Chapter 3

Mr. Matthew sighed as he lay forlorn in bed, trying to ignore his mother's shoutings. She had been urging him to get up and intentionally go out of the house. She was insisting he took a jog with her. He looked the time on the clock which sat on his bedside table. 6am. He sat up and greeted his mother. His mind was filled with thoughts of the previous day. He was just glad that he was only suspended and not fired.

"Matt, hurry up, you know how I hate being late for my morning jogs," his mother called as she got to the door of his room and threw a tracksuit at him. She then left, closing the door rather quickly.

Mr. Matthew yawned and rubbed his sleepy eyes. His mother always jogged around their street at 6:30am every morning. She had been suggesting he came with her but he had been using his school as an excuse to decline her invitation. Now, he knew there was no excuse strong enough to make him evade her this morning.

He went to the small adjoining bathroom on the left side of his room and brushed his mouth. His mother preferred for them to have their baths after jogging and not before, as they might dirty themselves with their sweat again.

He was the last born of her three children. His two elder sisters were married and lived with their husbands and children. He had wanted to move when he had enough money saved in the bank but his mother had refused. She said she could not stay alone, as his father had died since he was seven. He had reluctantly agreed to stay on with her, with hopes of moving out when he married and had his own kids, but his mother had later told him that his plan would not work. She had said that if he married and had kids, he would move them all to a bigger house that could contain them. 

He shivered as the cold water hit his face. He took more water in his palm and washed his face again. He was through with brushing his teeth by that time. He picked up the tracksuit and wore it rather clumsily. He walked towards his bedroom door and looked back at his room. Even though it was small and comfortable, he wished in all his heart for a bigger room.

He walked into the living room and saw his mother there, dressed in a tracksuit, the same color as his. His mother was a little bit plump. Her friend had suggested that she gymed up in order to lose most of her excess fats but she could not handle carrying weights or running on super fast treadmills, so the gym instructor had told her to jog every morning from 6:30am till 7am, which she had been doing devotedly. It had helped as most of her fat had been shed off. Even though she was more presentable now, she had so gotten used to the morning jogs that she formed a habit of doing it every day.

"Did you pray before coming out?" she asked as he approached her. Mr. Matthew hit his head with his palm. He had forgotten to pray. She shook her head, as she frowned in disappointment. "That's not how I raised you, you know," she said disapprovingly and glanced at her wristwatch to check the time.

Mr. Matthew quickly said a short prayer and then, after his mother had set her stopwatch, they were off, jogging on the streets of Weslea City.

“So tell me what the problem was this time,” his mother started as they jogged past some shops.

“It’s always those kids, they want to have me exterminated,” he said, a frown on his face. His mother chuckled and shook her head. He had always complained about those kids every time he came home from work. 

“Matt, you just need to relax when around them. I know they can be naughty at times but you just have to learn how to discipline them in love,” she finally said. 

Mr. Matthew shook his head and rolled his eyes. They jogged past a corner street and then stopped in front of a candy shop. Mr. Matthew looked at his mother strangely as she stopped jogging and walked into the shop. “Wasn’t she supposed to be on a diet?” he thought to himself.

“You wait here, I want to get some peppermints and maybe a few candy fluffs,” she said and waved her hands at him. Mr. Matthew nodded, then bent down to tie his shoelace. A breeze whooshed past him. He shuddered and continued tying his shoelaces. He soon heard a familiar giggle and quickly looked up.

“Why you little---” he said as he gritted his teeth. Right in front of him, Milton High’s school bus stood there, packed full of the pupils from the second grade class to the fourth. They were blowing raspberries at him. Angrily, he uprooted a tall slender plant from a nearby flower vase and started using it to hit the bus windows. The pupils all laughed and started making funny faces at him. He pulled another nearby plant and walked rather clumsily to the door of the school bus. However, he kept stepping on his untied shoelaces. On getting to the door, he tripped and fell down, causing part of the dirt from the roots of the plant to splash on his face. The pupils all roared in laughter, amused. The bus started moving slowly at first, and then picked up its speed as the traffic light had turned green. The other vehicles behind the school bus also started moving.

“I’ll make sure you all get caned, do you hear me, you all will get a piece of this here,” Mr. Matthew shouted and threw the plants frantically at the now moving bus. He watched the bus move on till it was out of his view, and then wiped the dirt from off his face and body with his tracksuit. He then turned back towards the shop.

A small crowd of children and a few adults had gathered in front of the shop by now and were filming what had just happened on their phones. Some faces were also seen peering from the glass windows of the shop. Mr. Matthew's mother also stood in front of the door to the shop, her mouth wide open, her hand up, holding nothing, as the candy fluff which was formerly there had fallen to the ground. Mr. Matthew adjusted his tracksuit and tried to walk to his mother but tripped on his shoelace again and fell face down. His mother’s mouth opened wider. “This was not her son,” she thought as a wave of embarrassment engulfed her.

The owner of the shop, who was standing beside Mr. Matthew’s mother, leaned over to her and said quietly, “You do know that you have to pay for those plants right?” and she appraised him coldly before she nodded slowly.

~~~

Mother and son both sat in an uncomfortable silence in their living room as they looked at each other. Mr. Matthew picked up a newspaper which was on the table and glanced through it absentmindedly. His mother looked on at him in disbelief.

“Matt, what exactly did those kids do to you?” she asked as she gazed intently at him.

 Mr. Matthew dropped the newspaper he was holding back on the table and glared at his mother.

“You don’t get it mom! Nobody does, and that’s injustice! Most people just think that because those devils are little, they’re adorable but not me! I stand for justice and discipline. I can say that I'm still one of the very few in this city who upholds discipline and integrity,” he fumed grumpily. His mother sighed and covered her face with her palms. 

“I know that you’re upset Matt, I know you are, but please can you first answer my question? Then we can talk on how upset you are,” his mom said and fixed her gaze back on him. He picked up the newspaper again and fumbled with it.

His mother’s burrows tightened in a frown. “Matt, you haven’t answered my question yet,” she complained as she folded her arms across her chest rather angrily.

Mr. Matthew dropped the newspaper on the table and looked at his mother. He slouched on the sofa and then turned to his right side.  

“They hate me!" he began as he turned to face his mother."They want me out of that school, out of this city, even out of planet Earth if you’d ask me, mom. Most times, they don’t do their works properly and then proceed to get low grades in their tests and exams. They just want to make it look like I'm not teaching well, like I'm not capable of my job! Can you believe that, mom?!” Mr. Matthew asked incredulously.

His mother sighed again, and the frown on her face faded away. “Firstly, no slouching,” she said, looking at him. She paused as she waited for him to be properly adjusted on the sofa before continuing with her speech. “I’ll teach you the secret of handling naughty kids; it worked for me, it should work for you,” she said softly and stood up.

She went over to where he sat and put her hand on his shoulder, then she walked into the kitchen. Mr. Matthew looked at his mother as she entered into the kitchen, “What does she mean by it worked for her? I wasn’t a naughty child, maybe my elder sisters were, but I know I was well behaved at all times,” he thought within himself as he picked up the newspaper again. He slouched back on the sofa as he began to read the morning’s news.