Hope And The Island Of Greatness

CHAPTER ONE
THE BACKGROUND OF LITTLE HOPE

Hope would be leaving home to live permanently in the Island of Greatness. He was the third and last son of Mr. and Mrs. Mediocrity who lived at plot 11, Average Street, Happy-Go-Lucky town.
In Happy-Go-Lucky, Average Street was the lengthiest, with countless houses, such as the Abandoned abode and the Dungalow bungalow (an ugly bungalow which was formerly a refuse site where the Hoodlum family lived). Duplicity duplex where Mr. Cheat and his family lived was also a notable structure in Happy-Go-Lucky town.
The Dilapidation dwelling place, Hope’s home, was the worst of all in Happy-Go-Lucky, since its shored-up tall muddy walls would not cease to collapse frequently due to the many wide cracks on them. The wooden eaves of the roof of the Dilapidation dwelling place had fallen off several times for its weakness, but the Mediocres had paid little attention to it, because they had no money to put it right again. The smallest but mightiest of all was the Hurt huts, the diminutive huts where Mother Witch and her ten tenants lived. The dwellers of the Hurt huts would never rest, since they wouldn’t stop wrestling one another and extending their tussles to the rest of the residences in the street, and in the town altogether. While the Hoodlum family posed huge resistance to the ‘Hurt’ dwellers, the Mediocrity family remained the most vulnerable to their attacks, since their fences were not strong enough to serve as defence.
To get to the Island of Greatness, Little Hope would have to cross the River of Achievement that was believed to be located somewhere around the outskirt of Happy-Go-Lucky town. But how he would cross it had not crossed his mind.
Alacrity was the firstborn of the Mediocres, but premature death would not let him get to his destination (the Island of Greatness), having tendered his life for death to tend at a tender age in a water accident. Little Hope was the sole soul who could narrate the sorry story of the sudden saddening demise of his eldest brother so well. Those days, when Hope was telling the story, he said, “Alacrity my brother died because of his over-eagerness to get to the Island of Greatness. Alacrity was filled with enthusiasm when he discovered there was a city flowing with meat and money called the Island of Greatness. Without seeking the elderly counsel of Father Sage, that poor old priest living in the little cottage called Dotage cottage down the street, Alacrity began his journey to the Island of Greatness immediately.”
Alacrity had only tramped few miles when he met the triplets called Goodwill, Goodwish and Gooddream who vowed to wow him and accompany him through the right miles with bright smiles on their white faces that night. They had not trekked long distance when they ran into a bad lad called Badmanner, who immediately began to let them know that life was not all about crossing the River of Achievement.
“There’s a shortcut to the Island of Greatness without passing through the River of Achievement,” announced Badmanner. Alacrity paid rapt attention to the seemingly good news uttered by the bad lad. Gladly, but unfortunately, Alacrity received the bad lad’s mad fad and readily agreed in greed to go with him.
“Is there not a shortcut to the shortcut you’re talking about?” Alacrity asked with full interest. Badmanner replied “There is” and began to lead them to the forbidden River of Haste in haste. Alacrity turned around to observe the round faces of his three passive friends, then he asked, “My kind friends, would you mind coming to this kind of shortcut with me?”
“Sure!” replied Goodwill, Goodwish and Gooddream all at once. “Our desire is to see you get to the Island of Greatness and it doesn’t matter to us the route you take to get there.”
Hardly had they reached the bank of the River of Haste when Alacrity attempted jumping in with a backflip to begin his forward journey to the island, but Badmanner held him quickly. “Alas! Alack! Only clever people can make it through this forbidden River of Haste. You need to be—”
“It’s enough my friend!” Alacrity barged in. “I’m clever, and I’ll forever be clever. I’m a fast swimmer, and so I’ll only need to perform twenty strokes in this rough River of Haste to get me through to the smooth Island of Greatness.”
“You’re right, Alack!” Badmanner concurred. “But you’ll need to peep into the deep before dipping yourself into it, else you would end up weeping in the lips of the Octo—”
Before Badmanner could end his speech, Alacrity had plummeted into the narrow river, the River of Haste, which was having turbulent storms and tides.
The Goods at the riverbank raised their heads to behold Alacrity clearly, their voices to wish him a successful journey and their hands to wave some ‘byes’. All of a sudden, they lowered their raised heads, voices and hands again as their countenances fell, telling the story that all was not well—the Octopus of Trouble in the River of Haste had gotten hold of Alacrity, just when he was performing the last stroke that would get him into the Island of Greatness.
Alacrity dangled sideways as he struggled to rip himself off the strangling grip of the angered angler—the Octopus of Trouble—but his strength was not enough for the taxing task. He now desired to flee the River of Haste hastily, but the Octopus of Trouble did not afford him the chance. Through the faint light of the moon in the night, the Goods sighted the doom looming for Alacrity the rude dude, and their good mood was turned into lugubriousness. Eventually, Alacrity lost his vivacity and became tired of trying, but resorted to crying. Then he lost his costly life in the eldritch tentacles of the Octopus of Trouble.
Badmanner would go into the river too. He had entered the river many times in the past but had not been able to get to the Island of Greatness because the presence of the selfsame Octopus of Trouble wouldn’t let him get there, catching him each time. But because Badmanner knew how to play his games well, he had been escaping the grips of the Octopus of Trouble but had no choice other than forfeiting the journey momentarily those times.
This time around, Badmanner carefully lowered himself into the selfsame river and drifted forward silently, but awkwardly, having discovered the weak point of the wicked octopus by weekly experiences—shortsightedness.
Though Badmanner had to perform many strokes in the River of Haste, he made it through to the Island of Greatness eventually. Without further ado, the Goods turned heel to face the hills ahead and turned their backs against the bank of the River of Haste, in whose belly Alacrity’s life was wasted, as they prepared to race away to make the story known to the Mediocres, Alacrity’s family.
Since the day Alacrity was murdered, Limitation, little Hope’s mother began to keep her entire household in stronghold by beholding them carefully and holding their arms tightly so as to prevent them from getting close to the cracks on the walls through which they could exit the house. Every mother in Happy-Go-Lucky town had done likewise by the imitation of Limitation’s meditation, believing that strictness and restriction are the best ways to hinder a person’s dream of getting to the Island of Greatness. They had commanded their children to desist from making any move towards the Island of Greatness, but to remain within the limit of Happy-Go-Lucky town and wait patiently for Mr. Goodluck’s visitation someday.
Mr. Mediocre, Hope’s father, collaborated with his wife by elaborating on her speeches. “My children, be content with your hometown like Mr. Contentment the father of Great Gain. If Father Creator wanted you in Greatness, he would have put you there at creation. Then you’d be sure that I, Mediocrity, would not have been your father.”
“And myself—Limitation,” interrupted Hope’s mother, “Wouldn’t have been the one to put you to bed. Therefore, remain within these four walls of Dilapidation dwelling place.”
“Remain in Dilapidation?” Hope hollered and shrugged, “Never!”
“Shut up, Hope!” Limitation objurgated.
When the Mediocres had their last baby some months after Alacrity’s death, they were greatly comforted. They had a girl this time, whom they christened Standaloof with the intent of making her not to have a trace of Alacrity’s trait, who died because of his enormous elan.

to be continued...
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