Daddy the Liar (A Short Story)

Has any of your parents ever bragged about how good they were back in school? I bet you know exactly what I am talking about! Such bragging episodes often occur whenever your either or both of your parents feel the need to “motivate” to study harder because they are not satisfied with your academic performance. So they tell you how brilliant they were back in the day, how they used to top the class and how you have no excuse than they follow in their very accomplished academic foot steps. Fathers are typically fond of doing this. I know this because my father was that way to me when I was younger; always telling me stories of how he was so good in class and how nobody took away the first position from him from primary school all through the university. Funny stuff but all too annoying as well. Anyway, the story you are about to read truly happened. Please read first and let’s discuss it in the comment section.

Mr. Emeka had two children- Nma who was twelve and her younger brother, ten year old Charles. Both were in junior secondary school, and everyday their father bragged about how academically-sound he was when he was going to school like that. This was much to Nma’s irritation, because inasmuch as she understood that her  father actually meant to inspire her, he often told the story about how good he was in school in a manner that made it sound untrue. Yet every time the story was told (which was often by the way), Nma would listen and pretend not to be offended. Note that she and her brother Charles were not even bad academically. They were beyond average even. But for some reason, their father felt they needed to be constantly “motivated”.

One day, the siblings were in their garage just checking through old stuff when they stumbled on an old briefcase containing their father’s old documents. Out of curiosity, the teens opened the briefcase, tumbled out its contents and in it found various letters between their father and his friend dating back whenever. They also found, among other things their father’s O’Level result. Mind you, the WAEC Certificate was intact even though it was old. So it was not faded or anything and the siblings saw their father’s result clearly. The following are the grades Mr. Emeka had obtained in the various subjects he took-

ENGLISH LANGUAGE———— E

MATHEMATICS——————-F9

PHYSICS—————————-F9

BIOLOGY—————————-E

CHEMISTRY————————C6

FURTHER MATHEMATICS——WITHHELD

IGBO LANGUAGE—————–C4

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE——-E etc

The teens took the result back to the house, placed it conspicuously on the side stool beside their father’s favourite chair, and then waited for him to get back from work so they can talk about it. But they did not have to talk about it because the moment Mr. Emeka saw the certificate, he realized what must have happened. He then quietly took the piece of paper to his room where he spent the rest of the evening/night. That day marked the end of his endless preachment about his academic exploits…

What have you learnt from this story; do tell me hear in the comment section. And whatever it is that you have learnt, do bear in mind that this does not in anyway encourage you to become lackadaisical with your academics. Your parents will still motivate you in anyway possible to be study hard. Do not really let the little lies they might tell in the process to derail you.