"Agnes, mom wants to help me study for the English exams," her sister Felicia announced as she walked into their bedroom.
"She wants to do what?" Agnes looked up from her phone.
"She wants to help me study for the upcoming exams." Her sister sat on the bed and looked at her older sister. "She wants to teach me English."
Agnes sat up and looked at her sister with fear in her eyes. "Don't do it,"
"Why?"
"Don't tell me you forgot what happened the last time she tried teaching me English."
Her younger sister squinted her eyes in confusion, then widened them in realization. A few years ago, while Agnes was studying for the final secondary school exams, her mother offered her assistance in helping her daughter study English, but it only took a few study sessions for the young teenager to know that her mother had no idea how to help her, especially when it came to answering questions in the comprehension topic. Agnes tried to tell her mother what she was taught back in school, but she was still stuck in her old ways. Her mother insisted on teaching it her way.
"Your aunt wanted to go to a school to learn English so that she could write an exam on it, but I insisted on teaching her myself, and she passed," she said. "So how much more you, my daughter?"
However, there was some hidden resentment attached to it because, from what Agnes could remember, she took her mother's advice in writing an essay for a test and failed badly, but no matter how many times she tried to reject the offer, her mother insisted, and she gave in.
Agnes could vividly remember that morning when her mother thrashed her for the right answer, for it all started when her mother discovered she copied the answers from the answer page from the assignment she gave her. Angry, she gave her another comprehension passage for her to do, and she got really angry when she failed two of them. Tension gripped the air as the two women waged a silent war against each other. Agnes wanted to leave and study by herself at her own pace, while her mother intended to finish the teaching session and go back to saving her failing poultry farm. Finally, at her wits end with her child, she gave her a final warning: "If you don't write the correct answer to this question, I am going to flog the hell out of you."
The threat of being beaten ignited fear in Agnes, and she looked back at the question. The comprehension passage was on the characteristics of the black ant, and the next question was presented to her: What does the writer think about the black ant?'
'Easy,' Agnes thought, letting her pen dance on the book. "The writer admires the black ant." before handing it to her mother. To her surprise, her mother told her it was wrong. Agnes argued and argued, but the old lady refused to budge on her decision, threatening to flog her, so Agnes started to add synonyms to her answer:
"The writer likes the black ant."
"The writer admires the characteristics of the black ant."
"The writer admires the way the black ant works."
All of it was wrong in her mother's eyes, and finally, snapping, her mother brought the horsewhip out and laid it on her daughter. Agnes screamed and cried for her to stop bringing attention to her younger sister, who was in her junior year at the time. The brave girl held her mother to prevent her from flogging her older sister, but all it took was a few whips of the horsewhip, and she let go, letting the woman continue to beat her child.
"The funny thing is, I actually got the answer correct when we checked the answer page," Agnes said with tears in her eyes. "She gave me another passage to do, but I didn't bother to do it. I was in so much pain from the whipping that I just cried in my room."
Agnes' sister rubbed her older sister's shoulders in comfort as the girl sobbed. "But she still taught you, didn't she?"
"Not really," Agnes replied. "When she wanted to resume the lesson, I told her 'No,' reminding her of what happened between us, and she blamed me for it. Needless to say, I didn't want her to teach me again after that, and she started insisting on it when I was taking another exam, and this time, she stuck to the 'Letter Writing,' aspect of it."
Her sister gave a huge sigh. "At least you passed."
"Yeah,"
Suddenly, her mother's voice calling the young teenager's name echoed across the house, making the girls' hair stand on end. The younger sister looked at her older sister in fear before getting up from the bed and leaving the room.
"Good luck," Agnes whispered. "You are going to need it."
Although Agnes wasn't there to witness their study session, she always heaved a sigh of relief when her sister came into their room unharmed after each study session. Needless to say, her sister passed the English aspect of the exams, but Agnes promised herself to never let her mother teach her again after that.
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