Laughing Sensation

It was the event of the inter-house sports competition. All the students were excited and anxiously waited for the event to begin. In the imaginary mind, intelligent students are supposed to be modest, gentle, also attentive to academic activities, but these two friends Valor and Caleb were exempted. They were on the outlook for girls to flirt with. Caleb tried to convince Valor to go and ask out a girl named Cecilia. He said, "If you like a girl, go after her. This will make her feel so special." Valor then replied, "She already knows that I am attracted to her." Caleb retorted, "are you shy to approach her?" Valor chuckled, "you know that I am not yet a master of this game." Caleb said to him, "why not allow me to help you." Valor with his usual soft smile replied, "You are right, please help me."

Mr. Davy, the chemistry teacher, came to them and called for Valor's attention. He said to Caleb, "let me talk to your friend for a few minutes." Valor quietly followed him. As they left, Caleb took a stroll around the game area. He met Cecilia and Rose. "Hello girls," he greeted. "Hey! did Valor send you?" Cecilia asked. "No, but why?" "Relax girl, we were together some minutes ago before the chemistry teacher took him away" "That's it! he is always busy. He is not behaving as the other guys do," Cecilia replied angrily. Caleb said in a pleasant soft tone, "please, Calm down dear." Rose tried to pacify her, while Caleb puts himself together to speak. "Let me confess to you, he likes you more than any other girl he has ever dated." "You are trying to sweet talk me, isn't it?" she said. Caleb smiled "obviously, I am being truthful to you." These sweet words made Cecilia smile convincingly. "Thank you, Caleb, I feel so elated. When you see him, tell him I say hello?" "Okay, I'll do that."

Valor and Mr. Davy had to carry out some experiments in the laboratory. "This is what I wanted you to see. By heating ammonium nitrate and collecting the vapors by bubbling it into a container over water, here we have our laughing gas" "Wow! sir, that's wonderful. Laughing without reason, is that not absurd?" "Maybe." "How long will this last?" valor asks. "For a moment," replied Mr. Davy.

The result is about to be called, both paid attention to the scores. The coordinator handed over to the principal as she announced to the house masters and parents. "We have come to the most important moment we have been waiting for. The moment the scores of the competition houses will be announced. Please, encourage the participating houses by applauding them.

The greenhouse came 5th, put your hands together for them. They performed well in Tennis. That was good. Next is the Yellow house that came 4th. That was a good one. The third position goes to the Pink house" The pink house members released a loud jubilant shout. "Listen up. Please teachers try to control your students because there's going to be so much disappointment and mixed feelings right now. Okay! the 2nd position goes to the Purple house, what a courageous effort!"

Apparently, just as the principal predicted, the noise from the crowd gradually increased as some students roared in disappointment.

Valor and Mr. Davy had a close watch at the members of the high table to observe their body language. They noticed chief Ime with his graven face of disappointment that purple house came 2nd. Valor said, "Chief Ime will not agree with this." "Yes, even when we had our house masters' meeting, he was telling us that his house will come first." Chief Ime was the purple housemaster. He was always bragging about his house coming first. They both paused and watched how the trophy was marched to the stage. The principal tried to calm the tension in the atmosphere. It was the greatest uproar in the history of the school. Parents tried their best to pacify their children and encourage their performance.

Just in a moment, Valor appeared on stage, he walked behind chief Ime. "What is this boy up to?" Davy said. The principal held the microphone firmly as she announced the White house as the winner of the inter-house sports competition for the year. Davy was surprised to see chief Ime laughing. "Why is he laughing when all his hope and aspiration has been dashed? This is strange."

All members of the white house began to run around the field singing and chanting winner, o winner. "Am back sir," valor said to Davy. "I just saw you on stage a few minutes ago." "Yes, I'm the reason for chief Ime's change of countenance." "You did what?" "I made him have a portion of your laughing gas" "Come on! This is crazy?" "It was your idea, sir." "I know, are you using it against me?" "No Sir, I tried to make him smile to encourage the members of the purple house" "Good job! that's the genius mind. If the housemaster is downcast, it will weigh down the members of the house."

