The Carving of a Man

In a rural village, surrounded by the lush green of the jungle’s trees, people greet each other with friendliness. The children run about laughing; some running in through the front doors of neighbors and stopping for some snacks and drinks before running out the back. A school bell rings, and a flood of young students start to make their way home. Pan does the same, and he only greets his mother briefly before dropping his bag and running out once more. The gang was meeting near the village’s perimeters, and he was sure to arrive early.

A crowd of children wait—boys all off to one side, collecting the last few stones that they would need and putting it in their pocket. The weight of the rocks is heavy, causing the need to pull up their pants.

“Is everyone here?” Zhang calls out, and a chorus of confirmation answers him.

“Alright! Let’s go!” He says, and they run into the direction of the dense green. Slowly, with each step they took, the sounds of civilization grew further and further away. Replaced with the familiar sounds of insects chirping, and birds’ calls echoing in the air. The moment the children had stepped into the new realm, a switch clicked in them, and a sudden burst of energy fills their blood. Even in flip-flops, their feet are swift and sure on the uneven floor; allowing their eyes to always look towards their destination. It wasn’t too far, but the jungle was large, and it wasn’t easy to move about on the jungle floor.

As they go, the children's eyes wander. Suddenly a boy stops, eyes locked on a prize.

“Guava!” A girl exclaims, and a sudden frenzy breaks out between the children. Those with fast legs and hands quickly scale the tree with a stick, looking like a bunch of monkeys. Others aimed their slingshots and shot the fruit down with one or two rocks, catching it and feasting happily with the sound of crunches and slurps.

“That one’s mine!” One of the boys calls, as he plucks a ripe jewel down. A few more boys and girls—including Pan—claims the remaining red guava fruit, and return to the ground with content smiles. A few unfortunate boys look at the fruits jealously, some even wishing that their elder brother would share with them. Unable to resist, a hungry boy who wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, walked up the boys and girls with fruits.

“Hey, could you maybe share with me?” Clumsy asks and the others shake their heads at him.

“First come first serve, Clumsy!” Pan tells him, and Clumsy’s head automatically drops in shame.

After a few minutes of pleasure, the company returns to their intended path. Only stopping along the way to quench their thirst at a nearby stream. Everyone was considerably refreshed after the short break, but it didn’t take long for the excitement to brew.

The gang was ready to continue once more, but Clumsy had sat himself down on a rock near the stream during their rest and was fanning himself with his hand. Annoyed, Pan turned to call out to him when his eyes open wide with excitement and slight fear. His hand reaches into his pocket and swiftly uses his slingshot to pelt a stone at the head of a long slithering pattern.

Some of the others see it too and start to sling their own stones at the reptile, causing it to hiss in anger and make its way towards the children. At that point, Clumsy finally realized how close he was to danger and jumps as far away from the snake as he could go. His movement catches its attention, but the gang continues to throw their rocks with deadly precision, and the snake quickly forgets its former prey. Knowing that they didn’t need to worry about Clumsy being in danger, the gang charges towards the snake with the accepted feeling of adrenaline and excitement. The few who found sticks nearby started to beat it, and the head of the snake quickly falls with accepted defeat. The kids wouldn’t allow it, so they taunt it once more, and the head finally rises with renewed anger. Yet it was still no match for the eagerness of the kids, and the snake soon found its demise.

After making sure that the snake was indeed defeated, Pan walls over to Clumsy and pulls him up from the ground.

“If you don’t want to get hurt, you have to be careful. The jungle isn’t your living room.” Pan warns him, and Clumsy nods; though Pan doubted it registered in his head.

So the company walked on, and this time they didn’t need to stop before finally reaching the rubber estate. There, all thought of play was cast aside, and the need for firewood replaced it like a constant bee buzzing in their ear. The children scatter as their limbs move at the fastest speed they could go—which to Clumsy, looked like mere blurs. For he too needed to collect firewood and picked up what little twigs the company overlooked with dissatisfaction. And even the nice long branches on the trees were too far for Clumsy to reach, his arms not strong enough to hang on, and the trees very tall.

