THE TOLEN FAMILY

CHAPTER ONE

THE TOLEN FAMILY

Mr. Tolen 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. Pentane. "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.