One of us has decided that we need to spend some time and remember our friends and relatives who have departed from the face of the earth over the years.<\/p>\n
The suggestion emanates from the fact that Happison feels we need not to celebrate that we have lived this long while others have been denied that chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does not mean we are the best to stay that long on earth. If truth be told, some of us have over the years been candidates of death; it is just by the Grace of the Almighty that we are still breathing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Head nods are all over, agreeing with Happison. Everyone is silent though, possibly reflecting own cases and experiences.<\/p>\n
Fatly, one of our new members of the crew starts sobbing.<\/p>\n
\u201cMwataninso odala? Mwataa<\/em>? [What is wrong with you \u2018big man\u2019, what is wrong]?\u201d Asks \u2018Atsogoleri\u2019 Rob M.<\/p>\n Fatly uses his hanky to wipe out the tears. \u201cIt is a long story guys,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce upon a time, years ago, when I was young and handsome, I had a close friend we used to call \u2018Professor of Sad Faces\u2019, others called him \u2018The Merchant of Kambwiri\u2019. This guy was not only brilliant, but he was a person of talents, even befitting to be a character in a movie or novel, I mourn him!\u201d he exclaims, and starts sobbing again.<\/p>\n \u201cMwatani Atsogoleri<\/em>?\u201d asks \u2018Atsogoleri\u2019 Rob M, before continuing: \u201cAll of us have lost beloved ones, be it professors, doctors, journalists – you name it; why is your \u2018Merchant of Kambwiri\u2019 so important?\u201d<\/p>\n Fatly combines a sob with a sneeze. \u201cYou should have been there to appreciate the talents and works of Charlie, the Professor of Sad Faces. He was not called a professor for nothing!\u201d<\/p>\n With that he starts narrating how the \u2018Professor\u2019, as a student mesmerised many in his school for lots of incidences that in the present time could maybe match the scenes of the \u2018Aki na Ukwa\u2019s [Paw Paw] of the Nigerian Nolywood fame.<\/p>\n \u201cImagine an incident when our friend the professor was punished by some tough teacher nicknamed \u2018Baba\u2019. Our friend was found out of bounce at night and met a teacher at one of the leisure joints\u2026the teacher reported to \u2018Baba\u2019 who decided to give \u2018Professor\u2019 a tough punishment – and that was making him slash one acre of a ground with plenty of grass.\u201d<\/p>\n Lackson laughs in a way of ridiculing the narrater. \u201cFatly, is slashing grass as punishment something worth calling unique? Nenani zina amwene<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n But others in the Crew criticize Lackson for not letting the new kid on the block narrate his whole story. They tell Fatly to continue with his narration.<\/p>\n \u201cWait until I finish; what I am saying is that the \u2018Professor\u2019 did something that many of us cannot even think about. He sneaked from the school at night and went to his village and got a bag of groundnuts and three cooked chickens – he approached some guys to trade the food for a piece of work; that is, asking them to help him out cut the grass at night, in exchange with the food. Going by the fact that the usual relish then was beans, most schoolmates volunteered for the \u2018piece work\u2019, and come day time, the one acre was done to the surprise of the much feared \u2018Baba\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThen this other incident, the \u2018Professor\u2019 engineered to have a tough Head boy punished in an operation he termed \u2018Checkmate\u2019. What he did was to organise a group of boys from the junior forms to wake up late at night and tamper with the door for the Head boy\u2019s class and \u2018steal\u2019 all books, text books and everything found in the Head boy\u2019s drawers and hide them somewhere out of the school premises – the school authorities\u2019 investigations ended at punishing wrong people as no one would disclose that it was the \u2018Professor\u2019 behind the incident; since prior to that, he had donated \u2018roast\u2019 maize to the bulk of the school population,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Fatly talks more and more of the scenes of the \u2018Professor\u2019, a guy he revered as a prolific actor, playwright, dancer, writer, joker, beer drinker and you name it.<\/p>\n \u201cSadly, he died in Zimbabwe!\u201d and the plea for us to remember our departed friends and relations has just sparked in me memories of one \u2018Charles Mnjale G, a man we will always remember as \u2018Professor of Sad Faces\u2019, a great friend who inspired even myself; May His Soul Rest in Peace!\u201d says Fatly.<\/p>\n And all members of the Crew share the sorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of us has decided that we need to spend some time and remember our friends and relatives who have departed from the face of the earth over the years. 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