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Seun (m)
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Jonathan walked for several hours without a glimpse of any sign
of life. Suddenly, something moved in the thicket and a small
animal with a yellow-striped tail fl ashed down a barely visible track.
“A cat,” thought Jonathan. “Maybe it will lead me to some people?”
He dived through the thick foliage.
Just as he lost sight of the beach and was deep in the jungle,
he heard a sharp scream. He stopped, cocked his head, and tried
to locate the source of the sound. Directly ahead, he heard another
shrill cry for help. Pushing up an incline and through a mass of
branches and vines, he clawed his way forward and stumbled onto
a wider path.
As he rounded a sharp bend in the trail, Jonathan ran full tilt into
the side of a burly man. “Out of my way, chump!” bellowed the
man, brushing him aside like a gnat. Dazed, Jonathan looked up and
saw two men dragging a young woman, kicking and yelling, down
the trail. By the time he caught his breath, the trio had disappeared.
Certain that he couldn’t free the woman alone, Jonathan ran back up
the trail looking for help.
A clearing opened and he saw a group of people gathered around
a big tree – beating it with sticks. Jonathan ran up and grabbed the
arm of a man who was obviously the supervisor. “Please sir, help!”
gasped Jonathan. “Two men have captured a woman and she needs
help!”
“Don’t be alarmed,” the man said gruffly. “She’s under arrest.
Forget her and move along, we’ve got work to do.”
“Arrest?” said Jonathan, still huffi ng. “She didn’t look like, uh,
like a criminal.” Jonathan wondered, if she was guilty, why did
she cry so desperately for help? “Pardon me, sir, but what was her
crime?”
“Huh?” snorted the man with irritation. “Well, if you must know,
she threatened the jobs of everyone working here.”
“She threatened people’s jobs? How did she do that?” asked
Jonathan.
Glaring down at his ignorant questioner, the supervisor motioned
for Jonathan to come over to a tree where workers busily pounded
away at the trunk. Proudly, he said, “We are tree workers. We knock
down trees for wood by beating them with these sticks. Sometimes
a hundred people, working round-the-clock, can knock down a
good-sized tree in less than a month.” The man pursed his lips and
carefully brushed a speck of dirt from the sleeve of his handsomely
cut coat.
He continued, “That Drawbaugh woman came to work this
morning with a sharp piece of metal attached to the end of her stick.
She cut down a tree in less than an hour – all by herself! Think of
it! Such an outrageous threat to our traditional employment had to
be stopped.”
Jonathan’s eyes widened, aghast to hear that this woman was
punished for her creativity. Back home, everyone used axes and
saws for cutting trees. That’s how he got the wood for his own
boat. “But her invention,” exclaimed Jonathan, “allows people of all
sizes and strengths to cut down trees. Won’t that make it faster and
cheaper to get wood and make things?”
“What do you mean?” the man said angrily. “How could anyone
encourage an idea like that? This noble work can’t be done by any
weakling who comes along with some new idea.”
“But sir,” said Jonathan, trying not to offend, “these good tree
workers have talented hands and brains. They could use the time
saved from knocking down trees to do other things. They could
make tables, cabinets, boats, or even houses!”
“Listen, you,” the man said with a menacing look, “the purpose
of work is to have full and secure employment – not new products.”
The tone of his voice turned ugly. “You sound like some kind of
troublemaker. Anyone who supports that infernal woman is trouble.
Where are you from?”
Jonathan replied anxiously, “I don’t even know Miss Drawbaugh
and I don’t mean any trouble, sir. I’m sure you’re right. Well, I
must be going.” With that, Jonathan turned back the way he came,
hurrying down the path. His fi rst encounter with the people of the
island left him feeling very nervous.
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