"Everyone say magic!"
"Magic!", the children chorused out loudly, looking at their grandmother, a fat woman with gray hair, sitting on a small stool in their front.
"Who can spell the word magic?", Grandma asked, looking at the children on the mat. The children looked at Grandma, thinking on the word, "Mahhhh....gic.....", she said again, "Ada, do you want to try?", Grandma asked the child, Ada nodded her head shyly, "M....A......magic", "M...A....G.....I.....C".
"Clap for her!!!", everyone clapped their hands.
"Repeat, after me, M!" "M!"
"A!" "A!"
"G!" "G!"
"I!' "I!"
"C!" "C!"
"Can you all say it again! M! A! G! I! C!",
"M! A! G! I! C!"
"Now let us all spell it together", Mama said, together they all spelt the word, "M", "A", "G", "I", "C".
"The tittle of my story is the Magic Pen!"
"The magic pen!", the children shouted out loudly. Mama smiled at them, "Can we all spell pen together?"
"Yes! Yes!", the children shouted out, "P!", "E!", "N!".
"Again!"
"P! E! N!"
"Can you all spell Magic again?"
"M! A! G! I! C!"
"Everyone listen", Mama said as she started the story, "A long time ago, in the city of Akute, there lived a man called Dele, what is the man name?"
"Dele.!", the children answered
"Dele has a son called Olu!"
"Olu!"
"Dele had a wife before but she died when Olu was just six years old......."
"what killed her Mama?", one of the children asked, Mama looked at them, "malaria killed her", Mama could sense confusion, "malaria is gotten from mosquito, that use to sound.....zzzzzzz......near your ears...", the children laughed out...
"whenever mosquito bites someone it can make them sick..."
"will we die if they bite us?" another asked
"No. we won't die,..."
"why did Olu mother now die?"
"She died because there weren't drugs for her to take, and she didn't have a mosquito net......and because she didn't take good care of the environment", Mama continued, "any where dirt is, mosquitoes will come there....if you don't lock your doors well and make the house clean...mosquitoes will come...."
"Make sure you all keep the environment clean so that mosquitoes won't come"
"Yes mama!"
"Who can remind me where I stopped....."
"Mosquito killed Olu's mother...", a child answered.
"Olu's mother died when Olu was six years old, it was very painful. Dele cried and cried sadly, Dele took good care of his son, they did everything together, cooked together, farmed together, slept together and played together"
"The years passed by, one day, Dele had a visitor, an old friend, came to Akute and visited Dele, this friend was Oba, he came with a big car and he wore a beautiful cloth", the children all looked at Grandma.
Grandma continued, "Oba was happy to see Dele, both friends talked happily, Oba saw Dele's son, Olu and asked his friend if Olu was going to the school in Akute"
"No....he helps me in the farm....", Dele told his friend,
"he can still help you and attend the school", Oba told his friend, "think about it..."
Oba gave Dele some money as he left, Dele sat down and thought about it.