The Harvest Of Hardship - S01 E08

Story 4 weeks ago

The Harvest Of Hardship - S01 E08

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 8

The big yellow bus finally stopped in front of the heavy iron gates of the university The air in the city was different from the air in the village. It was full of smoke, the sound of loud car horns, and the voices of thousands of people. For Seyi, the noise felt like a new song. It felt like a world of possibilities. But for Tobi, the noise was just a headache. He stepped off the bus and immediately felt the hot sun baking his skin. He looked at his shiny shoes, which were now covered in a thin layer of grey dust. He looked at his massive trunk and his heavy laptop bag. He waited for a moment, standing still, as if he expected a servant to come and carry his things for him. But no one came. The bus driver just threw the rest of the bags on the ground and drove away, leaving a cloud of black smoke behind.

The university was not the beautiful palace Tobi had seen in the brochures. It was a place of very old buildings with peeling paint. There were students everywhere, running to classes and shouting to their friends. Tobi and Seyi had to walk a long way to find the place where they would sleep. They called this place the hostel. When they finally found Room 4B, Tobi almost cried. The room was very small. It was smaller than the kitchen in Aunt Clara’s house. There were four bunk beds squeezed into the tiny space. The walls were stained, and the floor was made of hard, cold cement. There was only one small window, and it did not have a screen to keep out the mosquitoes.

Tobi dropped his trunk on one of the beds and sat down. The mattress was thin and lumpy. "I cannot stay here," Tobi whispered to himself. "This place is for poor people. My mother told me the university would be grand. She said I would be like a king." He looked around for a fan or an air conditioner, but there was nothing. The heat in the room was like a heavy blanket. He reached into his pocket to bring out his phone, but he realized he had no way to charge it. There were no power sockets near his bed.

Seyi did not complain. He did not even sit down. He put his small bag and his sack of garri in a corner. He looked at the room with his sharp eyes. He saw that the ceiling was leaking a little bit of water. He saw that the door handle was loose. While Tobi was busy being sad, Seyi was busy thinking. He knew that if he wanted to survive in this place, he had to be useful. He had no money, but he had his hands. He had his brain. He had the harvest of all those years of hard work.

As the sun began to set, the hunger started to bite. Tobi’s stomach made a loud growling sound. He had not eaten since the morning. He opened his trunk and looked at his expensive clothes. He looked at his laptop. But you cannot eat a laptop. He looked at the thick envelope of money his mother had given him. He decided he would go out and buy the best food he could find. But when he went down to the small shops near the hostel, he saw a long line of students. The food was very expensive because so many people wanted it. A small plate of rice cost more than he expected. Tobi bought a plate, but when he tasted it, he almost spat it out. The rice was hard, and the soup was too spicy. It was nothing like the food his mother made for him.

He went back to the room, still feeling hungry and very angry. He saw a communal kitchen at the end of the hall. This was a place where students could cook their own food using kerosene stoves. Tobi had seen the stoves before, but he had never touched one. He saw other students pumping their stoves and lighting them with matches. He saw the blue flames jumping up. He decided he would try to cook some noodles he had bought.

Tobi took a small pot and put some water in it. He sat the stove on the floor and looked at it. He tried to pump the small handle like he had seen others do. But he was too rough. He pumped it so hard that the kerosene started to leak out of the sides. He got some of the smelly oil on his clean white shirt. Then, he struck a match. Because there was oil on the side of the stove, the fire jumped up much higher than he expected.

"Ah! Fire!" Tobi screamed. He dropped the matches and jumped back. He did not know how to turn the knob to make the flame smaller. He stood there, paralyzed with fear, just like he had been in the kitchen at home. The smoke started to turn black. The smell of burning oil filled the hallway. Other students started to look out of their rooms, wondering what was happening.

Across the hall, Seyi had been busy. He had not gone to buy expensive food. Instead, he had gone to find the man who looked after the building. This man was called the porter. His name was Mr. Benson. Mr. Benson was an old man with a grumpy face. He was tired because everything in the hostel was breaking and no one was fixing it. Seyi found him in a small office, trying to fix a leaking pipe that was splashing water all over his desk.

"Excuse me, sir," Seyi said politely. "I see that the pipe is broken. I can fix that for you in five minutes. I have fixed many pipes like that in my village."

Mr. Benson looked at the young boy with the old clothes. He did not believe him at first. "You? You are just a student. What do you know about plumbing?"

Seyi did not waste time talking. He picked up a heavy wrench that was lying on the floor. He saw that the seal on the pipe was worn out. He took a piece of old rubber from his pocket, something he had found in the yard earlier. He cut it to the right size and fitted it into the pipe. He tightened the nut with a firm, steady hand. In exactly four minutes, the leaking stopped. The office was dry.