***

The school had a break. Caleb decided to pay a visit to Valor. They gisted about a lot of things. From football to girls and so on. Valor was doing the talking not giving Caleb the chance to talk. "White house is unbeatable and indomitable, not even purple house can beat our reach. Chief Ime thought that all those tall boys in his house would make them win."

"Cut the crap! we have to accept defeat this year, but it will not be so next year," Caleb said. "Are you going to wear this uniform next year? Valor asked. "No, I mean my house will come first next year." "Who knows what will happen, even your house master rejoiced while we were pronounced the winner of this year's inter-house sports competition." Caleb remained mute. "I'm the boss. I made him laugh. I made him inhale the laughing gas prepared by Mr. Davy," Valor whispered.

"Are you serious?" Caleb enquired. "What do you mean? if I'm not serious, do you think l would have informed you about it?" "I believe because Cecilia said that she saw you running down the stairs. So, this is who Mr. Davy is?" "No. I did it without his consent. You made mention of Cecilia. I didn't see her throughout the sports day. What did she say when she saw you?" "she was not pleased with you. She said that you weren't treating her specially like other guys do to their girls." "Wow! she should know that I care so much about her," valor said.

Caleb further reported to Valor about Cecilia's intention for him to be romantic. "That's true," replied Valor; it is something l should endeavor to do."

"Then, what are you waiting for?" queried Caleb.

"it's just that I can't, and I won't. It's not in my character to do such things."

Valor spoke sadly with a frown. Caleb being confused about the impression on his face was curious and he asked, "Is there anything that you are hiding from me?" He replied, "I'm not hiding anything. There is something that happened a long time ago and it's still bothering me." This aroused Caleb's curiosity and he said "Oh please, tell me. I'm all ears. "

"It happened when I was in my junior secondary 2. There was a girl I admired so much. I was in love with her. It's always hard to get involved with beautiful girls in the class, but she seemed to like me too. So, I was very happy. I used to count myself lucky for having her. You know this novice mentality; I will write all the best quotes and poems trying to woo her. The bitter experience is it did not last.

one day I saw her popping pimples from another boy's face. I felt very jealous and wanted to leave but I couldn't because it was her birthday. I had bought a gift for her. A gold necklace and I had written a love note as well. So, I gave it to her and left. For days I was lovesick until I realized that she is just a lover and not my wife." "Did she know you were lovesick?" Caleb interrupted. "No, I pretended I wasn't bothered about what happened, but I stopped being affectionate towards her. "Did she apologize?" "Yes, but she asked, how had she offended me." "Seriously?" "That girl was too weird. Some days I kept off from her even though she pleaded. I snubbed her thereafter. Suddenly, I didn't see her in school again up till today. I'm wondering if it's based on what I said or how I reacted that made her change school. I became worried and missed her so much. That's the reason why I don't want to get involved in this teenage dating." "So, she left school after the incident that occurred between the two of you?" Caleb interrogated. "Yes," Valor replied sadly. Caleb responded, "you can't allow such an incident to affect you badly by making you carry the guilt, forget her and focus on Cecilia. Cecilia is cool and popular. "Not much talk my friend, maybe one day you will lecture me on this relationship thing, I'm still at the beginners' level."

Caleb grabbed valor by the shoulder and cajoled him saying, "You know, you are intelligent, the whole school, your friends, and all the girls admire you. So, my friend, Intelligent people are unlucky when it comes to love within their social environment. By the way, what's that girl's name?" "Her name is Mboutidem," replied Valor. Caleb continued, "Let Mboutidem go, find another one." They both walked out of Valor's compound.

***

The atmosphere was pleasant, good, and conducive for learning. The entire students listened to their teacher as he spoke, "You have to pay attention to this lesson because you don't know when and where you will need it. Also, this might be our last class for the year. Now, a river forms from water moving from a higher altitude to a lower altitude, due to gravity. From then we have other water bodies like streams and lakes. Have it in mind that rivers will always lead to civilization. For instance, you are lost or maybe your aircraft crashes on a cliff or hill and you are there with no map or radio and you are confused about where to go. All you must do is to move downhill. When you go down the cliff, you will meet a body of water and if you follow the water, it will lead you to civilization. That is, where people are living."

