| Act 1 Scene 1 |
| (In a sparsely furnished room in one of mud houses in Ake sits Olu on an age-old chair.He is reflecting on how he has spent his life from childhood) |
| OLU(Soliloquizing).I was born like all other children in the neighbourhood.I grew to choose what i want to become in the nearest future. |
| The path to this, i have been treading,but now i have seen no headway ahead of it.I have got to turn around and shape my life for the better. |
| The way out is to return to the school i had left as a drop-out.Yes! I would see the headteacher of the school. |
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| ADE(Olu's father,completely drunk,cries out to him).You,Olu, a bastard,good for nothing boy.I had always told you that you would not become somebody in this life as long as i live. |
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| OLU(feigns hearing,continues to reflect).I would tell the headteacher that i regret my past deeds as a student in his school.And that if he could re-absorb me into school that i would be of very good behaviour.I hope he would believe. |
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| JIDE(One of Olu's many friends comes calling).Olu! Have you forgotten that we decided yesterday that we would be going out today with the other boys to do havoc to those guys that wallow in riches cars? Come on,let's go and meet the other guys under the tree in the village centre. |
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| OLU(proposing a change of attitude,tells jide he would meet them there).Jide, i have not forgotten.I would meet you people there. |
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| Olu made good his promise to see the headteacher of his former school |
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| OLU(stoops a little as he enters the headteacher's office).Good morning,sir! Could you recollect having met this face before? I am Olu,one of your former students,a drop-out.I have just come to see you to consider me for a return.I have sat down and reflected upon my life.And i saw that my life is heading for the rock without a good and sound education.It is upon this i have come.I hope you will understand my predicament. |
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| PRINCIPAL(Casts his gaze into the heavens, and he remembers the naughty boy Olu is when he is a student with him).Good,i recognize your face.You were the boy that coaxed other boys to cause havoc and destruction on co-students.Olu,you've made a very bad history in the school and as a result we cannot give you a reconsider. |
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| OLU(now lays flat on his belly,pleading for forgiveness).Sir i had done these acts when i was ignorant.Now i have known and understood what it means to behave that way.I am extremely sorry and regret my past deeds.I would be happy if you can forgive and forget my past deeds. |
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| PRINCIPAL(looks into Olu's eyes while he apologizes).Now, i can see that you are now remorseful of your past deeds.And i have a strong belief that you have truly repented and regretted of having behaved that way in the past.I will consider you for a return. |
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| OLU(looks spontaneously brighter,goes on to prostrate).Sir,i don't know how to thank you enough .Your decision to consider me for a return is opening a new chapter in my life.I want to promise that i would be of a very good behaviour.Believe me,sir! |
| (Olu goes out of the headteacher's office,while his face lights with happiness that knows no bounds.As he moves on,he starts ruminating on how he wants his life to look,and completely mesmerised in his thoughts,he runs into Jide and the other boys who are roaming aimlessly the village.) |
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| JIDE(with the other boys who frown at Olu's behaviour.).Olu,from where are you? Didn't you promise to meet us under the tree at the village centre? We have been under the tree waiting for you on end.One cannot even understand you anymore these days.Anyway,from where are you? |
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| OLU(looks cheerful that he would be leaving Jide and other boys to continue with the way of life they have chosen,clears his throat and speaks).I am glad,jide that i would be leaving you guys to continue with the ways of life you have chosen.I have ruminated over my distant and immediate pasts and seen that they have produced no good fruits.And i see that if i should continue this way i would be digging a drench for myself.While our contemporaries are doing good things we would be written off in the dustbin of history. |
| Now if you look at me more closely you would see happiness written on my face. I have to tell you now that i have just visited my former school where i was a dropout and asked for forgiveness over my past deeds and i have been pardoned. |
| I must add that i was just heading towards the market to buy my school uniform when you saw me.Jide,i really regret leaving that way for a better way (making a jest of them). Bye for now! |
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| JIDE(looks with mouth wide-opened).Olu,do you think you have taken the right step? Firstly,do you remember that you were a dropout? And do you know what it means to be a dropout? Olu,the answer.It means your brain couldn't accommodate knowledge that was passed into it.Then,if this was the situation,what do you now mean by saying that you have been readmitted back to school. |
| Olu i don't think you have had a second thought of the step you are taken now.Think over it. |
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| (As Jide wants to continue talking he is cut short by the other three boys) |
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| OTHER BOYS(look completely downcasted over olu's decision to leave them,utter bitter words.).You,Olu,a blockheaded boy, want to go back to school.Na wa o! You are making us to wonder and think that schools in our country are now opened for blockheaded people like you and me.You had better start to think of something else's because you cannot make triumph completion of school.You dullard,go away! |
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| OLU(feigns listening).Thanks,everybody, i have heard your porous advice.Bye!. |
| (Olu continues his journey to the marketplace, and buys a well-made school uniform from one of assigned tailors by the school authority and goes back home) |
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