Radiance of Tomorrow: A Novel by Ishmael Beah

Author:Ishmael Beah [Beah, Ishmael]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Literary, Retail
ISBN: 9780374246020
Amazon: 0374246025
Barnesnoble: 0374246025
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
Published: 2014-01-07T05:00:00+00:00

9

THE END OF THE YEAR was approaching and all the teachers were desperate. They hadn’t received their “every three months” salaries that they had gotten used to and adjusted their lives around. It was now almost six months without pay, and they were going into the Christmas holiday—and of course nothing could be earned while on holiday. This caused panic among the teachers. They already had to miraculously make their current salaries work, and such miracles lose their effectiveness if stretched out too much. Simultaneously, while the nerves of teachers who had preached the relevance of education to their students were being tightened by burdensome circumstances, the mining company was advertising job openings for clerks, processing operators, mechanics, and security guards.

The teachers decided to hold a meeting with the principal, who was also affected by the lack of salaries. He could no longer afford petrol for his motorcycle, and some days he pushed the thing onto the school grounds sweating right through his suit. Sometimes, the students helped push the motorcycle with him sitting on top. The boys thought it was fun, and since there were many of them they didn’t mind, and the principal would give them a few leones every now and then for lunch. He called the boys his “hybrid engine.”

The meeting ended very quickly, and whatever good spirits had been retained by the teachers were dispelled in an instant. The principal didn’t know when the next pay would be coming, and he tried to plead with his teachers not to abandon their jobs, “which are more than just earning a salary,” he said. But his plea, though genuine, fell on ears that desperation now controlled and that now were able to hear only unpleasantries. Everyone was suspicious of the principal, especially as another secondary school in the nearby district had received salaries before the holiday. What is more, he was finishing a cement house in town that had become the envy of everyone whose eyes saw this simple four-bedroom house.

For the first time, Bockarie started seriously thinking about working for the mining company. He could not see any other way to take care of his family. When he told Benjamin what he was thinking, Benjamin told Bockarie he’d already gotten an interview and hoped to be hired soon. Benjamin also told his friend about something he had been planning and wanted to accomplish before he stopped teaching.

“I am going to steal the principal’s ledger and use it against him, sort of force him to do some good things for the school,” Benjamin said. He wasn’t joking around, as he usually did. He was serious.

“How are you going to do that? Can I help?” After he said that, Bockarie hesitated. He wasn’t sure he should have offered. The thought tormented him, but it also made sense. And, Bockarie thought, perhaps there was a way he could personally benefit from Benjamin’s plan. Perhaps the demands could include using the nonexistent teachers’ salaries to pay for the school fees for all his children.

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