Mr Lecturer

Photo by Rafay Ansari on Unsplash

"Good morning, sir," Chioma said as she entered his small, corner office, her eyes scanning the smelly room: a mix of dampened books and roasted fish. 

"Good morning. How are you doing?" He responded with amusement; a pool of excitement began to build up behind his bespectacled eyes, like a fat kid who had just laid his eyes on a candy bar.

"You asked to see me, sir." Chioma continued as she stood by the door, tightly clutching her bag in front of her. She raised her left heel against the door and held on to the handle still scanning his office.

"Yes, Miss Okochi. I asked to see you." He reached for a file from the huge dusty pile on his table, opened it, and gestured to her. "Please, take a seat. Feel at home."

"No sir," she responded, her voice very low and shaky, almost a whisper. Her fear was beginning to show up. She worried her fear might not make her win, but she was confident still.

"Sorry, I didn’t hear you," he inquired, his voice loud and clear as day. She was startled, but she refused to go down without a fight.

A cloud of slight anger had started to form above his head, and Chioma could see it.

Silence. She heard her heart beating, her fingers were trembling against the door, and her knees were weak. 

When she did not respond, he asked again "What did you say, Chioma?"

"I said no, sir. I am fine like this. I will stand," she finally answered, squaring her shoulders and looking him in the eyes.

"Excuse me?" He probably was hard at hearing now, she thought.

"Sir, I said I'm fine. I will stand." She repeated, slowly this time, giving herself some time to fight with her eyes.

"I insist". He had paused and had started to stare at her now, amazed at her doggedness.

"Why did you want to see me sir?" she asked him, clearly tired of his antics.

‘Sit, young woman!’ he blurted out.

She obeyed immediately, and without questioning him.

He cleared his throat, straightened his already straight long-sleeved shirt, and started. "I recently noticed you have not been doing well with your grades. Is there something you want to share with me? What could be the cause of it?"

"I think I am doing well, sir. And there is no problem."

"Are you sure? Your grades here tell me otherwise."

"Sir, I scored ten out of thirty marks on this test and that is because the questions you asked were on topics you had not yet taught us."

"But I told the class to read up on it. Didn’t I?"

"Yes sir, you did. But we still needed you to talk about it."

"You needed me to talk about it? It is simple and straightforward. I told you especially where to read. What's not to understand?" He said smiling, a wickedly satisfying smile.

"Well, we could not have possibly aced the test if you did your part, and telling me where to read is not fair on my mates" She looked him dead in the eyes now, not flinching. 

"Hey! Now, don’t be rude." She had done it. He was no longer smiling, so she thought to strike when it was still hot. "You are our lecturer. You should do your job." She emphasized the last word so much, she could tell it riled him up. "Besides, I scored the highest, so I think you are having this conversation with the wrong person."

"Hey! Again, I say don’t speak to me that way. I am still your lecturer, you know that?"

"I don’t think I’ve said anything wrong, sir. Pointing out the obvious is all I have done."

"Leave my office."

"Okay, sir." She got up to leave.

"Where do you think you’re going, young lady?"

He had gotten up now, she could tell she had hit a nerve. She turned to face him and responded "Sir, you just asked me to leave your office." 

"If you walk out that door, you will fail this course. I swear to God who made me." Professor Kojeku yelled and gesticulated furiously, you would almost think he had been denied his promotion.