Page 36 - Fables volume 1

How Ten Thousand Termites Escaped from Captivity

As the postmeridian sun fell slowly into the dense branches of the
baobab, Homer became aware of a small cloud of mosquitos
maneuvering above his head. He hastily extracted a plastic bottle of
insect repellant from a shirt pocket and applied the oily fluid liberally
to the exposed portions of his body, to the accompaniment of more
giggling from unseen sources.
His daydreaming thus rudely ended, he looked about at his
surroundings. It was a familiar scene: dwellings, granaries and walls all
made of mud brick; household implements of gourd, bamboo, and
straw; people in rags, no shoes, all looking tough because the weak die
in infancy. Very few machine-made goods; no cassette-recorders or
motorbikes audible or visible, unlike the roadside villages. Not even
any corrugated tin roofs, mused Homer; the rain must be destroying
the buildings. I wonder—
“Very interesting talk, Chief.” Amadou had silently returned.
“Great! Can we look at their tools? They must have some unique
items, being so isolated out here in the bush.”
“Eh, I think you’ll find the same ancient hoes and buckets and
ropes that we’ve seen elsewhere.”
“What? You mean, nothing new here? You sure spent a long time
finding that out. But you said they had something interesting to say.”
“Oh, yes, indeed. I will relate it to you, if you wish. But we must be
going now: I don’t want to drive back to Jombougou in the dark.”
Homer Henry frowned as he rose and let Amadou lead him back
through the village to the path. Now there really was no hope from
this trip: he would return empty-handed. Even double-spaced, his
report would barely fill one page. He would have to stay on in
Forolonkolo—or be sent, if one could be found, to a hotter, poorer
country.
Amadou was talking as they walked, but Homer only half-listened.
“…so the elders told me that all this rain would probably be bad for
the harvest, but a shortfall in grain production would be nothing new
to their people. I mentioned then that various income-generating
projects could be implemented if they relocated closer to the paved
road, and the village wouldn’t have to face starvation. They replied
that they were in no hurry to change their way of life. They receive
reports from their modernizing neighbors every so often, and they are

35