Chapter 2: Security Guard
My cousin and I were playing table tennis when his elder sister, Blessing, called for us.
"I have a job for you two," she said.
"What kind of job?" I asked.
"Very easy one."
"We'll do it," Joseph said.
"I need you to protect the maize I dried over there from any animals that may try to eat it," she explained.
"Okay," I said.
"We're getting paid, right?" Joseph asked.
"I'm not paying you a kobo," Blessing said.
"We'll do it anyway," I said.
"First, we need to suit up," Joseph suggested.
We put on black jeans, black jackets with hoods, black shoes, and black gloves. When Blessing saw us, she laughed.
"All I asked was for you to protect the maize, not rob a bank," she teased.
We started marching around the maize, keeping a careful watch to prevent animals from coming close. Then, a crazy idea hit me.
"We need a weapon," I said.
"You mean like guns and swords?" Joseph asked.
"Yes," I replied.
"Where would we even get guns or swords?" he said.
"We don't need guns or swords," I assured him.
"Cutlass?" he guessed.
"No."
"Axe?"
"Definitely not," I said.
"So… what is it?"
"Bow and arrow."
"We can definitely make that," Joseph said excitedly.
"Yes," I agreed. "I'll be Hawkeye, and you can be Green Arrow."
"Exactly! I like where you're going with this," he said.
After making the bow and arrow from sticks and rubber, we returned to our post. This time, we kept a distance so we could use our weapons if any animal tried to eat the maize.
Most of the animals were scared off by our sharp arrows—but there was one stubborn goat that kept coming back, making our job difficult.
"I think we should off this goat permanently," I said.
"It's just so stubborn," Joseph stressed.
"So you agree?" I asked.
"That what?" he said.
"We could burn the goat alive," I suggested.
I immediately regretted it.
"We are not going to burn it alive,"Joseph said.
"Fine… let's just kill it,"
"No! We just need to put it out of action temporarily, not permanently," Joseph insisted.
"How do we do that?" l asked.
"We'll put it to sleep," Joseph said.
"You mean like injure it?"
"Not seriously—just something that won't kill it."
We carefully planned to shoot the arrow at its leg, knowing the bone would stop it from penetrating too deep. But the moment we shot, the goat twisted, and the arrow hit its butt instead.
The goat jumped, struggled, and ran off into the bush.
Now we had two options: pretend it never happened, or confess what we'd done.
"What have we done?" Joseph whispered.
"We just shot a goat in the butt," I said, scared.
"What should we do now?"
"Nothing."
"What do you mean 'nothing'?"
"Pretend it didn't happen."
"But it did!"
"Just act normal,"
"or we tell Blessing and let her handle it before the owner notices the arrow."
"And then we get scolded or punished," I said.
"If you say so," he replied, shivering.
By evening, we finally finished our post. There was no sign of the goat or its owner.
"See? I told you it didn't happen," I said.
"I'm still scared," Joseph admitted.
Around 8 o'clock, night had fallen when a loud bang came at our door. My mom opened it, and the goat's owner stood there—with the goat.
"Oh no!" Joseph yelled.
"We're busted," I said.
The owner was furious and complained that the goat had been shot in the butt with an arrow bearing our names—yes, we had foolishly put our names on it for identification.
"Why did we do that?" Joseph whispered.
"I don't know," I muttered.
"What do we do now?"
"Tell the truth," I suggested.
After my mom apologized on our behalf and paid for the goat's treatment, Joseph and I faced our punishment.
But as I went to my room that night, I couldn't shake the feeling that something strange was watching us from the bushes outside.
And I had a feeling… this wasn't the last trouble we'd see in the village.