Ohmyscience
04-03-2009, 05:23 AM
‘After this one there’s just one more left’, I thought. The barrel was empty of coconuts. It was time I went to get more. I brought them in by the barrels and I have to extract its juices. It’s a pretty simple task if you ask me. This is what needs to be done. Take a steel straw and hammer it into the coconut and just bleed the juice into a pail. I wasn’t sure what they did with the juice. No one on this island drank them. It’s horrendous and unhealthy.
On good days I can get about twenty barrels done. They tell me I can keep the coconuts once the juice has been extracted but I have never really been able to find a good use for them. If I wheel these back to where I got them I receive small compensation for turning them in. I have always wondered what they did with the empty coconuts. That really isn’t any of my concern. In fact sometimes it’s not even worth my efforts since most of compensation is from obtaining the juices. After I’m done with the days work I talk to a tall man with a sombrero to receive my pay.
I call him Lou but it might have been Luke. Since he responds to Lou I have continued to call him that. He doesn’t know my name and never really asked probably because he can barely speak our language. It’s been two years and he can barely get a few vowels in. I’ve never seen him speak his language but every time he attempts to say ‘hello’ what I hear is ‘hhll’. It’s difficult to describe. There are probably no vowels in his language. Despite our inability to communicate Lou can still pay me. He gave me five dimes after weighing my pails. Five was above average. I considered it a job well done.
The day after I received five dimes for my coconut juice, everything changed. As usual I went by in the morning to receive my barrel load of coconuts but I didn’t notice any stockpiles around the area. ‘Lou’, I yelled. A tall man wearing a sombrero turned around but his face was redder than Lou from two days ago. He turned around and was waiting for further questions. “Gimme coconuts”, I said to him. Like Lou before he didn’t understand. He turned his head and raised his hand towards a pile of tellons. Tellons were similar to coconuts but they were not native to our parts. They grew on another island. It’s strange that I would be bleeding these, although it’s really the same exercise. Hopefully I can get five dimes worth of this.
On good days I can get about twenty barrels done. They tell me I can keep the coconuts once the juice has been extracted but I have never really been able to find a good use for them. If I wheel these back to where I got them I receive small compensation for turning them in. I have always wondered what they did with the empty coconuts. That really isn’t any of my concern. In fact sometimes it’s not even worth my efforts since most of compensation is from obtaining the juices. After I’m done with the days work I talk to a tall man with a sombrero to receive my pay.
I call him Lou but it might have been Luke. Since he responds to Lou I have continued to call him that. He doesn’t know my name and never really asked probably because he can barely speak our language. It’s been two years and he can barely get a few vowels in. I’ve never seen him speak his language but every time he attempts to say ‘hello’ what I hear is ‘hhll’. It’s difficult to describe. There are probably no vowels in his language. Despite our inability to communicate Lou can still pay me. He gave me five dimes after weighing my pails. Five was above average. I considered it a job well done.
The day after I received five dimes for my coconut juice, everything changed. As usual I went by in the morning to receive my barrel load of coconuts but I didn’t notice any stockpiles around the area. ‘Lou’, I yelled. A tall man wearing a sombrero turned around but his face was redder than Lou from two days ago. He turned around and was waiting for further questions. “Gimme coconuts”, I said to him. Like Lou before he didn’t understand. He turned his head and raised his hand towards a pile of tellons. Tellons were similar to coconuts but they were not native to our parts. They grew on another island. It’s strange that I would be bleeding these, although it’s really the same exercise. Hopefully I can get five dimes worth of this.