At school, Jacob emerged quite a brilliant boy. So clever was the little boy that he did better than Mukama and his brothers.
Naturally, this displeased Musani, who began hating Jacob. He changed tactics and started discriminating against him by buying exercise books only for his children.
Jacob had no exercise books of his own, but their class teacher, who was impressed by his good performance at times, gave him a few books. Little Bukirwa also proved quite helpful on other occasions whenever he gave his friend some books.
Angela was happy and satisfied. Her son's performance at school was quite remarkable. But at times, she viewed everything sadly whenever she saw her son being sent to do the manual tasks on the farm while the other boys sat chatting on the compound.
"Never mind my son," Angela would often comfort her son. "One day God will raise you to be someone great, and even this jealous husband of mine will approach you for help. God bless you, my son!"
She introduced her son to church when the boy was in second grade; class two, so to speak. She wanted her son to grow into a pious man. Her belief was that God would make him successful in whatever he did; even his class work.
The seed of faith was planted in him at an early age. And surely, Jacob won several prizes as one among the best pupils in academics and extracurricular activities, much to the chagrin of Musani.
However, Musani knew there was nothing he could do since he had accepted to educate the boy. But he resorted to dirty tricks when he saw his children were dull at school.
The trick was simple: at the beginning of every term, he usually paid school fees promptly for his children. But he would often insist he did not have fees for Jacob and ask him to wait till he got money after selling some farm produce.
Jacob would go back to school almost a month after schools opened. In doing so, Musani hoped to retard Jacob's progress in class work. But to his disappointment, Jacob usually emerged among the top three pupils at school at the end of every term.
What he never knew was that Jacob always asked Bukirwa to give him the notes the students had copied each day whenever he returned from school. Jacob would spend most of his time at home copying, reading, and memorising the notes.
One day, Musani used a funny excuse to frustrate little Jacob. He started complaining about the poor performance of his children. "Why do you always come out among the last pupils in your class? Can't you be like Jacob? If anyone fails this term, he will have to reckon with me. And Jacob, you must make sure your brothers pass examinations like you do. Otherwise..."
Musani never bothered to finish his words. But Jacob had seen it. It was a veiled threat. He knew exactly what he was driving at. His stepfather was making an excuse so that he would avoid paying his school fees if the three brothers failed.
However, since Jacob was fond of Bukirwa, he started explaining to his friend the parts in the subjects he found difficult to understand. He also revealed his secret to good performance; regular evening studies as a sure way to remember facts before any examination.
Bukirwa usually thanked Jacob. He loved singing and would at times compose a song in praise of his friend who helped him solve difficult problems in mathematics and science. During such moments, he would ask Jacob to sing with him, but Jacob's voice could not match his.
But there was still bad blood between Jacob and the other stepbrothers; Mukama and Nsubuga. He never bothered to show them anything since he knew they were quite presumptuous boys who thought they could do well without his help. Yet they were quite dense and could not grasp whatever the teachers taught.
And so it was that at the end of the term, while Bukirwa's performance showed remarkable improvement, Mukama and Nsubuga, as usual, came among the last. Bukirwa had moved from position thirty to ten in their class.
That evening at their home, Musani was furious. "Why didn't you teach them, Jacob?"
"They never came for help. And they also don't like reading books. Reading seems hard work for them; so they dislike it."
"But you should be reading for them!" Musani shouted almost hysterically.
"How can I do that yet studying is what a person does for himself? They don't like studying. Nsubuga is just fond of boy scouts because of the uniforms he sees them wearing and their frequent trips outside school. Besides, Mukama and Nsubuga do not seem to have abandoned their old habits of hunting rabbits or gazelles; they often rise very early to go to the forest instead of reading their books."
"But I told you to teach them, didn't I? You're still a naughty boy. I shan't pay your school fees, and you shall not be given food in my homestead for a week."
Jacob saw the threat and remained silent.
Later that evening, Musani came to see his mother and began his accusations and complaints: "Your son is quite naughty. He has refused to teach my children. I won't pay his school fees next term."
Musani paused for a few seconds as Angela looked at him, surprised and then continued, "He must be taught a lesson never to disobey me. So, he must never eat here for a week. If I see or even hear that he has been given food in this house, I will throw the two of you out of my home."
"But when did Jacob become a teacher? Jacob is not the teacher; go to their teacher and ask him to teach them extra hard. What can Jacob do if your boys are not intelligent? Your boys should trust God and also work very hard. Jacob is only a pupil like them and...."
"Shut up!" Musani shouted.
He was fed up with her sharp tongue and preaching. He hated her frequent references to God, long prayers, going to church on Sundays, and her daily study or reading of the Bible. "If God can't help them, Jacob should do that."
"But Jacob can not take the place of God, my love. You know..."
"I will not listen to such nonsense. If he refuses to help my sons, he must be punished," he said but hoped her hot temper would not be triggered.
To ensure his threat was carried out, Musani camped at Angela's house for a whole week. Angela took the threat seriously when she realised her son stood to lose everything if she disobeyed him; so she complied with her husband's wishes, but inwardly was hurt and felt quite resentful.
But a man can neither expect a woman to mistreat her own son nor hope to destroy a woman's love for her child. Angela would occasionally wait when he fell asleep and quietly wake up Jacob to give him food.
But it was Bukirwa who proved quite helpful during that difficult time because he disliked discrimination or any form of oppression. He would take food from his mother's kitchen and leave the compound pretending to be heading for the shops.
Then he would beckon Jacob, who would follow him and find the food his friend had taken from his mother's kitchen. In this way, Jacob never starved when his friend and mother supplied him with food to counter Musani's inhumane behaviour.
He had a great ally in his stepbrother who was quite generous and sympathetic and always supplied him the needs others tried to deny him.
Despite expressing disappointment at the poor performance of his two sons and blaming it wholly on Jacob, Musani was pleased to see that Bukirwa's performance had remarkably improved. Suddenly, he realised he could never fully carry out his threat of eviction against Jacob since Bukirwa's performance would decline if the brilliant boy was not around.
Therefore, at the beginning of the new term, Jacob went back to school. Were Musani not hostile against him, Jacob would have tried to live in a comfort zone. But it was such hostility and prejudice against him that made Jacob start thinking seriously about his future.
Young as he was, he knew his mother would never be there always to protect him. With this in mind, Jacob worked even harder at school and always maintained his top position in class.
He had no doubt his fortune lay elsewhere in the distant future, but certainly not in Musani's home. Whenever he saw Musani coming to his mother's house, Jacob's heart became filled with hate for the man who despised him and treated him like an outcast or outlaw.
"Damn fucking old man," Jacob would murmur silently as he saw him approaching their home.