Mr. Benson’s eyes went wide. He touched the pipe. It was perfect. "Well, look at that," the old man said, a small smile appearing on his face. "You really do know what you are doing. What is your name, boy?"

"My name is Seyi, sir. I am a new student in Room 4B. My bunk is right under a leak in the ceiling. I was wondering if you could help me find a better spot, and maybe help me with a little bit of kerosene for my stove."

Mr. Benson nodded quickly. "Seyi, you are a good lad. I will give you the best bunk in the room, the one next to the window where the air is cool. And here, take this bottle of fuel. I have a small bag of beans and some onions too. You can have them as a thank you for saving my desk."

Seyi thanked the man and went back to the kitchen. That was when he saw the smoke from Tobi’s stove. He saw Tobi standing there, looking like he was about to cry. Seyi did not say a word. He walked into the smoke, took a thick wet rag, and threw it over the stove. The fire went out instantly. The danger was over.

Tobi was shaking. He looked down at his white shirt. It was no longer white. It was covered in grey ash and yellow oil stains. "I... I was just trying to boil water," Tobi whispered. He looked at his hands, which were clean and soft. They were useless hands in a place like this.

Seyi ignored the drama. He sat down on the floor and cleaned the stove properly. He showed Tobi how to pump it gently. He showed him how to wait for the pressure to build. Within a few minutes, Seyi had a steady, controlled flame. He put his own pot on the stove. He began to cook the beans Mr. Benson had given him. He added some of the spices he had brought from the village. The smell was wonderful. It was the smell of a real meal.

As the food cooked, Seyi organized his space. He had cleaned his corner of the room. He had fixed the loose handle on the door. He had even found a way to hang a small piece of string so he could dry his clothes. While Tobi sat on his lumpy mattress in the dark, Seyi was sitting in the light of a small lamp he had fixed. He was eating a hot, delicious meal. He was prepared.

Suddenly, a group of older students walked past the room. They were wearing very expensive sneakers and carrying the latest phones. These were the wealthy students that everyone was afraid of. They stopped in front of Room 4B.

"Hey," one of them said. He was a tall boy with a gold chain around his neck. "We heard there is a new guy here who knows how to fix things. The plumbing in our block is totally messed up. The water is not flowing at all. Who is the guy who fixed the porter’s pipe?"

Seyi looked up from his bowl of beans. He was not afraid of the wealthy students. He looked at them with his calm, steady eyes. "I am the one," Seyi said.

The tall boy looked at Seyi’s old clothes, but then he looked at the way Seyi was sitting. He saw the organized space and the fixed stove. He saw that Seyi was not like the other scared new students. "Come with us," the boy said. "If you can get the water flowing in our block, we will make sure you never have to worry about food again. We have a fridge full of chicken and drinks. We just need the water fixed."

Seyi stood up slowly. He put his bowl down and picked up his small bag of tools. He began to walk toward the door. Tobi watched him from the doorway. Tobi was still holding his empty stomach. He was still wearing his dirty, stained shirt. He realized that his mother’s money was not helping him here. He realized that his laptop could not fix a pipe. For the first time in his life, Tobi felt completely alone. He saw his cousin, the boy he used to treat like a servant, walking away with the most powerful students in the school.

Tobi realized that the world had turned upside down. In the village, Tobi was the boss. But in the university, the one who knows how to work is the one who leads. Tobi sat back down in the dark. He felt a tear finally roll down his cheek. He missed his mother. He missed the servants. He missed the life where everything was handed to him on a plate.

Seyi walked down the hall with the wealthy students. He did not look back. He was not thinking about the chicken or the drinks. He was thinking about how many more pipes there were to fix. He was thinking about how much he could learn in this city. The harvest of hardship was finally beginning to yield a great crop. Seyi was no longer just a boy from the village. He was a man who was becoming a master of his own life.

But what will happen when Aunt Clara finds out that her son is failing while Seyi is succeeding? What will the wealthy students do when they realize just how much power Seyi has over the things they need? The city is full of traps, and the story is only getting more intense.

Why was Tobi so shocked by the university dorm room?

Seyi used a piece of old rubber to fix a pipe. What does this show about his ability to solve problems?

Tobi tried to use the stove and almost caused a fire. Do you think he should keep trying to learn, or should he ask Seyi for help?

The wealthy students came looking for someone to fix their plumbing. Why is it a big deal that they asked for Seyi?

Tobi realized his mother wasn't there to help him. How do you think this realization will change him in the next episode?

Do not miss the next shocking episode!

The tables have turned! Seyi is becoming the most important person in the hostel, while Tobi is struggling just to stay clean and fed. But success brings its own dangers. Will Seyi’s new friends be kind to him, or are they just using him? And what is Aunt Clara doing back in the village to try and change things?