I fell into bed that night worried and emotionally exhausted. I tossed and turned to sleep. The wind set a branch tapping at my window. each tap beat a steady rhythm. ” What if…what if… what if…?” What if I had typhoid? What if I had tuberculosis? What if I could no longer study? Fearful thought! Suddenly, in the middle of the somber darkness, coming from the tamarind tree outside my window, bird song filled the silence. I remembered an ancient proverb: Faith is the bird that sings to greet the dawn while it is still dark! The little bird was singing a song of faith and praise to call forth the promise of the morning light.
I,too, could sing a song of faith. I am not quite sure which song I was singing when i dropped off to sleep, but I woke up to a beautiful morning renewed and full of hope. i knew that God was with me. God would take care of me and give me strength.
“It’s four o’clock!” My sister sad as she looked at his watch. ” She’s still not here. Well, I’m leaving by five whether she comes back or not!” my sister was talking about the maid who went to the supermarket. She had to stay home and watch over our grandparents. My sister went out of his room and looked out the window. There was no one at the gate. She cursed and began walking around the house. She walked around the living room, going around the coffee table, the sofa, the chairs and even the television set. She sat on the light green sofa and scratched its surface. She wondered if the sofa cover was plastic or something else. before she could decide what it was, she got up and took a crystal figurine from the coffee table. It looked like a cat; she put it down and went to the bookshelves. She tapped the encyclopedia with his fingers as she passed the shelves. Then she went to the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator door and closed it again. She started to go back into her room. She saw the wall clock and cursed again.
She walked toward the window and passes by the room where our grandparents were staying. The door was closed. My sister shook his head and sighed. ” They’re asleep anyway,” she said. ” I can just leave…” She suddenly heard a soft creaking sound from inside room. She took a step forward but quickly turned around when she heard someone tapping at the gate. ” Yeah! my sister rushed out of the house, banging the screen door. She hurriedly opened the gate and let the maid in. She was carrying a lot of groceries but she didn’t help her. ” Fine!” she told her. “I’ll be going to the party now! You can babysit them!” She rushed back into the house while the maid tried to close the gate door with her foot.
I was shy and half paralyzed when in the presence of a crowd, and my first day at the new school made me the laughing stock of the classroom. I was sent to the blackboard to write my name and address. I knew my name and address, knew how to write it, knew how to spell it; but standing at the blackboard with the eyes of the many girls and boys looking at my back made me freeze inside and I was unable to write a single letter. ” Write your name,” the teacher called me. I lifted the white chalk to the blackboard and as I was about to write, my mind went blank empty; I couldn’t remember my name, not even the first letter. Somebody giggled and I stiffened. ” Just forget us and write your name and address,” the teacher coaxed. And impulse to write would flash through me, but my hand would refuse to move. The children began to titter and I flushed hotly.
“Don’t you know your name? the teacher asked. I looked at her and could not answer. the teacher rose and walked to my side, smiling at me to give me confidence. She placed her hand tenderly upon my shoulder. ” What’s your name?” she asked. Then I told her my name. And she said that I need to spell it. I spelled my name in a wild rush of letters, trying desperately to redeem my paralyzing shyness. ” Spell it slowly so I can hear it,” she directed me. i did. “Now, can you write?” “Yes, ma’am.” Then write it.” Again I turned to the blackboard and lifted my hand to write, then I was blank and void within. I tried frantically to collect my senses but I could remember nothing. A sense of the girls and boys behind me filled me to the exclusion of everything. I realized how utterly I was failing and I grew weak and leaned my hot forehead against the cold blackboard. the room burst into a loud and prolonged laugh and my muscles froze. ” You may go to your eat,” the teacher said. I sat and cursed myself. Why did I always appear so dumb when I was called to perform something in a crowd” I knew how to write as well as any pupil in the classroom, and no doubt I could read better than any of them, and I could talk fluently and expressively when I was sure of myself. then why did strange faces make me freeze? I sat with my ears and neck burning, hearing the pupils whisper about me, hating myself, hating them.