The class was distracted by an uproar by the students. This brought panic in the class. The teacher went closer to see what had happened. He asked, "What is the problem?" and a student answered, "sir, Eunice is under seizure." "How did it happen?" "She and Tina were making jokes while you were teaching, so she was carried away because she was overexcited, and she has a sickle cell." The teacher instructed for her to be rushed to the sickbay for immediate attention as he followed them side by side.

At the sickbay, the matrons administered the necessary treatment to resuscitate her. Valor was hiding at the corner to monitor what was going on. Suddenly, he felt a tap on the shoulder that startled him. When he turned, it was Mr. Davy. "Good day sir," he said in a trembling manner, "you startled me." "Your body was already on alert, that's why the tap shook you. I can see the ambition of becoming a doctor in you. It seems you are not sure if that's your dream." "I'm very sure sir that's my calling," Valor answered. "You don't have to worry about it boy. I am here to give you the necessary support. While in the field, you will begin with abrasion, cuts, and some minor injuries until you can perform surgical operations. Everything is in stages; you don't have to be weary of what you have little knowledge about." After some time, the students were persuaded to go back to their classroom, being assured that their friend will be alright.

After school hours that day, Valor stayed behind to have a word with Mr. Davy. He sat him down and encouraged him in a way a caring teacher would. He said, "Few months from now, you will leave for tertiary education and find yourself in a new and different environment. You will meet new friends and develop new ideas in the process. Some of your friends today will not be there tomorrow, so you must do your best out there. Be independent of friends, achievements, and bank accounts. The reason is, if they fail you one day, you might not be able to control yourself, which may lead to engaging in social vices. As you go out there, you must be the best of yourself. Life is a journey, and all you need to succeed is that fuel called inspiration.

While we were in the polytechnic, in our days, I discovered that some people were not inspired by their field of study. They did not show interest in personal practical but were only fascinated by school practical and didn't have self-discipline and personal research. Today, I can go to class without carrying my note of lesson because the things I learned and practiced are still in my body and soul. I spent my time admiring the intelligent ones but deep down in me, I knew I was good in my way. It was left for me to focus more on myself than on others. That's when your creativity is built when you have time for yourself. My greatest achievement in my teenage age was having my laboratory in the house. I used to steal from the laboratory to equip my lab. I carried out several experiments. I knew within me that I was good. I'm not encouraging you to steal, because everything has a repercussion. Mine was, I almost set the house on fire in the process of trying to experiment. I stole a hose for my experiment but did not realize that it was leaking. I finished my experiment and went to school without putting off the gas. My father perceived the smell and went and put it off immediately. When I came back, I received the flogging of my life. After the flogging, my dad instructed me on safety then he encouraged me. For the first time, he said he was very happy with what I was doing." Valor felt amazed and said, "That is amazing." "Thank you. I don't want you to spend your time living in the future because you've heard amazing things about me, don't spend time imagining the beautiful things in life you will have when you make it. You must make it happen, not just sitting there and thinking it. When you make it the woman that wants to marry you will be there for you, so you don't have to bother yourself about women now. Feel free to say something. Don't be shy to talk about the girls." Valor laughed and then responded, "I am not shy. Sir, are you saying I should not have a girlfriend?" "I can boldly say that it is not necessary." Mr. Davy advised. "But if you want to, you should not let it distract you. Let your happiness should not be dependent on it. No matter what I will tell you, when you get to that dating level you will do things the way it suits you. Advising you about relationship advice is of no use to you now. Just pursue a decent life and you will have problems you will be able to solve." Valor interrogated, "Sir, it's looking like you are shying away from relationship matters." "No, I'm not. I know the discussion you want but believe me, just because you are growing does not mean you are missing out by wanting to know everything about love and relationship. A wise man once said, 'when love is real, it finds a way. You do not have to start now to read materials on dating. Your own love story will find its way. Right now, I am your tutor and a father. I know what is best for you. When you discuss problems, you will have problems, but when you discuss progress, you will not sleep but you will be focusing on progressing. Believe me; I know what's good for you." Valor had expected much discussion on relationships and dating because he was a novice, but Mr. Davy was not ready to give him the discussion he wanted.