Mr. olen lived in a city called Zinatano. He was an average income
earner. However, he had his personal house. At the back of the house
was a beautiful garden where he and his wife grew vegetables and fruits
to eke out his average earning. He had a fairly large family of six, himself, wife and four children. Mr. Tolen had just lost his job. This made him to spend most of his time
in doors. The rare occasion that took him out was when his utility bills
were due for payments or when it was time for the community meeting
which he chaired. At times on his way to pay the bills, he stopped at the
local beer parlour to buy a bottle of beer. Sometimes he ran into old
friends at the beer parlour. He would chat with them while seeping from
the bottle of beer. One day, a former colleague at a gas factory where he had worked
before he was laid off, whose name was Pantane, had invited him to a
tavern. Mr. Pantane was the technical supervisor of the gas factory. He
had invited him to tell him about a vacant chief security job at a
neighbouring company. Mr. Pantane was already in the tavern before Mr. Tolen arrival. After a
handshake, they took their seats at a corner, regaling themselves with a
bottle of beer each.
"I heard your little daughter had just turned six months?" Mr. Pantane
commented as he sipped from his glass. "Yes," Mr. Tolen affirmed. "Now that she eats baby food, the cost of
feeding her and of diaper had taken its toll on my finance," he said
further. "Poor you," said Mr. Pantane. "I sometimes subscribe to the idea of
having only two children. In fact, at the moment, I have only one."
"How could I determine what number of kids I should raise? I always
accepted them as they came and did all I could to raise them in the right
way and give them good education. But when I was laid off from my
duties as the chief security, it has been from one challenge to another!"
"Poor you," Mr. Pantane said again. "And that's why I invited you here. I heard about a chief security vacancy advertised by the company close
to us. I thought I should let you know. You just may be lucky if you
apply, and I heard from an insider that the offer is twice as that of the gas
factory."
"That's good news," said Mr. Tolen. "I will discuss it with my wife to
sound out her opinion. But certainly it wouldn't be a bad idea giving it a
try." Behind, not too far from the table they occupied, a group of boys, as old
as Charley, the first son of Mr. Tolen, were discussing. Mr. Tolen
overheard them mention a place where people got missing
mysteriously. He heard them saying: "these missing people had gone
there in search of gold, which was found laid bare on statues of different
forms of creatures scattered all over the place called land of gold. The
story was unusual therefore Mr. Tolen listened to it with rapt attention.
The story was about an area known as The Land of Gold. It was a
mysterious territory fraught with gold. Any adventurers who entered
into it in quest of the treasure never returned alive. However, certain
young friends entered it and came out alive, but without the treasure. Instead they came with a woman referred to as Benizer. She was a
powerful witch that had the secrets of the land, but she had died for a
long time ago. The recent missing people had been associated with the
neighbouring city of Kalkulta, which shared border with the wall which
led into the land of gold. It was once said anyone who strayed into the mountains and forest that
led to the walls into the land of gold, would be confronted with great
statues erected on the massive gates that led into the territory. There
were great statues that represented images of strange and monstrous
looking creatures on each side of the gates, walls and structures
within the mysterious territory. If one found himself at the gates, he
would be confronted with ferocious beastlike creatures, deadly and
venomous serpents. They terrorised and created fear in their victims. The fear made the victims run deeper into the land of gold until they
could no longer find their way out. This eventually led to their death. When they died, they also became statues. At the entrance of the land, everything the eyes could see was coated
with pure gold. As the sun shone on the walls and structures within the
land of gold, there was a great beauty that was so irresistible to those
who could see the beauty afar. It was often appealing and enchanting;
therefore, it cast a hypnotic spell on those who had either wandered to
the walls or deliberately passed through them to the land of gold in quest
of riches, fame and fortune in the mysterious land. The blissfully alluring nature of the golden walls that surrounded the
land of gold drew attention and desires of traders who passed by to the
extent they damned the attendant consequence of going near or through
the walls to the mysterious land. It was not until they had gone deep
enough through the walls where the mysterious beastlike creatures and
venomous serpents were and they made to attack them before the
realisation of the impending danger dawned on them. If the strayed
wayfarers or fleece seekers were attacked by the mysterious creatures, they were never seen again. It was this mysterious disappearance of
people in the land of gold that made it a dreadful place for anyone to go. However, it was also said that anyone who could escape from the
ditches of these terrorising walls would come out of the land a very
wealthy person. Whatever he touched or rested his head on when he lay
down became gold. As such, he became stupendously rich with gold. Suddenly, the silent ambience that pervaded the air occasioned by the
strange story being told by one of the young friends was broken by a tap
on the shoulders of Mr. Tolen who had been in another world, listening
to the unusual conversation from the boys sitting on the table behind
them. "Come back," screamed Mr. Pantane. "Where has your mind travelled
to?"
"Ooh! I am sorry man," Mr. Tolen apologised and quickly added, "I was
day dreaming." Mr. Pantane rose up and announced his departure to the gas factory
where he worked. He stretched his right hand forward to Mr. Tolen for a
hand shake. They shook hand and departed. It was quite clear Mr. Pantane had been completely oblivious of what Mr. Tolen had just heard from the boys sitting behind them at the tavern. A
few minutes later, Mr. Tolen looked at his watch and sighed heavily and
said: "I must be out of my mind. I was supposed to be at the power
company, to pay my family utility bills. Now the power company has
less than thirty minutes to close for the day. I guess I should return home
to my family and make the journey to pay my family utility bills
tomorrow." He stood up, looked around and silently walked out of the
tavern where he had spent the last one or two hours with his good friend
Mr. Pantane. He had done this without paying good attention to the boy
who had been sitting behind them at the tavern, talking about some
missing persons and some strange land of gold. As he walked the lonely
streets home in the twilight, all he could do was create mental pictures
from his imagination, on what it would be like to experience the
challenges anyone was bound to face, in the course of finding an escape
route out of the land of gold. As Mr. Tolen opened the little gate into his family house, he was
welcome by the scream and shout from his son Charley, Pete and his
daughter Jenny. They all ran up to him for the usual warm hug and
kisses. Mrs. Tolen had asked him why he had come back home later than
anticipated. The little Mary she strapped to her back was crying. "Give
me the baby," said Mr. Tolen. He carried the little Mary off her mother's
back and rocked her to sleep. Thereafter, he started explaining his events
for the day; and how he had met his good friend Mr. Pantane at their
regular meeting spot, and how he had told him about the chief security
job available at the company close to the old gas factory he used to work. Amid talking, he slowly paced the corridor that led to his sitting room, at
the same time keeping the little Mary stirring up from sleep in check. Charley, Pete and Jenny were all trailing behind him, asking their father
questions that were borne out of curiosity. A few minutes later, they all
had their dinner on the beautifully coloured, soft- wool mat on the floor. Mrs. Tolen had prepared them a tasty vegetable cuisine as they all talked, laughed, giggled and made jest of themselves while enjoying the food. The next morning after the family had had their regular prayer, done all
their chores and had breakfast, Mr. Tolen said he wanted to have a
family discussion with them. This was not a common practice in the
Tolen's family, however, they had all gathered in the sitting room. Mr. Tolen, Charley, Pete and Jenny sat side by side on the sofa in the sitting
room, while baby Mary was lying on her mother's arms.