During this process, time ran as quickly as the children did, and once the sun was starting to lean towards the West, the children stopped. Pan was satisfied with the day’s work, for he was able to collect two whole bunches, which would be able to last them for two days.

“Alright, we should start heading back!” Zhang suggests, and the others all call out their agreement. Pan sighs as he places his two bunches next to each other, and looks at the direction heading back. It was going to take a long time, but he didn’t have a choice, so he started his long process home. He picks up a bunch and carries it fifteen trees away, and runs back quickly to grab the other bunch when he finds it missing. Pan turns back and sees Clumsy running towards him with the bundle of firewood in his arms.

“I knew you forgot your second bunch of firewood, so I decided to help you carry it.” Clumsy pants and Pan eyes him with slight suspicion.

“Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself.” Pan scolds, and Clumsy shrugs.

“It’s ok, I can handle both!” He assures Pan, who ignores his words and immediately moves to take the bunch out of his arm. Clumsy keeps a firm hold, and Pan can see that he was only holding a few awkward branches of his own.

“I promise I won’t take it home for myself, but I’ll just help you carry it.” Clumsy adds and Pan returns to the batch he left further ahead. Clumsy follows along obediently and did his best to keep up with the pace of the group. For despite the heavy load of firewood, the constant routine made their bodies strong, and therefore their endurance great. Though they would have to stop more frequently while waiting for Clumsy to catch up and to quench their thirsts.

During one of their rests, the company happened upon a mango tree, and they nominated their best shooter to aim at the bunch high above. The boy closes one eye and stretches the elastic of the slingshot, adjusting the position of the stone slightly, and then releasing with a smile. Loud rustles echo around, and sounds of snapping can be heard. He pulls up his sliding pants once more, and pulls out a stone, repeating the previous process. Only this time, a resonating snap rings through the air and the bunch of mangos falls from the sky. Everyone cheers as they are given their fill, and the children all sit in a small group. The slurps of enjoyment louder than ever, and some small conversations being made. Clumsy was glad for finally having a relaxed environment that he could fit in to, but it didn’t last long.

The ground beneath the children’s feet start to tremble, and eyes immediately shoot up to look around at their surroundings. A familiar scent fills the air, and the scattering of birds could be seen. Pan jumps up and casts his finished mango aside, taking his bunch of firewood and eyes scanning quickly. He sets them off the well-trodden path and immediately starts to climb up the nearest tree. Others have also done the same, and those few left on the ground scattered about in a panicked frenzy to find a place to hide. Clumsy finds his spot among the bushes and lies there uncomfortably, his entire body shaking with the vibration of the ground. Within the minute, water buffalos start to stampede through, right on the spot where the children had been enjoying their mangos before.

“Damn it, the Mengali let out his buffalos early,” Zhang says, but Pan doesn’t say anything. He simply hangs on to the tree while looking with furrowed brows down at the charging black crowd. Some bump into the trees and the poor children have to hang on even more tightly to make sure they don’t get knocked off.

“Look, all our firewood is scattered now!” Another boy points out, and everyone looks down at the forest floor with dismayed looks. Pan shifts his eyes to look in the direction that the buffalos are coming from, and he feels his impatience grow at the ever thick flow of dark bodies charging towards them. It was going to take a while, and the sun could be seen leaning very clearly towards the West. By the time they reassembled their wood and continued on their way back, the night would start to settle into the jungle. That wasn’t good, and the growing pressure of uneasiness lays on the children.

***

Pan drops the firewood out at the back of the house and rinses his hand by the well. The sky was dark, and his arm ached with the heavy load he had carried.

“Dinner’s almost ready, brother!” Felicia calls out to him. Pan furrows his brows tightly and quickly grabs fresh clothes and his towel before heading to the toilet. He sets his clothes aside and checks the bucket for water. Thankfully it is relatively full today. Five minutes later, he makes his way back into the house and puts his things back in his room before joining the rest of the family.

Their mother hands Pan a bowl of soup, and he gladly takes it. Talk of school and grades are passed around shortly before the talk of work and coworkers come around. One topic is not conversed for too long before moving on to the next. Not too long after, everyone leaves the table to clean up. Though Pan had an easy job washing the dishes, for every bowl and plate was almost licked clean.