ALEXANDRIA AND LANCE
By Ayoola Olafenwa
Copyright 2013 Ayoola Olafenwa
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Dedication
I dedicate this book to the Almighty God for giving me the wisdom to write it. I also dedicate this book to my parents, Mr Gabriel Olafenwa and Mrs Olufunke Olafenwa and all my siblings for their love and inspiration.
CHAPTER 1
Lance and Alexandria lived with their parents in a sparsely populated town called Lemna. The main occupations of the people of Lemna are farming and fishing. Lemna is a fertile land and it consists of a large stream which covers almost half of the town. Most of the people that live in Lemna, fish in this stream. In Lemna, fishing is the occupation of some and the hobby of many, however, majority of them are farmers. Life in Lemna was characterized by lack of cooperation among its people and they usually had conflicts. The main cause of this problem was Elmer (king of Lemna) who was very selfish and hostile towards his people. His hostility and selfishness always caused problems among the people of Lemna. The parents of these two kids were also farmers. Lance and Alexandria loved swimming and fishing in the stream in the evening after working in the farm during the day. One day after getting home from the stream, Lance asked Roy (his father) if there are other places in the world apart from Lemna. “Why did you asked such a question?” Roy asked his son. “I want to live in a place where everything will be lovely and everyone will be living in peaceful co-existence” Lance replied his father. Roy told his son about a town located faraway from Lemna which many call the “Blessed town” it is blessed with food and love and their way of life is very simple and lovely. Lance was very surprised that such a town exists and he said “wow what a lovely town, I wish to live in such a town”. After having dinner, Lance went straight to sleep, an act that was unusual of him as he always loved playing with his younger sister (Alexandria) before going to sleep. “Why aren’t you playing this evening?” Alexandria asked Lance. He explained to her that he is not in the mood for play because he is not happy with the way of life in Lemna and he wished to live in a different place. Alexandria pacified him, explaining that there is no better place for them to live in than Lemna and other towns surrounding them are not different from Lemna. Lance informed her about the “Blessed town” and they both discussed on how life is going to be like in the “Blessed town”.
The next day as usual they all woke up very early to go to farm, Lance and Alexandria plucked a lot of fruits in the farm. Lance loved climbing trees and there is a very tall mango tree in their farm which Roy always warned him not to climb so that he won’t fall down. Lance did not heed to his father’s warning and he often climbed the tree many times to pluck mangoes. As usual, Lance climbed the mango tree and as he was plucking the mangoes, he lost his balance and fell, but he was lucky to hang on one of its branches which he landed on. “Ye, Sorry!” exclaimed Alexandria. “Please do not climb this mango tree again” said Lance’s mother. Lance suffered some minor injuries on his leg and Roy scolded his son and he applied some treatment on his leg. Therefore, Lance decided never to climb a very tall tree again, especially the mango tree. Their mother took these fruits to a nearby market in Zimpah (one of Lemna’s neighbouring towns) to sell. Lance stayed with their father in the farm while Alexandria went to the market with her mother. They all returned home in the evening and they were very happy because Alexandria’s mother earned much money from the sale of the fruits she took to market. As the usual practice of Lance and Alexandria was, they went to swim and fish in the stream, they started fishing and wanted to catch as many fishes as they could. There was a particular fisherman who had warned Lance and Alexandria the last day they went to fish in the stream that they should stop fishing at a particular area they usually fished. On this particular day, the fisherman was so furious to see the two kids in the same place, he was mad at them and seized their fishing equipment from them. It was not because the place was the only area where fish was in abundance, he just took delight in hurting these kids. The wicked act of this fisherman infuriated these kids and they shouted at him to give them back their fishing equipment. This fisherman refused and said “The only condition that can make me to give you back this fishing equipment is for you to beg me and promise me that you are not going to fish in this area again.” The two kids booed him and told him flat that nothing will make them to beg him and they insisted that he should give them back their fishing equipment. Another fisherman that had been watching their argument came to them and said to this fisherman “Return the fishing equipment to them, do not victimise them because they are kids”. He refused and he explained to the fisherman that Alexandria and Lance insulted him and that’s the reason why he seized their fishing equipment from them. This accusation was not true, the kids refuted his accusation against them but this fisherman held firm to his lie and said “I cannot punish them without any reason, these two kids truly insulted me”. The other fisherman believed him because he thought that it is not possible for a person to behave like that without any reason and he ordered Lance and Alexandria to beg him if they want to retrieve their fishing equipment. They refused to beg him because they knew that they were not the ones at fault and they went straight home to report to their parents.
When they got home they told their parents about this zany man who seized their fishing equipment, their father followed them to the stream. Unfortunately, the man had fled with their fishing equipment. This really infuriated Roy and his children. Roy promised his children that he will make sure he got hold of the wicked man and deal seriously with him. The other fisherman met the kids and their father and informed them that immediately Lance and Alexandria left the stream, the fisherman ran home and if he had known the truth, he would have made sure that the fisherman returned the fishing equipment back to them, he also promised them that whenever he sees the man, he would make sure that he collected the fishing equipment from him. This was very disgusting. The man is not the only one in Lemna with such disgusting acts, there are many of such in Lemna who love causing trouble in the town. This really made these kids unhappy, Lance complained to his father that he wished to live in another place where there won’t be people who loves causing trouble and everyone will be able to live happily. Roy assured his son that everything is going to be alright and he would make sure he got the fisherman and deal seriously with him. The next day was as everyday always used to be after coming back from the farm, but the evening was different. Roy followed his children to the stream in order to get hold of this disgusting fellow and they remained there till close to mid-night but they were unable to get him. This was very unfortunate for the kids and on the next day they went to the stream again but they were unable to get the fisherman again. They therefore decided that they were going to check the stream early in the morning the next day but it was still the same old story, no one knew whether the fisherman vanished from Lemna so that he will not be seen. This was very devastating for the kids, they continued their search for so long but he could not be found. Roy bought this fishing equipment for his kids about two years ago when they celebrated their birthday and they were too costly for the family’s financial situation. Roy promised his children that he will manage to buy it for them when he has enough money. The evening fun was no more, every evening after coming back from the farm Alexandria and Lance had to remain in the house playing with each other. There was no one to play with, this is because, Lemna is an unfriendly place where children are not allowed to play together. Roy and his wife tried to make their kids happy by rea
ding stories to them every evening.