A dark alley

Mr. Sir paced the hallway outside the principal’s office as he waited his turn to hear the details on why he had been called in. He willed himself to remain calm although the waiting only made him more antsy.

Madam had gone into shock when she received the phone call; he was so shaken by such a response from his usually strong wife. He had taken her to hospital before coming to Kikajo Seeke School for the meeting as communicated, although he barely managed to make her stay. Luckily the doctor was a colleague of his so he had taken her in immediately.

Mr. Sir’s father, rest his soul in peace, had been a disciplinarian and they had all resented him for it but none of this happened with any of his children (misunderstanding or otherwise); Mr. Sir couldn’t help but think that not only couldn’t something like this happen on his father’s watch but that it never did.
May be he should have been stricter where Kasekende was concerned but how could he have known? He should have known though; dammit he was his father’s son and the fear of the apple not falling too far from the tree crippled him for most of his adulthood.

Kasekende was a well-adjusted child; most of the seventeen year olds were rowdy and unsettled as though they were looking for something they couldn’t find because they didn’t know what it was they were looking for. He always helped out with the rabbits and the farm; he wanted to rear poultry during his Senior Six vacation which is what he was saving his earnings from helping out at the farm for, his mother was always very proud of him no wonder it was such a hard blow for her.
She loved him the most of their three children and his sisters knew it. They didn’t begrudge her for it because she still loved them as well but Kasekende was her favorite.

They were both proud of him; he was the perfect example for his sisters. Mr. Sir’s friends always mentioned how they wished they had a first born like his and he’d smile with pride, the heart-bursting kind.

He remembered getting the phone from Madam this morning, and talking to the person on the other end of the line. The principal had said that Kasekende impregnated a Senior Three student so the parents of both students were having a meeting that afternoon in his office. Of course Mr. Sir didn’t believe him and was sure that this was a misunderstanding that would be cleared with a reasonable explanation and he had assured Madam of this by the time he left the hospital.

The door to the principal’s office opened and there sat Kasekende, with his head bowed down and in that moment he knew. The shame was so loud it was a shock he hadn’t heard it all the way from the hallway. Mr. Sir didn’t know what he was going to tell Madam, but he didn’t remember ever being this scared of the future.

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