Twilight was receding, the mist that had accompanied it clearing up. The birds in the trees were tuning their morning songs. A lone farmer walked up a winding path to a maize plantation, his hoe slung over his shoulder. He was whistling his favorite tune, a jingle from a popular cell phone ad on the radio.
The first golden rays of the sun kissed the land a few minutes later. The dew on the green leaves and stalks of the maize plants glowed like freshly cut diamonds in the light. The rolling hills, covered in the green foliage of the plantation still had traces of the mist, a white patch here and there.
The farmer looked up from his work, the smell emanating from the fresh patch of ground he had just broken permeating the air around him. He took in the beauty of the surrounding countryside for a moment and went back to his work, the sound of the hoe breaking up the sod, the only unnatural sound in the air.
He was working on new earth, this necessitated by a need to feed his family. His bosses had ‘graciously’ given him a small piece of land right next to the fence of the expansive plantation to grow a few vegetables for his family. It was ironic that amidst all the food growing, the plantation workers rarely had enough to eat. But he counted himself lucky. As a foreman, he was one of the few plantation workers who could get such a rare opportunity to grow food for his family. The rest had to live on weekly food rations given out by the bosses.
Suddenly, there was silence all around the farmer. This brought him out of a kind of trance that he had slipped into. The sounds of the birds and the crickets were all gone as if an invisible force had hushed them. Then he heard it. A dull roar in the distance, akin to that of a railway train rambling along it’s tracks. He had heard such a sound only once, when he had joined the plantation company and he traveled to their head office in the big city to register with them. The route he had used when walking from his brother’s place in the city slums to the office passed right next to the railroad and he had been terrified when a train had passed by, its horns blaring as it warned people to get off the track. His brother who was walking with him at the time seemed amused when this happened, but he took the time to explain the concept of the railroad and the train.
The roar got closer and louder. The earth below the farmer started to shake and heave, causing him to drop his hoe and hit the ground on his hands and knees, terrified at the unknown monster, unsure whether it would trample him or pass him. Seconds later, the roar had passed and the silence was back.
The farmer raised his head and looked around him, unsure about what to do. He slowly stood up and surveyed the land. The whole plantation was still...
No comments:
Post a Comment