She woke up and checked the time, it was morning already. The moon was giving way for the sun to begin its shift. She suddenly remembered and switched on her phone. There were pings. She read them and her heart skipped a little. The Bar finals results had finally been released after a long wait. Every 2012/2013 set student of the Nigerian Law school had anticipated this day wondering what it would be like. Well, here it was finally.
Feyi logged in to the website, it was already bookmarked on her phone with all the previous visits to the site the day before when everyone expected the results to have been released.
She took a deep breath, she had done her best. It was time to see how God would reward her labour. 13…. She typed in her exam no and what she saw left her dazed. She didn’t know what to do. Those seconds were like a moment frozen in time. She pinged a friend, “my love, God did it.” That was all she could type, still dazed. Her phone rang, it was her friend calling her, she picked it, her movement like that of a robot. I listened to her as her voice trembled. She stammered a bit. “What is it?” I asked again. “Its a first class,” she said. “I know,” I replied. She was awed, humbled, joyful. “He did it,” she repeated and kept saying that. We talked a little. After the call, she went on her knees to the floor, her face to the ground in worship.
Bella couldn’t sleep. She kept tossing and turning on her bed, agitated. Everyone in her house had told her the previous day to calm down when she kept asking no one in particular, “why can’t they just release these results?!” The people at home didn’t understand and she didn’t blame them. She was the one who wrote the Bar finals. She, it was, who knew what it felt like. She had been writing exams all her life but never had she anticipated a result like this.
She switched on her phone and the news had gone viral. Her heart did a somersault, it almost burst out of her. Her palms became all sweaty that cold night, fear was beating drums in her heart and head but her whole body was dancing to the beat. She couldn’t check the results, it was finally out but she couldn’t check it. However not knowing was killing her so in one swift movement she typed in her number.
Her eyes popped out of their sockets, she screamed, “yes,” right in the middle of the night. She had passed the Bar finals, for the rest of the day she couldn’t keep calm. Some people may have thought what she had wasn’t worth all her excitement but that was their cup of tea. Again, she was the one who wrote the Bar finals and now, she had passed. This was God’s biggest gift to her this year and she would let the world know it.
Dennis was excited, but he felt the tension too. Law school was trying to give everyone “HBP”. He wondered if someone was somewhere enjoying how tense the students was and chuckling to himself that well, we told them “from 31st” not “on 31st” . He shook his head, he didn’t want weird thoughts going through them. He wasn’t fazed. Let them release it when they want. He was expecting the best. He went to bed. He woke up to the news..at last!.
He quickly logged in and typed in his number, his heart racing. He wasn’t so excited, he had expected something more, he looked at it for a while, dropped his phone and mouthed “Thank you”. God was still God . He hadn’t gotten his expectation but he still had a very good result and he was grateful. Let the celebration begin!
Caramel had kept vigil and now the results were out. Her hands trembled, there really was nothing she could do anymore. So she typed in her number, and then she understood what a cold sweat meant. Tears streamed down from her eyes…inspite of her prayers, there it was, staring her in the face. Her future was ruined. She had failed the Bar finals.
Feyi sat thinking, she was still excited. What would happen from here? She had her future ahead of her and she was looking forward to each day of it. With the good shepherd on her side it will only get better.
Bella wondered what would happen next, she still wasn’t sure how things would work out, getting a good job and finding her place in the legal profession. What exactly was she meant to do? She believed in taking one step at a time, the pieces would fall into place.
Dennis knew what he wanted out of life, and he was going for it, as always not resting on his oars,still believing and knowing he would have the best of life.
Caramel felt she had no future anymore,her zest and energy was gone. She had cried buckets of water, her eyes swollen, but as she looked at the food before her which she couldn’t eat, someone was flashing images of men who had failed at different times of their lives in her mind. This men today were celebrated, she remembered reading about some of them. She drooped the spoon she had been fiddling with, got up and looked to the heavens. I won’t ask why anymore, its done already. Maybe I deserved to fail, maybe I didn’t. I will come out of this stronger, my future is not ruined, its not over except I say it is. This is just a set back and not the end of my life!
Feyi, bella, and Dennis went about the day’s activities with music in their heart, caramel joined them. Maybe not yet but she would make music out of this broken chords as she leaned on God. In the end she was the strongest of them all.
This piece is dedicated specially to Feyikemi Adagunodo. Congrats on your excellent result. I meant all I said that day. So I’ll only add this. I’m proud of the woman God is moulding you to be. It is also dedicated to all my NLS sweeties as well. In the words of a friend who quoted a poet. “We have come home, from the bloodless war, our boots full of pride” Congratulations! All roads lead to Abuja as we become ministers in the temple of justice. God’s graces now and always!
diademstots 