Nania was always getting into all sorts of trouble Nearly every we Nanna needed to be punished for doing something she oughtn’t to have done. Whenever Nania was around, accidents began to happen. But Nania didn’t want to cause trouble all the time. She was completely unselfish and really wanted to please everyone. But the harder she tried to please people, the more trouble she caused in the end, the pleased nobody One day she flooded the school because she was trying to please the girls. Every week, the girls washed all their clothes and sheets “I’m sure the girls would be pleased I helped them,” thought Nania. I washed all the sheets today the girls would be happy. Then the sheets will be done tomorrow, and the girls can have a holiday So, she collected all the sheets from the beds, put the sheets in the sink and turned the tap on “Oh, I need to go and get some soap!” Quickly she ran off. forgetting that the sheets were in the sink, and that the water was running in a very few minutes, the water had covered the sheets and it began to pour out of the sink on to the floor “If you hadn’t tried to be clever, you would be resting by now,” said the teachers as they passed Nania, still sweeping hours later Then, another day. Nania heard that important guests were going to visit the school. “The school will need to be properly cleaned, thought Nania. “It really needs to be painted again. I’m an expert at painting and it needn’t take me a long time to do the painting. The teachers will be very pleased, and the school will look lovely when I’ve finished. She found a tin of bright blue paint which she thought was Lovely Quickly, she began to splash the lovely paint on to the dirty whitewalls. She was very happy
“Blue is my favorite color. I do think it’s lovely We’re to have the loveliest school in the province,” she thought as she covered the walls, and herself, with blue paint. Then, she took a step backwards to admire her work. But she hadn’t noticed the pats of paint behind her. She knocked the pots of paint over grass and all the lovely, bright blue paint spread. Slowly across the bright green. She looked at the walls with their bright patches of blue paint on white paint. She had to try and save some of the paint She knew there was no blue paint left in the shop. She got a spoon and began putting the paint back into the tins But with each spoonful she also picked up all sorts of other things – grass and soil and gravel “I need to squeeze the paint brush to get enough to finish, she thought She hadn’t quite finished when one of the teachers came past. “Nania! The walls!” she shouted. “You’ve ruined the walls!” Nania stopped painting and looked at her work. The bottom half was a lovely smooth blue color, but the top half was dirty blue and brown all mixed together with pieces of grass and gravel stuck to it. “When Mrs Mumbi finds out, she’ll be annoyed,” the teacher said. “She will be very annoyed But when the head teacher found out, she wasn’t just annoyed, she was furious!
” You are a very annoying girl,” she said angrily. “Now the whole school will have to be painted I will need to be done before the visitors come. You are a nuisance, Nania, a nuisance If you hadn’t done this we could have left the painting until next year l Oh, I’m so annoyed with you!” You must feel sorry for Nania Whatever she did, she always annoyed somebody, but she never lost her temper or grumbled, although sometimes she did feel as if she had no friends.
During the cold season, it was necessary to wear jerseys to keep out the cold, dusty winds that swept through the school. Everyone, teachers and girls, wore jerseys all day everyone except of course, Nania. She always took her jersey off, as she didn’t usually feel cold. She was always too busy running about trying to please everyone. And, of course, she kept losing her jersey. One day when it was colder than usual. Nania Jersey had a good idea “I’ll go and make some tea,” she thought. But when she went to the teachers’ room, she saw that somebody had already put the kettle on the stove and it was steaming. “Well, there are all sorts of other things to do, “thought Nania and away she went But whoever had put the kettle on the stove must have forgotten about it. The kettle continued to Kettle boil until all the water had disappeared. Then the kettle itself began to get hotter and hotter until it was almost red-hot. “Oh, that’s nice,” said Miss Moonga, the geography teacher, coming into the room. “Someone’s started to make tea. I do want a cup of tea. I’ll have one now – I needn’t wait for the others. “Suddenly, a loud scream was heard all round the school, as she picked up the kettle. She had burned her hand, dropped the kettle and burned her foot Nania rushed back to the room and saw Miss Moonga dancing around on one foot, yelling all sorts of things about silly girls who left traps for teachers “I don’t need to be told who did this! Nania” she shouted “That girl needs to be taught a lesson!”
Nania was in trouble again Later that day, Nania was busy swing online the ash room Inside, she could hear the teachers grumbling something That girl needs to be taught wagon. She’s the best mien the school. She’s always cussing troubled” Suddenly, Nania recognized the voice of the blogs who was talking about her “I’ve always said that she needs to be taught lesson. * mu listened to my advice, I wouldn’t be sitting here tied up in tantos a parcel” “You needn’t blame Nania for it. It might have been samene sise said Miss Change, who was always kind. “Of course I’ll blame Nania, Nania is the only grim who could have done it. Nenis is such a nuisance that she ought to be expeed. You can’t feel sorry for her” “She always does her best and she needn’t be blamed for every accident,” repeated Miss Changa, “She does need to be blamed for everything because she’s always the cause of all sorts of trouble,” argued Miss Moonga “Oh, all right. I’ll try to do something about it “Yes, you’d better — or I will. I don’t care what you do, but do something soon or I shall go mad!”
