Distractions 2

Honey

The tourist stood in the courtyard of her hotel and curiously watched the small gathering that was taking place at the gate. The hotel workers had gathered around the gate and were buying something from a man that had arrived on a bicycle. She approached the group and saw that the man was selling something out of an old cooking oil container. She asked one of the waiters what he was selling and he responded; “Wild honey.”

The man selling the honey was known as Honey and to the hotel staff there was little to separate him from the street, the dust or the other peddlers that came to the gate. Daniel was an older gentleman but it would have been impossible to know his real age; for he did not know it himself. There was little that Daniel did know; he had lived a simple life. He took note of important events in his world but then let them blow away and settle someplace else; he was alive for independence but he did not notice much change afterward. His life revolved around the selling of honey and it always had.

When he was a small boy Daniel’s village was far away from the big city and was surrounded by large forests; now the city was much closer and the trees much farther away. In the forest were bee hives and the very young Daniel soon discovered that he loved the honey that was hidden away inside and his mother and friends could always find him by the hives and he always had a pot of honey with him—that is how he became to be known as Honey.

Throughout his life he was always known as Honey and throughout his life he visited the bee hives and collected the honey, eating it and selling it when he needed the money.

Now with his wife dead and his children moved away Daniel once again dedicates his life to the bee hives. With the forest disappearing he has to ride his bicycle farther and farther into the bush but he still collects the honey with the skill and delicate touch he had as a young man. He then travels into the city to sell his honey door to door—pouring it from his cooking oil container into an old 7Up bottle to measure it out and then into empty water bottles.

It had been a good day for Daniel. The day had started early when he rode to bee hive and collected the honey by starting a small and smoky fire under the hive. He then rode into the city and sold his honey. This hotel was on the way out of town and was his final stop and the workers nearly bought him out, leaving him just enough to satisfy his own needs.

He then saw the tourist who by this time had moved into the group and was asking about the honey. Daniel 

decided to offer her a taste. He motioned for her to hold out her hand and he poured a puddle of honey onto the back of her hand and instructed her to lick it off. As she did so he could tell that she too had fallen in love with the honey. He then went through the ritual of pouring the honey from one container into another until it ended up in her hands.

Daniel peddled back through the city’s dusty streets to his home and the tourist continued with her day but the remainder of the trip was sweetened with Honey even after her bottle ran out.