Can you keep a secret? Will you keep secrets that can cause harm to another?
This week's prompt brought back a memory of something that happened when I was still living with my parents. When you live in a small community like that, you tend to know your neighbors and of course, relate with them.
There is this neighbor in our street whose house is not too far from ours. They have a son, he is an only child(let me call him Wale). His parents are very hardworking and always work tirelessly to provide for his needs. Since they were not educated, I do sometimes hear them say they would always do their best to provide for their son so he could attain a higher level of education they never had.
It all started when Wale got to S.S.S.3(this is the class where students prepare for their O-level exams) and one of the common things for students in this class is to attend extra moral classes and some groups of teachers team up to form these teaching classes.
Some people who do this as a business, always make a lot of income during this period because students will register for WAEC, NECO, JAMB, and so on and these classes are usually after school hours in other to enable students to attend after-school hours. I noticed Wale has also started going for these extra classes.
It didn't take long for me to start a private lesson for a family that has a teenage daughter. I was recommended to the family by a colleague in the school where I work and after discussing with the girl's mum, I was to begin at a certain time of which I started.
Initially, when I started, I do go to the girl's place from work and after teaching her, I would go back home. But after some time, the girl's mum and I noticed it was not convenient because most schools close at the same time, so by the time I get to their place, I would have to wait for her to eat and do other things before starting the lesson and that will affect the time slated for the lesson. So we decided to give her enough time to get ready which meant I would have to go home before coming for the lesson at a later time.
This change led to a discovery for me. The day I resumed, I took a particular route and I was passing through an uncompleted building which has some bushes around, I saw a group of guys(about 6 of them) talking loudly while some of them were smoking, from their looks, you will know there are up to no good.
I was about to walk past them when a figure caught my eye, you guessed right, I saw Wale among them. I couldn't believe my eyes because he is known to be very calm and gentle. I couldn't believe I would see him in that kind of group when he was supposed to be in his WAEC class.
I called on him because I wanted to make sure he saw me and also know that I saw him. He quickly rushed down to where I was.
"What are you doing there?", I asked looking very disappointed.
"Nothing ma", he said, not meeting my face.
"Aren't you supposed to be in your extra moral classes now?" I asked still very surprised.
Before he could respond, I saw one of the guys advancing towards us.
"Henn, Aunty wetin happen(what happen)", he asked taking a drag from his cigarette.
I didn't even wait to give him a response, I took Wale's hands and dragged him with me and we walked away from them while "the guy" threw insults my way talking about how schooling is a waste of time, how much is my salary after all the school I have attended.
I paid no heed as I quickly left there with Wale in tow. After we had walked a few distance away, Wale started apologizing to me and begged me not to tell his parents and that he would disengage from them.
To make matters worse, he is just 15 years old, he only looks so much taller than his age that you could mistake him for an adult. I told him how disappointed I was and told him to lead the way to his lesson. After I saw him safely there, I proceeded to where I was headed.
While at the lesson, I thought of my next course of action. What if he went back to the guys? Should I tell his parents? Or take him at his word to disengage from them? My heart was troubled. My conscience wouldn't let me be. In the end, I decided I would have to tell his parents.
When I got back home that day, I waited for his mum to get back before relaying all that I saw to her and I also advised her to treat the matter with caution so as not to make matters worse.
The mum later told me that after much persuasion, he confessed that he has been moving with them for a while and they have started introducing him to smoking as well.
She also told me she and his father had decided to change his lesson center and would enroll him in another not too far from home and also put a watchful eye on him. She thanked me for not turning a blind eye and acted immediately. I was glad I did my part and I knew right that I wouldn't have had a clean conscience had I kept mum about it.
After that incident, I promised myself I would never keep a secret that will cause great harm to another, call me a tattletale, but I think it's best to have a clean conscience if we can help it.