My Boarding House Experience

The first order in the Rules & Regulations pamphlet given to us upon admission into OBHS in the early 1970s was: Be punctual at all calls.

Back then, our day would usually start at about 5:45AM or thereabouts with the Morning Devotion. The male students used to gather for this activity inside the compound of Hostel "A" (by the groundnut seller's place). And I hated being woken up so early.

Most times, at the Morning Devotion, I would be among the still-dozing students. And whenever the leading prefect asked "someone to give us a song", I would quickly raise up my hand to say "It's me...it's me...It's me, Oh' Lord..." I loved that song even though I never knew the actual words until just two years ago (2010). I loved it because it was so slow and boring, thereby allowing me to doze a little more.

One particular Saturday morning, senior Ilori (the time keeper) rang the bell as usual and I murmured to myself "does this senior ever sleep...ah...ah?" And, of course, my room captain (senior Shola Adeoti a.k.a. Elenu Razor) started his own little drama by yelling "get up everybody or else I'll buckle your head!..."

To buckle someone's head those days meant using the iron portion of a belt to beat the person's head. Only few seniors did this but it did happen to some hapless "boys". Fortunately for us, senior Adeoti was all mouth and no action. As I was the junior student sleeping on the top bunk above his, the man had a crazy way of harassing me all the time just as I had a nasty way of behaving like "Dennis the menace" to him.

That fateful morning, he kicked the underneath of my bunk as he yelled, "get up, Lagos boy...do you think you're still in your parents' house where you'd sleep forever...lazy boy!"

Later that morning, I decided to "mess him up". By the wall beside his bunk, senior Shola Adeoti had fondly written his nickname in capital letters: SOSCO ADE. 

Since he used a thick colorful chalk to do the writing, I decided to get a different chalk and wrote letter "I" between the letters "S" and "C" and thereby turning the nickname to "SOSICO ADE".

Up till the afternoon of that day, the man did not notice that something was wrong with his nickname. And then came the Hostel "A" house prefect (senior Olalere) who
playfully walked into the room during "Quiet Time" when it was mandatory for us juniors to lay in our bunks. As the two started to chat, senior Olalere suddenly looked
closely at the big handwriting on the wall and pointed at it while he laughed. He went out to call some other prefects and they all laughed at senior Adeoti.

Furiously, senior Adeoti ordered "all the juniors, get down now!"

Everyone and especially the fragile Gbadebo Oyegbami were already shivering and pleading their innocence to the pranks. In the meantime, the angry man was
searching everywhere for his belt which I had earlier hidden for fear of reprisals. The man kept searching everywhere and roaring "where is my belt...I am going to kill all of you today!"

At this time, senior Olalere who was still laughing, pleaded with the other prefects to leave the room while he tried to calm down the raging man. Senior Adeoti finally agreed to calm down but he insisted on knowing the culprit "or else...I'll really kill somebody today..."

As he and senior Olalere looked from one junior to the other, I quietly stepped forward to raise my hand.

This time, senior Olalere was really getting hysterical with his laughter. "So, it's Femi Olawole that's trying to give Shola Adeoti hypertension?"

For a few seconds, senior Adeoti and I stared at each other without a word.

Then he looked at me closely and very slowly asked me "Femi...you know I can kill you right now?"

I nodded my head without a word.

Now, senior Olalere laughed harder at the two of us while he said "Shola, are you sure this boy will not kill you first before you can kill him?..."

Again, senior Adeoti stared hard at me as if thinking of the right thing to do. Then, he looked at senior Olalere to say: "Do you know sometimes, I'm too scared to sleep
in the night because I'll be thinking this crazy boy may come down to strangle me to death?..."

"Ah...ah...are you sure?" the other man asked.

"Yes now...don't you see his face...he is always looking like he is mad...as if he wants to commit some mischief..."

After another bout of laughter, senior Olalere said "You think I don't know him...for instance, he is the last person I'll send to go get me water to drink because the other day, he was heard saying any senior that sent him to go get a cup of water would end up drinking his saliva with the water...this boy!"

Shortly afterward, senior Adeoti ordered me to get back on my bunk while he thought of an appropriate punishment to give me. Incidentally, till he left the school,
senior Adeoti never gave me the punishment. It's been over three decades since I graduated from high school and I wonder where he is now?