The Custodian

by John Olafenwa

CHAPTER 4

  A new session had just begun, Robert was now in his final year and he had been made the Senior Prefect of the school. In the first week of resumption, all the students were busy cutting the overgrown grasses on the school farm. It was very tedious work, as the farm was very big. To the boys, it was fun and they loved it, but the girls were not used to such tedious tasks and they found it very strenuous. Robert and other students selected as prefects of the school were spared from the work. Their main function was to supervise the students and ensure the work was done in time. Among them, Robert had the least duty; he simply assigned the other prefects to supervise various classes while he walked up and down the school farm. As he walked past a banana tree, he saw Jane, tired and exhausted as she kept forcing herself to work. Robert pitied her lazy arms and offered to help her. Jane was so glad and she handed her cutlass to him. Robert soon joined in the work, having not done any strenuous work. He was full of energy as he helped Jane. Tired, Jane sat under the tree, thanking God that Robert came to help her. As she gazed at him, she began to think about her friendship with him. Ever since they had become friends, Jane’s life had changed for the better, unlike in the past when she spent her break time all alone. She, Robert and David often spent the break times together either doing some mathematical calculations, assignments or simply hanging out together. Many of her classmates often envied her because Robert was the most brilliant student in the school. Many desired to be his friend, but he was the type that did not like to keep many friends, therefore, he had just two friends, namely David and Jane. This made some to call him a proud boy. Jane’s classmates wondered what made Robert to overlook the rest of them and choose Jane as his only female friend in the school. If Jane had been much of a beautiful girl, they might have attributed his choice to her beauty. She was not ugly, but definitely not that much of a beauty too. Jane was well aware that her classmates envied her but she was not bothered. In times past, she lagged behind her mates in her academics but Robert had tried much to help her and she had greatly improved. Within a few months, she no longer had to call on him to help her with assignments; she soon began to solve them by herself. At an early stage, she thought much that Robert was actually aiming for an intimate relationship, but with time, it dawned on her that he was simply a caring fellow who preferred to play the role of a brother in her life. Having learnt many good manners from the well trained David, Robert exerted great positive influence on Jane, helping her to stop many bad habits and behave like a good girl. However, despite their closeness, Robert never disclosed to her his plans to change the way things were done in the school. At home, life was never fun for Jane as her uncle remained uncaring. Her main happiness was her friendship with Robert who meant so much to her. As Jane kept pondering on these things, Robert was done with the part of the farm assigned to Jane to clean up. Jane thanked him once more and they both went to the middle of the farm to check on David.

  Everything seemed to be going perfectly for Mr Solanke and his staff who had devised multiple ways of extorting money from the students. Robert felt it was the perfect time for him to begin to execute his plan. Through the SD cards attached to the stealth cameras disguised as wall clocks, he was able to extract a number of highly implicating pictures. One of these was a picture of two teachers romancing in the school premises. Early in the morning on a Monday, the students got to school to see the most shocking scene of their life. At various places in the school were the pictures of two teachers romancing each other in the school premises. To the teachers, it was a huge embarrassment while the students were happy with it. On each of the pictures was a subscript written,”@The Custodian.” No one had forgotten the famous letter written to Mr Solanke by one of the students who claimed to be called, “The Custodian.” The principal came to school very late that day. He was astonished when he heard the news of the pictures. He repeated his usual practice of summoning all the students and teachers to converge at the assembly ground, where he addressed them with great anger, warning the perpetrators that such acts would not stop them from the collection of the development fees and the so-called, “Custodian” would be brought to book in due time. He sent them back to their classes and sent for Robert. A junior student approached Robert to inform him that the principal wanted to see him. Robert was scared and he wondered why the principal sent for him. Reluctant to go, he thought he should instruct the young boy that he should tell the principal that he could not be found. David, who was beside him questioned the wisdom in such thought and told him to go to the principal with courage. Robert took to the advice and went straight to the principal’s office. Mr Solanke was pleased to see Robert. He told him he needed his help. Robert was highly relieved to hear that the principal had sent for him to seek his assistance. Mr Solanke explained to Robert the threat posed by the self-acclaimed custodian who was determined to ruin the image of the school administrators and instructed him to try his best to help the school to fish out the perpetrator(s) of the act. Robert assured him that he would do his best to put a stop to such occurrences. Mr Solanke thanked Robert and allowed him to go back to his class. The equally worried David was glad to hear the details of Robert’s meeting with the principal. Both of them were happy that their plan was going on well and they hoped it would eventually succeed.

