DR FIXIT (NEW VERSION)

331 'to retrain those who'd wasted their time  and parents' food.' But someone was on a fine line. He was a customer to a welder. He praised every pupil who did weather  the storm and moved to a new class. Those who failed shouldn't be seen as outcasts. 'They're still young and need ample time  to grow. I tell you they would outshine  the best when they realize their potential.' 'You do it now, not during my funeral. 332 'That's what I tell my kids,' said the welder. The artisans and customers reeled with laughter. The arguments went back and forth. The soundbox dropped the hits and like frogs  on Ma Moonit"s verandah, we leaped around. During the holidays, we lingered in our compounds - eating, playing and sleeping while our limbs were growing. We didn't visit the streams that much as it was the peak of the rains. We were around the fire munching some grains. 333 And the storytelling shifted from the moonlight  to the fireplace....

321  to trimmed sticks or even palm nuts. If we wanted to be great bankers who'd tie knots  of strips of cloths with shirts and suits, this was the time to prepare well for that pursuit  as we would get right our sums with the counters,  Mrs Bearit told us. And shortly after  was the break. When the timekeeper  rang the bell, we jumped and streaked past our teacher  to the outside for an hour of leisure  where we would put ourselves in every posture  322 as a sleuth, a cop, a criminal or preacher as we play-acted fictitious or real characters  we'd viewed in real life, movies or dramas. Being a warm sunny day, we sneaked past the borders  of the school to look for wild fruits, especially one called 'mkpa-ntuk' at the circuit  of a nearby church. It is a wonder fruit. The taste is slightly sugary. The skin looks  yellowish and the seed is round and hard like palm nut. After you suck and discard  323 the thin white fles...

311 When he moved back to his seat and sat down, 'Tieh', Mrs Bearit wrote on the board. The sound  she guided us to make, meaning to sit. The next was 'Sang'ah' - to walk with the feet portrays the word. Then she wrote, 'Tang.' When we said it with her, some added: 'Uhtang' and Mrs Bearit smiled and we all burst out laughing. She said to us: 'Yes, of course, I know that's what most of you do at home, saying this, asking that. "Tang" isn't for talk alone.' 312 'Tang 'Uhtang' means someone talks too much. 'Tang ikor' means someone speaks and such  a person (based on their mood) is angry, loquacious or learning to talk, if a baby. 'Tang' (the second meaning) connotes to pick or carry pieces of furniture or stick, showing the bits of that thing are many. 'Tang mkpor' is to pick things in the laundry, shop or dump. 'Tang hefeah' is to gather  firewood and there's a song quite popula...