The Moment of Truth

Chapter 11

Lectures resumed in the University of Buea after the Continuous Assessment tests, and there were just a few weeks left before the first semester examinations kicked in.
     Samuel was yet to find his schoolbag though his friends kept assuring him that the posters they had put up all over campus would soon yield results. In the meantime, Beltus and his friends contributed enough money for him to photocopy his friends’ notes, and he was working on overdrive to catch up for lost time in preparation for the first semester examination.
     The students were already receiving their scripts for the Continuous Assessment tests. Samuel failed in almost all his courses, passing only in two of them with a score of eighteen on thirty in Civics and Ethics (CVE 100), and sixteen on thirty in Business Policy and Strategy (MGS 309).
     His friends kept urging him each day to not let himself drown in despair.
‘It’s not your fault, Sam,’ Julius told him. ‘Someone did this to you, and that person will definitely pay for it. As long as my God lives, He will surely see you through.’
     And so Samuel pushed through every single day hoping a miracle would happen and he would find his schoolbag.
     One day, just as he and his friends were leaving class after lectures, one of their course mates walked up to them.
     ‘Hello,’ he said with a smile, exposing a set of white teeth.
‘Hello, Fritz. How are you doing?’ Julius said as he shook hands with them. Fritz was the male course delegate of one of their courses, and a friend of theirs.
‘I’m Ok,’ he said. ‘Um, Samuel, I think your schoolbag has been found.’
     ‘What!’ Samuel and his friends exclaimed in unison, unable to believe their ears.
    ‘Wait, you mean like someone knows where my bag is?’ Samuel got hold of the course delegate’s shoulders as though if he left him go, he would run off without saying where his schoolbag was. He could see the eager looks on his friends’ faces, especially Vivian.
     ‘Yes,’ Fritz said. ‘I was at the faculty yesterday to check on someone when I saw a notice pasted on one of the pillars at the front porch. The notice spelled out your full name and matriculation number, requesting you to report to the secretariat of our department and get your schoolbag. Someone probably found it somewhere and took it to the faculty.’
     Samuel and his friends leapt for joy upon receiving the news, jubilating like they had just won the American DV lottery. Samuel turned and hugged Vivian tight as though he would never let go. Richard and Julius, too, turned and hugged each other.
     The other students who saw them were taken by surprise and wondered why they were so happy.
     When the euphoria subsided a little, Samuel turned to Fritz and said, his body still shaking with excitement, ‘So I can go get it now, right?’
     ‘Sure you can,’ he replied, and watched them rushed to toward the Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, practically running.
     The other students then came to ask what the excitement was all about, and he told them Samuel’s schoolbag had been found. They gave a sigh of relief since they all knew what Samuel had been through ever since his schoolbag mysteriously disappeared.
     ‘That poor boy has been through hell over that schoolbag,’ a girl said.
     ‘Are you telling me?’ Another chimed in. ‘I was seated right next to him in the exam hall the day we wrote the Management Science Continuous Assessment exam, hoping he would help me out when I got stuck. But to my greatest surprise, he looked even more lost than I in the hall; I ended up helping him out with a few answers. I bet he submitted a practically empty answer sheet that day.’
     A boy said, ‘Did you see how mad he was at that his friend when he heard he had given his schoolbag away?’
     ‘But who could have done such a terrible thing to him?’ another girl asked.
     ‘Who knows?’ someone countered.
***
When Samuel and his friends got to the faculty, they saw the notice Fritz had talked about. As they stopped to read it, Vivian said to Samuel, ‘See? I told you our posters would yield fruits.’
     Samuel smiled and said, ‘You wait for me here while I go in and get the bag.’
     He then entered the lobby and turned left at a corridor. He walked along the corridor and stopped at the penultimate door to the left which had a sign that said it was the secretariat of the department of Economics and Management – his department.
     He took a deep breath, knocked on the door and walked in. The secretary was working on a computer at her desk before him and there was an unoccupied desk to his right. The secretary looked up when he knocked.
     ‘Good day, madam,’ he said, struggling to keep his excitement at bay.
     ‘Good day,’ she replied. ‘How may I help you?’
