Short story - Sunshine Susan

“Susan wake up”, the shrill voice of her mother jolted Susan out of her sleep. “Come and help me clean the meat, dig out some potatoes from the yard and……….” “Oh no! Not again”, Susan thought “another day of no college!” She hated missing college.

Susan lived with her Mother, Father, elder brother Sandy and Grandmother. They lived in a beautiful little house her Grandfather had once built beside the river in the small village Sabato. Grandma was old and could not be of much help with chores around the house. Susan was the one who always helped mother and she liked doing it all of it. Well almost all except for cooking. She loved to eat but disliked cooking very much. Her father was a bee keeper in a bee farm. Once every fortnight he also doubled up as a sales person and would go to the market to sell the honey. It was hard work. Father would leave very early in the morning when he went to the market by bus and he would return late in the night with his friends and a feast had to be ready then. So on those days Susan would have to stay back home and help Mother with the preparations. 

 
Father would take her brother Sandy along for help. “Why can’t I come to the market with you Daddy? Why can’t Sandy stay home and help instead?” Susan would ask. “Oh, I’ve told you so many times. It is not a girl’s job.” “But I am big enough”, she was going to turn seventeen now “and you had said the same thing about bee keeping last year. And aren’t you proud of bee-keeping now Daddy? Please let me come along” “We’ll see next time”, Father and a smug Sandy left, leaving Susan to stay home and help mother. “Tch. Tch. Too bad! It’s a guy thing dainty damsel. Ha! Ha!” Sandy teased from down below near the gate. He knew Susan hated being called ‘dainty’ and wasn’t surprised when a broken branch came flying towards him. He ducked in time and as disappeared round the bend guffawing. In the distance he could hear Susan shouting “Come back and I’ll show you who is dainty”.

To be fair to her, Susan was a truly a strong and fit young lady. She was 5’ 3” in height and a packet of energy. Her friends called her ‘rocket’. She would go for a run in the hills every day. Even on the days when she had to go to college. Susan loved learning. Loved going to college. “We don’t have money to educate you anymore”, her parents had told her when she finished school “And anyways you are a girl and need to get married soon and have a family”. She was sixteen then. She was looking forward to studying and going to college and could not imagine giving it all up. But her parents’ words were true as well. They really did not have the money. 

“I need to study. I have to go to college. I really want to. Do something and do it soon. Please”, Susan told the November tree which overlooked her window. She loved flowering trees, especially this one which shed all its leaves in autumn and white flowers would then burst forth on its naked branches. “Wow!” Susan was spell-bound by this miracle of nature. It never failed to amaze her each time she saw it. A huge tree without any leaves and with bright white blossoms! The tree was a dear friend to her and she would share all her stories with it. It had always given a patient hearing and sometimes responded, just like on that day. As she sat under the tree pondering a blossom fell on her lap and at that instant a brain wave struck her. “Thank you dear”, she gave the tree a tight hug and sprinted off straight to her father’s bee farm. Without stopping to catch her breath the words rushed out of her lips between gasps “I want to do bee-keeping. I’ll work two hours every day. With the wages I’ll pay my school fees Daddy. Please let me join the bee-farm. Please help me go to college”

“We’ll see next time. Now go back home and don’t make a scene” father warned her sternly. Mrs Andrew the owner’s wife was around inspecting the bee farm, noticing the commotion she came up to find out. “It is wonderful that your daughter wishes to join in the farm and fund her education. You must be proud of. Bee-keeping is a tough job and education is one of the best gifts of life. Your daughter is a smart, brave and determined girl. Why do you stop her?” But Mrs Andrews did not wait to hear the meek mumble of annswer. She turned around to Susan and said “You must go to college Susan. You can begin work from tomorrow. You are employed.” And to father she said “Teach your daughter well. Mark my words you are lucky you have a child who is driven by such energy and passion” “Susan make sure you are consistent and regular and you will learn. Bee-keeping is a tough job”. Susan nodded her head vigorously and in her excitement she darted off forgetting to thank Mrs. Andrews.

