Hope's Garden
Jeremy woke up with dust all around him, and the neighbours cat licking his toe, where he had cut it the previous night, when he stepped into a broken glass on the way to his house. Jeremy looked for something to eat, but only found green bananas.
That was it, today he was going away, that is what his mother and his big sister had done. But that has been a couple of years ago, before he could tie his own shoe laces.
He could see his Granny was half asleep as he walked out of the door, she grunted and said: "Shut the door,". Jeremy looked at his school bag in the corner and one last glance at his Granny. And with that he said, I'm leaving now and he dashed out of the door.
As he shut the door, he could still hear granny yelling something down the road.
With his green and yellow flip flops flying behind him, Jeremy ran as fast as he could, he knew Granny would not come after him, but it felt good running. He ran till his grey t-shirt was wet with sweat and little waterfalls ran down his ears and neck.
"No bag! I forgot to bring a bag or some water with me, now people will know that I am poor and from Scum town." Jeremy thought.
He had never stolen a thing in his life, except sweets and bread from his sister, but she use to do the same to him, especially after she got pregnant. Their mom just pretended not to notice any of it, not the money disappearing or her growing belly.
Jeremy decided that if he was going to go away, he might as well go somewhere he has never been before. He was going to settle down in the richest part of town, his friend Clayton use to tell him that rich people who live on the hill, do not have a care in this world. Rich people have chocolate for breakfast and their children play on computers in school.
After four hours of walking Jeremy reached the bottom of the hill. He saw the most beautiful large white homes with gardens and fountains.
But all the houses had pointy fences around them. He walked up to a security guard standing at a gate house, that said:
WELCOME TO WEALTH HILL FAMILY ESTATE.
"How can I get inside ?" Jeremy asked the man in uniform.
"Do you have an appointment or are you family friends with the Wealth family?
"No, I do not have an appointment and my family is not wealthy, but the big sign says welcome. So I was wondering.... "
"I am sorry young man, if you do not have personal shares in this estate, I am going to have to ask you to leave," the man said, with a not very welcoming face.
Jeremy realized the hill, was only for some, and even though he could read, this was not the place he had been searching for. He would have to keep on looking.
As it was almost midday and his stomach started grumbling, Jeremy thought that maybe in town he would find a place where could find a job.
In town there were many shops to choose from, but as he smelled the scent of freshly baked pastries and rolls, Jeremy knew there was just one job for him. He would become a baker.
He stood in front of the Bakery for a long time, thinking of things to say to the shop owner. The bakery also had large yellow letters across the window saying: THE GOOD LIFE Bakery now OPEN. The last time he read a welcoming sign, it actually meant stay outside.
While he was still pondering these words, the shop owner came outside and said:
"Come in, you are scaring off customers just standing outside gaping like a fish!"
The friendly, round faced lady pushed him inside the shop. The whole shop was filled with good looking smelling treats. The lady disappeared to the back of the shop and came back with two paper bags . "Here, have some day-old pastries, they are a bit dry, but people say my coconut and peanut cookies are the best in town."
Jeremy's hand stroked the bag, and he lost all his words, and stammered: "Thank you Madam."
"Don't just stand there, try one and tell me if they are as good as the people say!"
Jeremy did not need a second invitation, and he soon had a cookie in each hand and both cheeks filled with previously baked goodness. Through each bite, he noticed the lady smiling as he chewed. The lady disappeared and started cleaning something at the back of the store.
The shop continued to fill and empty with hungry customers and some that had had a pastry to many. Jeremy watched as people, came and would buy boxes of baked goods, they must be feeding large families, but then he saw them drive off by themselves. Jeremy waited till the shop was empty and then walked up to the owner.
"I want to work here! Can you please offer me a job?" The lady looked at his hight and said: "Son, you have to be a trained baker to work here, and you have to be over 18 years old. The only thing I can give you is some more pastries that cannot be sold. Come back when you are older." And with that, Jeremy's visions of living and eating out of the bakery crumbled. For he was young now.
Jeremy kept walking down the road kicking small stones when he noticed two black cars. One had golden and the other had shiny green rims. The one driver had a glistening chuck of gold between his lips, where his smile should have been. He passed a bag to the other driver, who had a large chain around his neck and smoke coming from his car.