     ‘I am Bekindaka Samuel Ekoko, the student whose missing schoolbag was found and brought to this office.’
She gave him a once over before saying, ‘Let me have your student identity card for identification.’
     Seeing her outstretched arm, he said, ‘Um, I left it inside my wallet in my bag. You can check for yourself and see that I am the owner of the bag. That is if my wallet, too, was returned.’
She eyed him suspiciously before retrieving a schoolbag from underneath her desk. His heartbeat accelerated when he saw that it was indeed his. He smiled inwardly and said a silent prayer of thanksgiving.
How he has missed that bag!
     From one of the pockets of the bag, the secretary got his wallet and handed it to him. ‘See if your student identity card is still in there.’
     Samuel opened it and, to his surprise, everything he had kept in there – his student and national identity cards, alongside a cash sum of eighteen thousand francs (18,000 Frs) – was still intact. He muttered ‘Thank God’ before getting his student identity card and presenting it to the secretary.
     She took it, squinted at the passport sized photograph of him in the card and then looked back at him to be certain. After satisfying herself that he was indeed Bekindaka Samuel Ekoko, she handed him the bag and student identity card, saying, ‘You had better be more careful next time.’
     ‘Thank you,’ he said with a slight bow. ‘But, um, may I know who brought the bag here?’
     ‘The student who brought it chose to withhold his identity.’
     He nodded and thanked her once more before practically running out of the office, brimming with joy.
     When he joined his friends outside, they all burst into joyous laughter as they saw him carrying the bag he had been looking for over many a week.
     ‘Everything was returned,’ he told them with inexplicable joy, before opening the bag for them to see. They craned their necks and looked inside. Indeed, everything was intact.
     ‘This calls for celebration!’ Julius declared.
     The others concurred.
     ‘Let’s go get some ice cream,’ Samuel said. ‘The bill is on me; I am well loaded.’
     They all burst out laughing again as they made for the nearest ice cream vendor just around the corner.
***
When Samuel got home that evening, he found Beltus reading at the study table. When Beltus looked up, he was amazed to see that Samuel was now with his school bag. He sprang to his feet and met him at the door.
     ‘My God, Samuel; you found your schoolbag! How come?’
     Samuel handed him the bag to see for himself. ‘One of our course delegates told me this afternoon that he saw a notice at our faculty requesting me to go get the bag which was retuned there by an anonymous student. And you know the best part?’ he said as they sat on the bed. ‘Everything was intact when I got it!’
     ‘Like seriously?’ Beltus could not believe his ears. He instantly opened the bag and took out everything that was inside, surprised to see that Samuel was not lying. ‘This is indeed a miracle, Sam! I know we serve a living God, and He provides for His own.’
     They went on their knees and said a prayer of thanksgiving.
     When they resumed their seats, Beltus said, ‘But come to think of it, Sam. You did not just lose your schoolbag – someone orchestrated the theft; and to think that the person would return it to you afterwards with everything intact is a little weird, don’t you think?’
     ‘I guess I am just lucky.’
     ‘…Or not.’
     Samuel looked puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’
     ‘Look at it this way,’ Beltus said, illustrating with hand gestures. ‘Your bag was stolen barely two weeks before the Continuous Assessment tests, just around the time you had decided to pull yourself together and study hard. And now, a few weeks to the exams, the bag is returned by an anonymous person. Do see what I am getting at?’
     ‘No.’
     ‘Ok. What I am saying is that whoever stole your bag wanted you to perform poorly in your Continuous Assessment tests, and knows that even if you get your beg now, you will have very little time to prepare for the exam Ergo, he believes no matter what you do from now on, you may never get a pass result this semester.’
     Samuel was dumbstruck as this horrible idea sank in.
Beltus went on, ‘This wasn’t just a mere theft, Sam. It is a sadistic plan orchestrated by someone who wants to ruin your academic career. I hate to say this, but I think you have a dreadful enemy lurking in the shadows.’
     Samuel stared blankly at Beltus, overwhelmed by a terrible fear that gnawed at him right to his bones. Who could that enemy be? He wondered, unable to recall ever offending anyone to such an extent. The idea of a deadly enemy lurking in the shadows was an unsettling feeling that made him very sick in the stomach.