Bee-keeping indeed was a tough job. First of all was the danger of getting stung by bees while at work. “You need to wear the hat this way”, her father demonstrated. It was like any other regular hat but had a mesh screen all round protecting the face and neck from bee sting. “Study your bees. Watch them. Understand them” Susan replayed her father’s words in her head on her way back on the first day of work. “I will certainly do that”, she decided. And soon Susan was one of the best hands at the farm.

 A month later Susan returned home with her first salary. She used a small amount to bring home a gift to her a family- a bottle of honey bottled by her! She glued a square piece of paper on the bottle and wrote ‘Sunshine’ “Sunshine honey grandma” she announced jingle-style. “The best brand of honey ever!”Grandma swelling with pride opened the bottle and spooned some honey her granddaughter had bottled herself and a toothless smile beamed across the wrinkled face. “Wonderful. I am so proud of you my dear. Come and taste some of this right away. I tell you. You must” Grandma yelled and gathered Mother, Father and Sandy around and everyone agreed. It was a very special honey indeed! The ‘special’ ingredient was of course Susan.

Susan soon began her own little bee-farm close to her place and sold it to the villagers on her return from college. “Sunshine Honey” she called it. That was how Susan funded her education. She worked so hard to go to college that it really saddened her when on days like this she had to stay home. “Girls have to stay home and keep the family anyways Susan. Of what use is all this learning?” her neighbors’ would say “Better get used to being home. Wonder why your parents are still educating you?” If she could she would run away from all these comments but she could not and so she gave them the best response she could. None at all! Susan totally ignored the naysayers and always remembered her grandma’s story at such times. Grandmother was a wonderful storyteller and she had a never-ending stock of stories.

One of the stories Susan often liked to hear was the story of ‘The frogs that raced up a castle’ “Have you ever heard of a frog racing all the way up to the top of castle?” the onlookers questioned as they saw the frogs begin the race. But the frogs decided to race anyway. As they kept hopping up it was getting tougher and tougher “Come back! Return to safety! Don’t risk falling off! You will break your legs” the frogs could hear the shouts from onlookers below. One by one they all gave up and returned. All but one returned. When this frog reached the top everyone cheered and applauded and a bird flew up and offered to fly him down in honor of his winning such an impossible goal. “Congratulations!” the bird said “You must share with us the secret of your not giving up despite all the warnings from the people below” “Eh?” the frog turned and stared. He was deaf! He had not heard a single word of discouragement! “And so remember. Don’t listen to…..” Grandmother would stop and wait for Susan to finish “to words of those who try to pull you down.”

She didn’t listen when they chided her for learning to drive a motorbike. Her uncle had given her a bike as a gift so she could commute easily to college and work. At first it was quite scary learning to operate the gears, clutch, brakes and handle. Susan would jump-start the bike, skid and fall, battle with the kicking. And she put up a brave face through it all when Sandy and his friends watched her driving lessons in amusement.
But today all tongues were going to fall silent. “Ah” she heard mother scream from the garden and Susan rushed just in time to see a snake slither away. Mother had two spots on her ankle. The snake had bitten her. The nearest hospital was 6 kilometers away and the only bus that came by was gone and so were father and Sandy. What could she do? “Oh lord. Do something!” Grandmother wailed.

“Stop getting scared Susan and THINK”, Susan reminded herself firmly. Yes! She would take mother on her motorbike. She tied a tourniquet and got a thick rope and quickly started the bike. Grandmother and she nervously struggled in the emergency and somehow placed mother on the bike. Then Susan got on to the bike and together they tied her to Susan. She dashed off with her mother to the hospital where she was saved just in time!
“Sunshine girl”, everybody said and Susan smiled for today she had understood where her shine came from. It came from the courage to belief in herself and to follow her heart!