This car was vibrating with a heart beat that was like a whale who had swollen an electric mosquito.
They men looked powerful, their cars looked fast and Jeremy could see that people noticed them. It could be the gold, the shiny cars or the vibrating sound that hummed from the back of their cars. Maybe he could clean their cars or work for them, he thought and with each step a little hope started to glimmer in his heart. Maybe one of them needed a son to help him drive his car.
"Hey you, get away from my car!" the man yelled at him, "Or you working for Zion ? I told that dog I am done dealing with him!"
Jeremy decided that this was probably a good time to pretend to know Zion So he shrugged his shoulders and said: "Zion said you would give me a job!"
The man with the chain and thick dreads spat out of his car and said: "Zion said that did he?Well Ok, tell him, if he does not deliver he can roll over, die, and go to Babylon! "
Jeremy took a step closer to the car and said, when can I start working. The man with the capped smile started laughing: "chill out man, you are going to burn with a slug attitude like that." Jeremy did not know whatt he meant, but he stood his ground.
" I like this one, he has gut and I am tired of working with Whitey. Run bolt fast and deliver this bag to number 56" second apartment to the right in Trench town road.
Before Jeremy knew what was happening, the man gave him a black bag, that felt soft.
Jeremy saw that the man wore a ring on each finger, and as he leaned over to take the bag he saw two girls at the back of the car. They were both smoking and looked irritated.
"Now run!" The man, yelled and gave a long hoot on the hooter, Jeremy ran down the road. Finally he had a job and maybe the man would let him drive with him in the car.
When he looked over his shoulder, both the cars had left and a sinking feeling that his delivery job was a black job came to settle in his stomach. Somewhere in the city he could hear siren of a police car, a dog barked nervously and a baby was crying.
Jeremy knew that the men, would only help him if he did their dirty work. And their work kept them in the shadows. His hands felt guilty and the black bag became heavier with each step . He knew he had to get to a place with real hope, a place were people use clear bags to deliver goods and ladies were happy to drive in cars. A place where the police only carried guns for show and kids only cried when they got hurt playing soccer.
Jeremy started running, when it started getting dark, he rested under a bridge. He tossed the bag in a slow flowing stream, where two pipes had burst and brown water was flowing down over the sidewalk.
As the stinky water trickled onto the sidewalks, a tear ran it's own way down his dirty cheek. Jeremy sniffed, he never cries, few things made him sad. But now he was all alone and the graffiti on the bellow of the bridge showed angry words and evil looking faces.
As a warm sunlight touched his feet, Jeremy woke up, the night was over. The gutter still smelled the same but in the soft light, dust drifted upwards and he could see that on the other side of the bridge the road ended and there were open plots of land.
He walked till all the houses ended and the road became a dirt road. The dirt road ran past an abandoned factory, and further along it ran up a hill. He noticed a small fenced yard to the right side of the road.
There was a swing gate without a lock and he let himself in.
The yard had rows and rows of planted corn. He also saw something like pumpkin leaves and long peas and tomatoes. There was a small wooden house and planted banana trees, scattered around the windows.
Jeremy grabbed as many bananas as he could carry and stuffed a whole one into his mouth. As he turned around, a small girl stared at him through the window.
"Those are not yours!"
A kinder face appeared above hers, the older man said,: "If you are hungry, you can eat breakfast with us."
Jeremy dropped the bananas and tried to run away, but the man yelled, " We have eggs and I will fry the banana you picked."
Eggs!
His flip flops halted in the sand and with one movement he swung around, held the stolen bananas palms up to the man, like a pitiful peace offering.
Two days later, and after many fried bananas, Jeremy had learned that the older man was called Judah and the little girl Hope.
"Are you going to help me in the garden today, or just eat my fruit?" Judah asked with dimples showing. Hope is already in the garden, she will show you what to do.
Hope was very shy, pointing to different intruder plants and said: "Pull these out," and then pointing to young corn plants: "Protect these, let them grow"
The worked silently along side each other, row by row, till there was no shadows and the sun beat straight down on their dark hair.
Judah called them to the shade for coconut milk and fritters.
Jeremy knew he would stay.
Tomorrow Judah will teach him how to use a panga and just maybe Hope will give him her kind eyes.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 3:11-14 NIV)