Chapter 16 Fabian The Coconut Tree Climber

Being born in a poor family does not bother Fabian very much,for should he and little brother needed some pocket money there were the dozens of coconut tree behind their home.Ripe coconuts were all the time there,all they had to do was to collect one or two of these nuts and sold to an Indian groundnut seller who lived a short distance from their home.

This "Kachang Putih"or ground nuts seller will easily them ten to twenty cents for their coconut,depending on the size of it.However it was not every day they can find coconuts lying on the ground,especially after the harvesting by a professional plucker.This plucker came around once every month,or at the request of Fabian's father.

Should that happened there will be no ripe coconut on the ground,so no coconut meant no pocket money.Fabian and Francis will go hunting for the coconuts up on tree tops.They had to spot only trees far from the sight of their parents or any others around their house.

Normally the safest area for them was the far end of the field.That day they chose a tree at the far end which had some ripe coconuts on the tall tree.While Fabian made the attempt to climb that tree Francis squatted at the base of another tree some distance away watching.

The climb was no easy piece of cake,first and foremost when Fabian tried to hold the tree with both hands,his hands fully extended yet could not touch the other hand.It surely was a tree with enormous size trunk.Hard headed as ever he was,he refused to give up.

The task maybe formidable but he was relentless of giving up,showing sheer grit and determination he slowly inched his way up to the top.It was not an easy as it seem as the three was some thirty five feet or more high.As he reached the to he struggled to pushed himself up to all those fronds where he could rest and sit comfortably to pluck the coconuts.

Making himself comfortable and to calm himself, he rested for a couple of minutes before attempting to pluck the ripe coconuts.The tree had only one ripe bunch of five to six nuts and the rest were too young for sale.He plucked all of that ripe bunch.

Francis looking from the bottom at another tree shouted at him,"Pluck two young coconuts also,one for you and one for me".

Fabian looking down at the small figure of his younger brother shouted back,"Oh?very clever,pluck this and that".Nevertheless he plucked three young coconuts down as one was broken as it came down on hard ground.Francis running to the young nuts shouted,"One broken""pluck another one more".

Having done that Fabian slowly and carefully climbed down.Once down he breath a sign of relief he had made it down successfully.His cheat was bruised and was slightly in pain,Francis like a good brother ran home to fetch a knife to cut the young nuts for Fabian to refresh and also cut another for himself

Thereafter they collected the ripe coconuts and sold them to the same Groundnut Seller.They received a dollar for those nuts and shared that pocket money.Was Fabian scared?

Yes,he was for once on the top he was shivering with fear that he might make a mistake which could be fatal.He was lucky to have accomplished that flight but it sure was dangerous for a boy so young his age to do that.But Fabian was a very hardy boy and nothing can stopped him.Praise the Lord for keeping him.Amen.