It's hard to believe how at times related events occur by pure coincidence. Several years back, I was in class three at a local primary school in a far flung village. Our classrooms had dilapidated conditions. The roof was so old and rusty that you could feel the heat from the sun rays especially at midday. The classroom walls were made of mud and it was a routine after every two weeks to smear them anew.
The classrooms had many wide openings which served as the windows and the door. Our class teacher was Madam Martha, a middle aged female who liked donning in floral dresses and matching scarves. She was fond of carrying to class a thermos full of tea and some omuogo or rabuon for 'escorting' it. she would enter the class and carefully place her thermos flask on the weak wooden table that served as her desk. She would then fish out wet wipes from her handbag to wipe the chair before siting.
One fine Monday morning, Madam Martha sat with an exaggerated sigh and told us she would start by teaching science. She wrote on the black wall "wild animals". The first one to be discussed was the snake.
"A snake is a very dangerous animal. It has fangs which are poisonous", she started.
Odiek was an avid occupant of the back seats. He was a native from Yimbo, somewhere near the shores of lake Victoria. I had on many occasions overheard him talk of fishing and picking up omena on the lake shores for sale. He had oversized teeth which had turned to the colour of soil out of neglect. He was very aggressive and would speak dholuo perfectly well even if the teachers said no.
That mid lesson, Odiek looked up and pointed towards the roof as he mumbled something, his voice sounding like a growl. Necks craned and heads were raised in alarm. Madam Martha was standing in front of us. A green puff adder the size of my by then small arm was hanging right above her head.
A stampede immediately broke as we all rushed for the door. Madam Marth was the first to take off, leaving behind one of her shoes.Odiek and his backbench crew jumped through the large openings that served as windows. All activities in the school came to an abrupt halt. The staff room spewed teachers and the classrooms belched pupils. All of them rushed towards our class to find out the source of the commotion. The male teachers quickly organized a group of senior boys to hunt down the snake. We were not convinced until the snake was ground to pulp and dumped in one of the pit latrines.