THE UNKNOWN HANDS (EPISODE SIXTEEN)

STORY SERIES

...“God created us to be brothers. It is greed that causes separation”, he had usually stressed and one needed not wonder for long why he was so nice. I discovered that if everyone could think the way the man did, treating one another as brothers would not be a herculean task and that the fact most people think only about themselves alone was because they do not understand the way of God.

Three market weeks were gone and the work on the cocoa plantation was almost completed with the cocoa already removed from their pods followed by the covering of the beans with banana leaves for several days to ferment. The crops were spread on the wide rock near the hut, to dry. Our attention was then turned to the kolanut plantation already weeded along with the cocoa, many of the trees carried ripe fruits needing harvesting. In comparison, while it is easy to harvest cocoa since the trees are not usually very tall, it was more difficult to harvest kolanuts because the trees are known to grow several meters above the ground and sometimes, a special skill is put to play before its fruits can be harvested. A sickle or go-to-hell with a very long handle was used and even at that, there was still the need to climb some of them to a certain level before the harvesting weapon could be of any use. Climbing kolanut in that way was by no means easy. There was the risk of falling off such trees if enough care was not taken. Besides, there were different species of ants that usually made the tree their abode and if one had to climb it, the person would have these insect to contend with. Again, some bees are known to have their bee-hive on kolanut trees and any unwary climber could be attacked when he least expects it. Unfortunately, it was these same mischievous bees that caused the disaster that finally returned me into a wanderer.

On the fateful day, Baba shared the work to be done. The big boys, Adigun and Gbile were assigned to work at the Egan, a virgin land, in preparation for the planting season that was first approaching while the others and Baba had to continue with the harvesting work. Once the work had been divided in that way, we all got set. Adigun and Gbile headed for the Egan and the rest of us were already on our way to the Kolanut Plantation.

We soon got there and Baba explained how the work was to be done. He was to do the climbing while we were to gather the crops to the usual spot at the center of the plantation. It was interesting watching kolanut of different shapes and sizes dropping from the trees after Baba had climbed each of them. Within a short while, baskets were full and we hurriedly went to empty them.

We later came to a very tall kolanut tree, so tall that after Baba had climbed it, Goroye too had to climb it to a level before the harvesting rod could reach Baba where he stood on one of the branches. We could only see a faint picture of him and we all marveled at the height of the tree. Baba had barely taken the go-to-hell from Goroye and balanced himself well on the tree to start the job when he was suddenly attacked by a swarm of bees. Within a twinkle of an eye, Baba had fallen mightily on the ground. It took us all by surprise and at first, we did not know and could not explain what happened, it was only when Baba started groaning in pains as we rushed to where he was that he managed to reveal the cause of his misfortune.

“Bees... bees attacked me”, he muttered.

We tried to make him sit but could not and we were confused on what to do. We started... to be continued on Tuesday.

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