Metadinlogun
1061 Words
"Go as quickly as you can please."
The other man who was behind the man who was paddling the boat seemed to be afraid. His heart was in his mouth and his brain was doing some airy acrobatics which his consciousness could not dance to.
The guy at the front was fearless or probably was hiding his to impress the other guy. What was there to impress him about?
Reasonable as it seemed. The fearless guy was crushing on the sister of the other guy who was afraid. He had volunteered to go search for the creature which almost creeped his crush out.
Though he wasn't getting the best reaction from the lady despite all the sacrifices he had made, he wouldn't give up. He was trying to win the heart of her younger brother. That should be enough. The brother would talk the sister into liking him.
He had only three bullets left in his traditional rifle. He had wanted to hit the creature hard and make it fall inside the water.
That happened, but they had been too slow and sluggish to make it into the river before the Imp was back on the waters. That time, differently: walking and running on the water.
"Do not bother, we'll catch him in a while."
The gaze of the other guy was glued to the front. He didn't seem to believe in or bank on everything the other fellow was saying. He needed something new to believe in.
"We? Or you?"
The fearless guy looked back. The boat tilted. Tilted as though it was going to puke them. He did the needful and was back on the balance. That was a warning not to look back or lose or share focus.
The river was such that, there were fallen woods and trunks in different spots in the river. They needed to be conscious of where they were going.
Twas quite easy for the villagers though. If anyone dropped into the water or the boat capsized, there wouldn't be too much course for alarm. Everyone would be sane of course.
Whoever who was caught in the claws of such malady would only have to swim some strokes towards the nearest trunk and hold unto it till help would arrive.
And if such could not swim at all, his bad. Some would hold onto trunks to their detriment too. Of course there were adders in the waters.
The fact was, whether trunks, climbers, or woods in the waters or not, twas never advisable for anyone to fall into the water. Whether in the spirit of sport or drowning.
"I'm with you, why often be afraid. You shouldn't be, you're just a man as I am. "
He said trying to assure the other guy. He didn't know if that would really work. He only was trying his way around the whole things.
Twas actually natural for all of them to be afraid but feigning it could be uncalled for and suicidal sometimes. Well, sometimes though.
"I'm just sixteen and you talk about boldness. If that's the fact, I'm not sane. I'm very afraid. Very!"
The other guy seemed to want to give up. There was nothing else he could do about it. He would only keep quiet.
Then something pop into his head. He was also conscious of the end of the river. Twas like few strokes away from the boat.
"If you're like this, how would you protect your sister knowing that you're the only one who she could look unto aside your father."
The other guy walked closer to him. The boat in between a row of trunks and woods. He held unto the bridges as he walked towards him.
He got to his side. That was not the best idea of course. They should both stand differently in the boat if all they're really looking for was balance.
He didn't mind, he continued with what he had started with in his mind,
"That is why we have you. You can always watch after her. When I'm old enough to think about a lady, I will worry about mine. Curlies is yours, worry about her. If you leave that to me, you ain't man enough."
Curlies' brother said and fought his way back to where he used to stand in the boat.
The fearless guy wanted to look back but he couldn't afford it. What the other guy had just said was a punch in his own face.
He had said it the right way truly. He should worry about the lady not the brother of the lady. That was how he would be able to prove himself strong enough to win her heart.
He should even be ready to fight for her and die for her sake. The dying part would be tough though. He didn't think he was ready for that. Talking about love, dying was never in his context.
He was sorting his heart for the appropriate reply to give. The fellow thought he had outsmarted him with words. He shouldn't allow that.
But his thoughts were intercepted. He couldn't throw the new pest strangling the consciousness of what had been.
He saw the creature they were after fighting its way into a trunk which was lying under a baobab tree.
There was a small forest before the village. That was the border of the village. The forest had its own odds too.
"Hey see!"
The younger guy looked in the direction the tough guy was pointing. The boat was dragging towards the shore. It got there and they both jumped off it.
The younger guy couldn't shut his mouth, he kept taking and talking. More of shock and possibilities of odds that might leap on him.
"Walk behind me, I must attack him from behind."
They stole away from the boat towards the baobab tree. The Imp who had been trying to fight its way into the trunk stopped and seemed to smell some odds.
He broke the top of the trunk off with his head as he looked in the direction of the two fellow.
The two didn't know what to do. The younger guy was already wetting his pant.
"I guess we should run."
He was able to make his word.
He Imp hopped outta the trunk and walked towards them as the guys walked backwardly.
- Writer
