrogating John. "You leave my house every morning yet you miss classes,where do you go?"He was searching through one of John's school trousers when his fingers felt something. He dipped his hand and brought out a sachet of condom. He stopped. The room was silent for a few seconds. "What are you doing with a sachet of condom in your pocket?"
He searched again and saw a stick of cigarette. "You smoke?" John was visibly sacred. He remained silent with his whole body shivering and starring at dad. Dad looked at him like he was seeing John for the first time. Dad stormed out of the room. I instantly knew that mum was going to take the heat. I walked towards the door. I could hear Ada's voice from her bedroom. I was sure she was talking to her good for nothing boyfriend. Dad was just coming out of John's bedroom, so I waited. The best thing anyone should do today was to avoid him as much as possible. *** Ada was busy enjoying her call and laughimg out loud. He heard Ada's laughter from the corridor that led to the three rooms.