Bolaji was known to be a very hardworking farmer, but despite this, he was wretched like a mad man. The only difference between him and a madman was just sanity. He was more sane than a mad man.
He wore torn, tattered clothes, that anyone who saw him for the first rime would mistake him for someone who was insane. His dress was due to his inability to procure funds and purchase good clothes.
He would wake up very early in the morning to go and tend to his farmland, and he will go back home late in the evening. It seems like his chi was against him because despite all his effort, there was nothing to show for it.
Bolaji was only known for farming. He usually tends to other richer farmer's farm, and he sometimes helps them to weed their farms.
They'll pay him a little cash in exchange for his services and he will accept it with red, tired, bulgy eyes, swollen hands and bones that felt very fragile like they could go weak and give way. He knew that he was supposed to get more payment than what he was given, but he had no choice but to take them.
Bolaji's predicament wasn't actually his fault. His father died when he was only five months old, and his mother followed ten years later.
He had no other relatives, and no one fended for him, so he has been struggling and fending for himself since he was a kid.
He kept on doing that with the hope that God would surprise him for good one day and change his situation to something better just like the two crippled men in the bible.
Another character that distinguished Bolaji away from all other farmers and villagers was his kindness and calmness. Despite the fact that he had nothing, he wasn't stingy with it. Of course, he did not have much to give, but he usually gives when he has.
His act of kindness earned him different menial jobs from the villagers, and from his little earnings, he was able to build a small hut to live in for himself.
It was a very sunny afternoon, and Bolaji was working and toiling on a farm as usual when someone came to look for him, telling him that a man wanted to see him that moment.
He dropped everything he was doing and hurried along with the messenger. "This man might have some jobs for me," he thought.
The man turned out to be a very wealthy and affluent man from the next village.
He came to Bolaji's village to meet an associate, and when he mentioned to his friend about his lands and wanting a good workman, his friend recommended Bolaji.
Bolaji could sense his wealth from his mode of dressing, and he could tell that he must be a chief in another village due to his intimidating appearance.
The man wanted Bolaji to weed and clear his large farm for him. They talked and negotiated, and the man agreed to pay him the whopping sum of two hundred naira.
That was so much for him. The highest money he collected for a job like that was twenty naira.
He accepted the job happily and he promised to appear there the next day.
Bolaji woke up earlier than usual the next day. He wore his baggy cloth, and he grabbed his two cutlass in his hands.
He started trekking towards the next village immediately. He greeted a few palm wine tappers he spotted on his way, and he realized that he woke up rather too early.
He got to the chief's house about an hour and some minutes later. It was just approaching daybreak.
The chief took him to the farmland, and it was so big, bigger than what he had imagined.
He set to work immediately, and he started cutting and bringing down weeds and tree stumps.
He took a short break after four hours of cutting weed, and he ventured into the forest to find some fruit to eat. He saw some maize, he took it, roasted it, and he ate to his fill.
He got back to the farm a few minutes later to continue his work.
He was still cutting the weed aggressively when his cutlass struck an object that brought out a different sound.
He was sure about what he heard, so he struck the cutlass at the exact point again, and it gave him the same sound.
Bolaji became joyous immediately. He has heard different stories about how some lucky farmers discover some hidden gold and treasures on farms. He always hoped that one day, that would be his case too and there he was. His story was about to change.
He started clearing the weeds that surrounded the side he cut the weed from, and he started digging.
He had only dug for about ten minutes when his cutlass hit a metallic box.
He cleared the earth around the box, struggled, and got out of the box. He breathed a sigh of relief and then opened the box.
He was stunned by what he saw. He couldn't believe his eyes.
He hissed at the sight and dumped the box back into the ground.
What was in the box wasn't gold, it was a box filled with shredded papers.
Thanks for stopping by.
SOKA 🖤