Below you'll find the beginning of the fourth chapter of Jerry Mills' ongoing serialized novel My Heart Is Like a Cabbage, based on his experience in Sierra Leone. To read the full chapter--or the full novel--go to "Pages" on the right side of the blog page and click on the novel's title. - Tony
My stomach was growling the next morning—a little hunger, a little anxiety—as we raced down the highway toward Peninsula Secondary School. Ron and I had overslept. Samuel, already dressed in his freshly washed uniform, white shirt and gray shorts, had awakened us, his brow glistening with sweat, his face nearly radiant with anticipation.
We skipped the ritual of breakfast; I grabbed a banana as we raced out the door. Ron informed me Clifford was a stickler for punctuality, the lack of which, he deemed, was the reason Africans were not ready to join the council of world citizens. I was apprehensive, a thousand scenarios of the first day flashing through my head. My liberal arts degree was small comfort; my only classroom experience had been a stint as an assistant in a Botany lab my senior year at Mizzou. Stage fright loomed in my fantasies of standing before a class of some thirty students.
The school was located at an intersection about a mile and a half further down the road leading to Bo. Uniformed students walking along the highway waved at the Jeep as we passed. They didn’t seem too concerned about the prospect of being late.....
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