Malia and the garden
Once upon a time, there was a garden that was filled with juicy fruits. This garden was owned by a man named Mr Paul Parker. The people that lived near the garden were indeed very greedy, so Mr Paul Parker had made strict rules for the people to be able to eat and pick flowers from his garden.
The first rule was they were never ever allowed to waste the fruit (of course). The second rule was they weren’t allowed to bring newcomers without informing him. Last but not least, they were not permitted to go deep into the garden. Everybody obeyed these rules and never dared to break any of them, except for a lady named Malia. Mr Paul Parker was a very bitter person although he could be nice sometimes.
One day, as Malia walked home from the great garden, she spotted an abandoned child. Mr Paul Parker didn’t like children, for they were naughty and stubborn. Malia had known that, so she hadn’t bothered asking him if the child may eat from the garden. Malia sneaked the child in her big sack and carried it home, pretending that it was the sack of fruits. Every day Malia fed the child fruits, until one day a lady that worked for Mr Paul Parker, had noticed that Malia took more fruit than usual. The lady immediately reported this to Mr Paul Parker. Mr Paul Parker decided that he would keep a lookout for Malia, and indeed he did. The next day Mr Paul had sent out some of his spies to look out for Malia. Now Malia only came out at night, for she knew that if she came in the day, she would be in dreadful danger. As night fell, Malia prepared herself for the journey to the garden. In order to prepare for this journey, Malia wore black clothing, had a torch and her sack. She had carefully put the child in the sack, and off she went. Malia took small, light steps so that she wouldn’t be heard.
Usually, spies were armed with a plethora of spy and safety gadgets. Malia was often scared when this time of the night arrived. She usually escaped the spies until today. Sadly the spies had caught her and used one of their many items to trap her. The following day, Malia was put in a large cell and harsh punishment. The punishment meant for her was that she wasn’t allowed to eat from the garden for 28 days and would have to go look for her own food. Malia thought that this was rather harsh but had obeyed. 28 days passed, and Malia was freed. She was so hungry that she gathered as many fruits that her sack could hold and ended up not eating all of the fruits. She had known for a very long time that leaving or throwing fruit away was not permissible. She was sick of the fruit and could not eat more, so she concealed the fruit in her storage.
Typically, the spies and Mr Paul check people’s homes for any leftover fruit every month. Malia was indeed in danger, for she had forgotten this tradition. The spies and Mr Paul had arrived at Malia’s house and inspected it. To their surprise, they had found plenty of fruit. Mr Paul had gotten so angry that he had banned Malia from the garden. She also had to leave her house and find another one. After this incident, everyone lived happily ever after; well, I wouldn’t say that for Malia.
The end…
Oh! You would not anticipate my ending the story here. Malia had gotten a job found a bigger and better house. She vowed never to disobey a rule ever again.
What happened to the child? You probably thought I had forgotten about the child. She was adopted by a splendid family that loved and cared for her.
THE END.
© 19 June 2020 Abasimi Ekpott