Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Bitter and Sweet (05/28/09)
-
TITLE: Bitter Leaf | Previous Challenge Entry
By Charles Fumadorh
06/03/09 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
He held fast onto the black polythene bag which contained all he could lay his hands on. The sun was high and scorching. With his right hand he wiped out the sweat on his forehead. He could see his shortened shadow in front of him on the brown earth. He was back in the village.
“Grandpa, Grandpa, Joseph is back from the city,” exclaimed, Joan his cousin, with excitement.
“Back in this village?” was Grandpa’s curt reply.
Grandpa in his lazy chair beckoned Joseph to make himself comfortable beside him on the stool which his cousin pulled from the palm frond shed which served for kitchen. Joan offered him a calabashful of water which he gulped down. She dashed back to the kitchen and Joseph knew that before long a heap of pounded yam would be swimming in a pool of steaming peanut soup adorned with bush meat and assorted fish before his ravenous soul and body.
“Now my son, what has brought you home from the city after just three months?” The old man, queried.
“My uncle’s wife is a devil, in fact the devil incarnate. She hates me and I can’t stay any longer with them. She maltreats me so I have run away.”
“You have run away, you say?”
“Yes, Grandpa, I don’t want to go back.”
“Does she give you food?”
“Yes, but small. Not as much as we eat here”
“Have you been enrolled in a school?”
“Yes, but she doesn’t allow me to play after school.”
“I see. So you have come back?”
Without waiting for his response Grandpa burst into uncontrollable laughter as he moved towards the right corner of the compound. Joseph suspected the old man was up to something but he could not figure it out immediately. The former returned with some leaves in his palm. He introduced some of the leaves into his mouth and began to munch. He offered the rest to Joseph and asked him to do likewise.
“It’s bitter,” exclaimed Joseph, attempting to spit it out.
“Chew it and swallow the liquid as I am doing,” ordered the old man. He obeyed.
Joseph dashed for the calabash to rinse the bitterness out of his mouth. He rinsed the mouth all right but he did not spit out the water. He rather swallowed the water and took another sip. It is now sweet in his mouth.
Grandpa approached him, lovingly placed his hands on his shoulders and whispered: “My son, remember this always, endurance is the teeth that munches bitter experiences into sweet and mature life.”
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.