Nania was listening to this and suddenly she couldn’t put up with it any longer She knew she was always blamed for everything but this time she hadn’t been the cause of the trouble. “I’m always blamed for everything,” she said. “Nobody cares about me. Nobody cares whether I’m happy or not. You probably wouldn’t care if you never saw me again!” The surprised teachers came running out. “Who’s there? Nanial” Tears poured down Nania’s face. “I’m going to leave here now and I don’t care what you say. Don’t You needn’t worry about me any longer.” waste your time coming after me. I know you don’t care if I live or die went when she wanted to be alone. She threw down the brush and ran off to the river, where she always “Nania must have heard us!” said Miss Changa. “Oh, don’t worry about her She’ll come back. We needn’t worry about it.” “But I am worried. All sorts of things might happen.” Miss Change said, “Oh, come on! It’s cold out there, Stop worrying and come and have some tea.”
But all afternoon Miss Change couldn’t help wondering and worrying about Nania Just before dark there was a knock at the teachers’ door. It was one of the younger girls “I’m sorry I burned your hand. I forgot about the kettle,” she said. “It was you” said Miss Moonga, “It wasn’t Nania. Oh dear, What have I done?” Suddenly, there was a shout. Two girls came running along the path waving something in the air. It was a jersey made of wool. Nania’s jersey! “We found it by the river, but we couldn’t find Nania.” At once Miss Changa ran down to the river, with Miss Moonga limping after her. Suddenly, Miss Changa stopped. “Look!” she whispered, pointing to a mark on the bank. “The bank must have collapsed. Oh no, perhaps Nania was standing there when the bank collapsed!”
Quickly, they ran to see. They could see that the bank had collapsed only a short time before. They looked at the river. The bank must have collapsed under Nania’s weight and they would never see her again. Or perhaps she had allowed herself to fall in and be swept away by the powerful current. The river was still very full after the rainy season and the current was very strong. No girl who was as light as Nania could survive in that current. “Oh, if I hadn’t said things about her, she would be safe now.” cried Miss Moonga. Suddenly, one of the girls screamed. “Look! There’s a shoal It was true. One of Nania’s little shoes was caught on a branch growing out of the river. The current must have pushed the shoe and trapped it on the branch. “Perhaps the current has carried her down the river. Perhaps she can be found! A search must be organized.” cried Miss Moonga. “We must be calm.” replied Miss Changa. “Yes, we need to organize a search. The head teacher needs to be told but Nania’s parents mustn’t be told yet. They needn’t know until we make sure!” At once, some girls ran to fetch the other girls while someone went to the village nearby to ask the men to join the search. Soon, on both banks of the river, lines of people moved slowly down the river. They searched in each little hole in the river bank and they searched under the branches that grew out into the river. Even after the sun went down the search continued until at it was too dark to see.
That night, there was a strange silence in the school. All the girls spoke in whispers. In the teachers’ room, there was only one thought in each teacher’s head. If I hadn’t been angry with Nania, she would be living now!” wailed Miss Moonga “She! You needn’t blame yourself. “But if I hadn’t lost my temper, little Nania would now be sleeping comfortably in her own bed. If I had kept quiet, she wouldn’t have been drowned!” Miss Moonga wailed. “She! You needn’t blame yourself. Nobody knows what happened – it was probably an accident. Come into the hall for prayers. Always, before they went to bed, the girls met in the hall to say prayers. Tonight, all the teachers came to join in their prayers and to say
a prayer for Nania. The group of girls kneeling down was very quiet and it was difficult to hear their whispered prayers. Then Mrs. Mumbi, the head teacher, held up her hand. She didn’t usually make a speech ‘except on special days. But she was going to make a speech tonight. “Girls,” she said. “This is a speech I would be happy not to make. There was a little noise from the back of the hall as somebody came in late during the speech. Mrs. Mumbi’s speech continued. “We have come here to say goodbye for ever to Nania. She was a good girl. At all times, she was determined to try her best – in sports, in school and after school. Nobody was kinder than Nania. Nobody tried so hard to make people happy as Nania. But now Nania has gone.’
Already one or two of the girls had begun to cry “Nania has gone but is not forgotten. We will always respect Nina and each of us will need to try to be like her. We needn’t worry about her now, because she la safe. The school can never be the same without Nania but in the future I shall always be proud to say ‘Nania was my friend by now all the girls were wailing. But suddenly another wall was heard, louder than anything else. All the pila turned to see who I was “I didn’t know you loved mall always thought that nobody cared about mal” It was Nania. Nania was alive and safe, At first there was silence. Then the head teacher’s voice, which a few minutes before had been filled with sadness, was heard again now full of anger ‘Where have you been? Your naughty child I never know anybody who could cause so much trouble” “Well!” said Nania. “You were all angry. You blamed me for everything, went down to the river. My shoe fell into the water and I was too frightened to tell you.” “If you hadn’t been so silly, all the girls and village people wouldn’t have been searching all day for you. All sorts of things could have happened to you. “But I thought nobody cared what happened to me!” “Nobody does care about silly girls. Now go to bed at once. Come to my office in the morning.” As the rest of the girls walked out of the hall, Miss Moonga turned angrily to Miss Changa. “You needn’t try to protect her again! If you hadn’t been worrying about her, we wouldn’t have been searching the river bank all afternoon She needs to be punished. She is the biggest nuisance I have ever known I hope she is punished tomorrow. Perhaps that will teach her a lesson!” “Ah, Nania” thought Miss Changa. “She can never do anything right.”
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