The Owl and the Pussy Cat

By Baba Galleh Jallow

It was Laji who first made me want to go to school. One day long before he went to the bush, I was standing at our compound gate when I saw Laji marching down the street towards me. He wore a school uniform, a white shirt and black khaki shorts and he was marching proudly with his two hands spread at his sides. In one hand he proudly held a note book and in the other a pencil. As he came up to me, he marched even more proudly, tilting his head and looking down at his book and pencil.

'Hey Daddy I went to schoooool,' he sang.

'Is that your uniform?' I asked.

'Yes, my father bought me two uniforms and I have a book and pencil. Will your father not take you to school?' he asked.

'What do you do in school?' I asked.

'We have a teacher and a koranic teacher. Our teacher is Mr. Njie and he teaches us abc and 123. Pa Ali the koranic teacher teaches us bisimillai. If you can't say it, he beats you. But he did not beat me because I could say it.'

'I want to learn abc and 123 too,' I said. 'But I don't want Pa Ali to beat me. If he beats me, I will tell my father,' I said.

'But you are not in school,' Laji said. 'Everyday, we have singing and our teacher will teach us songs. We sing fly fly the coconut tree and the owl and the pussy cat went to the sea and one two buckle my shoe. My favorite song is baa baa black sheep. Then after singing we go for break, and buy fish cake and beans and cassava. My father gives me lunch money every day.'

'I want to go to school too,' I said. 'I will tell my father to buy me a uniform and take me to school.'

That day when my father came home from the farm, I told him I wanted to go to school.

'School? Never! My son will never go to school to become a kaffir,' he said.

I did not know what a kaffir was, but I did not want to become a kaffir. I just wanted to wear a uniform and go to school like Laji, so I can learn abc and 123 and sing baa baa black sheep and all the other songs.

'I don't want to be a kaffir father,' I said. 'I just want to go to school like Laji.'

'You will never go to school!' my father angrily said. 'If you mention that to me again, I will cut your neck till the knife cuts the ground! Now get out of my sight!'

I quickly moved away before he beat me. I went to sit behind our house and cried for a long time. Later, my mother came for me and said I should not cry, that she would ask my father to let me go to school.

From that day, everyday I would stand at our compound gate and watch Laji march proudly by in his uniform and with his book and pencil. Sometimes, he showed me what he wrote that day and told me what they had learnt at school. He would often sing a new song that they had learnt, and sometimes he would repeat baa baa black sheep, have you any wool? I wondered who baa baa black sheep was and where he got the wool to give to his dame, his master, his little boy and the queen, as Laji sang in the song. I also wondered who the queen was and why baa baa black sheep had some wool for her. Long after Laji marched on to have his lunch, I would think about all he told me and wish so much I would also wear a uniform and go to school. After some time, I could not stop thinking about school, but I was afraid to ask my father again. I only went to sit behind our house and cry and when my mother came and asked me why I cried, I told her I wanted to go to school. One day, she told me my father did not want me to go to school because Demba had gone to school and started drinking alcohol when he became big. I knew I did not want to drink alcohol. All I wanted was go to school like Laji. Then one day, my father called me and said I should come with him to the market.

'Where are we going father?' I asked.

'We are going to get you a uniform,' he said. 'We will take it to the tailor so he can take your measurement.'

'Am I going to school father?' I asked.

'Yes Daddy, you are going to school,' he said. I was so happy.

A few days later, my mother woke me up early in the morning and asked me to go wash my body. After I washed my body, I had my breakfast and wore my new uniform. I took my new notebook and pencil and water bottle. Then my cousin Mariam accompanied me to school. When I arrived, we went into the headmaster's office and he wrote my name in a big book. Then he asked me to go into a classroom. I found an empty desk and sat down and started repeating what the teacher said with the other children. After school that day, my cousin Mariam was waiting for me. I walked with her and Laji back home. Laji and I were in the same class. Every morning after that, Laji would pass by our compound and we would go to school together and come back home together. I soon learned abc to z and 123 to 100. I also learnt to sing all the songs. My favorite song was the owl and the pussy cat went to the sea. I wondered where they got their boat and where the pussy cat got his guitar. I wondered where they went after the sea.

Very soon, I was able to do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. I did not like Arithmetic very much, but I liked reading a lot. The first book we read was about four boys and one girl who lived with their mother and father. The four boys were John, Paul, Peter and Simon and the girl was Mary. Their father had a lorry and the children sometimes rode in it with their father. I did not like the names Paul and Simon. Simon did not look like a boy and I always thought he was a grown up. We also read about Jack and Jill and how they went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. When we read about Jack and Jill, the teacher made us sing the words. Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of wa - a - ter! Jack fell down and broke his heel and Jill came tumbling a-a-fter! I felt so sorry for Jack and Jill and wondered why they fell from up the hill. I also felt sorry for Humpty Dumpty who sat on the wall and had a great fall, breaking his large head into pieces. The story said that all the king’s horses and the king’s men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again. Poor Humpty Dumpty. He should not have sat on the wall in the first place. Every day after school, everybody would start singing, Our daily school is o-ver! We are going home! Goodbye, goodbye tea-cher! We hope to see again!

There were some big boys in the school who asked the small boys to give them their lunch money or share their fish cake or other foods with them. If the small boys refused, the big boys would say, okay, till after school. That was why every day after school, there were so many fights. Some of the small boys were afraid of the big boys and gave them their money so they would not beat them after school. I was resolved never to give any big boy my money and if they beat me, I would go tell my father. So whenever they asked me for my lunch money, I would refuse to give it to them. And as soon as the last bell rang, I would dash out of our classroom and run as fast as possible to our compound.

After a few times, I was tired of running home and decided that I would fight any big boy who wanted to take my money. So on most days after school, I would fight one big boy or the other. The fights were not serious because there were always grown ups around who asked the big boys to leave me alone. Sometimes, I would go home with my uniform torn all over and my mother would know that I was fighting. I also started picking lots of stones and putting them in my book bag, so that if a very big boy followed me after school, I would run for a while, stop, and pelt him with stones and run again. This was how I dealt with Pig. Pig's real name was Madi and he was the biggest boy in our class. We also lived in the same neighborhood. We called Madi Pig because he had a very big and flat nose and his lips were always open, showing big teeth that looked like a pig's. He hated being called Pig and liked beating small boys. Because he was so big, I never tried to fight Pig. I would instead run fast ahead of him, chanting Pi-i-g! Pi-i-g! and pelt him with stones. Eventually, he stopped trying to beat me up and would only growl, 'You Daddy, the day I get hold of you!' But he never got hold of me.

When school closed for the summer holidays, I continued reading my books over and over again. I was never tired of reading about John and Mary, or about Humpty Dumpty. I wondered who Old Mother Hubbarb was, and why she always went to the cupboard. Above all, I wondered where all those people lived and whether they will ever come to our village. I also started trying to draw pictures with my pencil and colors. I drew houses and people and sheep and goats and snakes and birds standing on trees or flying in the air. Then I would color them beautifully and was so happy with my work. Reading and drawing became my favorite hobbies and anytime my mother or father gave me some coins, I would run to the market and buy a new note book and fill it with drawings.