  Two months after the first scandalous picture was posted, three more had been pasted all around the school. The situation was becoming more disturbing for the school administrators, but Mr Solanke was keen on not backing down on the exploitation of the students. He knew what the demand of the perpetrators of the acts was, but the love of money kept his heart as hard as ever. Many of the teachers and the principal himself had become very careful about what they did in the school premises, as they all wondered who was taking the pictures and how he took them without being caught. All was a mystery and they hoped it would end someday. Mrs Sarah had on a few occasions tried to talk to Mr Solanke to consider reducing the fees so that the fellow behind the acts might put a stop to it but the principal refused bluntly, stating that he refused to be cowed. He did not succumb to pressure. To worsen the situation, he decided to increase the fees and promised that if the so-called custodian did not put an end to his acts, the school fees would be further increased. He hoped that would make the student behind the acts to back down. He believed darkness could drive out darkness, ignorant of the fact that a leadership that applies brute force in handling issues is destined to fail. On the day the announcement of the increase in the development fees was announced, David decided to talk to Robert to consider abandoning the plan. Standing under the large tree in the school premises as they often did, David implored Robert to abandon the plan as it was making life more difficult for students in the school. He urged him to consider the fact that they had just a few months left before their final examination. Fear, anxiety and defeat could be clearly seen in David’s eyes. Robert who kept quite as David spoke, simply looked back at him and smiled, a practice he had become well known for. David asked him if a smile was all he had to give as a reply. Smiling once again, Robert opened up, “Pastor David, what has happened to your knowledge about the bible?” Surprised at Robert’s question, David exclaimed, “Bible! What has that got to do with this?” Robert continued, “When Moses returned from Median, he asked Pharaoh to let the people go but his heart was hardened. Many wonders were done but pharaoh did not back down until his first child died. What do you think would happen in Waterfall when the jobs of the school administrators become dead?” Confused, David confessed that he was not intelligent enough to comprehend Robert’s words. Robert explained further what he actually meant. His plan was to ensure that the School principal lose his job as soon as possible. This he knew would put an end to the exploitation of the students. David knew it was a bright idea and Robert explained how he planned to achieve his aim. Through his stealth camera disguised as wall clocks, David had been able to record video conversations of the principal and his vice in the principal’s office discus
sing on new ways to exploit the students and how to share the loot. He wrote a letter to the Zonal Education Officer, explaining all that was happening in the school to him and attached the SD cards containing the videos as proofs of his claims. He ensured his identity remained secret, writing on the letter, “From The Custodian of Justice.”

  The Zonal Education officer, Mr Clark was highly disappointed in Mr Solanke and his colleagues when he received the parcel containing the letter and the evidence. The videos clearly showed that the contents of the letter were not false. Mr Clark wished he could speak with the writer of the letter but it was glaring to him that the writer wished to be anonymous. He decided to take immediate action. Mr Solanke was sacked along with Mrs Sarah and many other staffs of the school. It was a complete overhaul. The students of Waterfall High School and their parents rejoiced greatly and the students congratulated one another for gaining freedom from exploitation. David and Robert were the happiest of all, he could have thrown a party to celebrate but he dared not do anything that would make people to suspect he was the custodian. Robert, David and Jane celebrated their freedom together. Being a young man that had so much money in his control, Robert bought many things for his two friends. David, though a poor boy, bought a bible for each of them. Robert and Jane were very glad to receive one bible each from David. Jane on the other hand had nothing to give. This was no worry for her for a few days but soon, she began to feel the pain. Just a few days to the end of the term, even as everyone was prepared for the oncoming Christmas celebrations, Jane and Robert sat on the school field, chatting. David would have been with them but he was ill that day and since they were done with their first term exams, he decided to stay at home. Robert noticed the coldness of Jane’s replies but he did not bother to ask her why her responses were that cold. After an hour, Jane informed him that she wanted to go back to her class. Robert who wanted to join the other boys in playing football, willingly let her go. She went back to her class while Robert went up to the other boys and joined them in their soccer game. He had been a very good footballer, one of the best in Waterfall, but on this particular occasion, he played like an amateur. Everyone wondered what was wrong with him. No one could say of a certainty why he played poorly. Robert kept thinking about Jane’s mood and this made him to lose concentration on the pitch. After about 30 minutes of play, he suddenly told the rest that he was no longer interested. Everyone just laughed him off and some advised him to have some rest. As soon as he left the pitch, he went straight to Jane’s class. Surprised and sad to see her sobbing, he asked her the reason for her cries but she told him nothing was wrong with her. Robert insisted on knowing why she cried. After much insistence, she opened up to him, explaining that she was crying because she had no money to buy any gift for him and David. Robert tried his best to calm her and he made her understand that her inability to give any gift was not that bad but all his explanations fell on deaf ears. The more he cleaned her tears with his handkerchief, the more they came out. Robert was at first confused. Then, a bright idea crept into his mind. “I have an idea” said Robert, Jane looked into his eyes as he continued, “We all know you are very talented in poetry, why don’t you give us a poem each as a gift.” “Wow!” Exclaimed, Jane, whose tears immediately vanished. She was so excited and thanked Robert for making her happy with his suggestion. She felt it was an opportunity for her to display her talent and she promised that she would write and present two poems, one for each of them the second day. They both left the class and got back to the field.