Nirvana Effect

29



Sala grew weary. She looked up from her work to her mother, who scowled and pushed Sala’s hands back to the plants. There were hundreds of them.

Funny plants, the girl thought. They were thin, like brush, with hard trunks like pine. The trunks were covered in sap. She couldn’t touch the sap. It was poisonous. One of the workers had gotten ill from touching the sap and still wasn’t able to work. She lay under a tree vomiting all day and night. Sala wanted to sit under a tree all day and night, but didn’t want to vomit. She just wanted to rest.

First, they’d transplanted all the plants to the secret garden. Now, they had to put them in special pots of clay. She’d never seen such pots before. They’d come from machines with wheels that sounded like monsters. They said the machines came from the city. She didn’t understand any of it.

Well, she did understand something. She understood that her hands hurt from digging. The work was slow and tedious. Ten women were working, and they would be working late into the night, every night for many moons.

Once they put the plants into the pots, they took them to another secret garden. Every day they would move them, until the last day, when they carried them to their final destination, by the sea.

“Mother, why must we work into the night?” asked the young Onge girl.

“Because we are faithful,” answered her mother.

“But why must we not see the village for so long? Why must we stay from the village?”

“These are sacred plants, Sala, these that we care for and nurture. We are part of Manassa’s vision. We are part of something greater than ourselves.” The mother glanced down at her daughter. Sala’s eyes had glossed over. She hadn’t heard a word of it. “It is as your father wishes,” said mother.

Sala grabbed her mother’s hands. “Even though I’m tired,” said Sala, “I am happy to be with you.” She loved her mother’s hands. Her father’s hands were often cruel. She did not miss him or his beatings. “It would be fine for us to always tend the secret garden,” she said.

“And so we may. Your father will send word when it’s time to come back. Now work, child. You must set a good example for the other children. We must get these plants into the pots. And don’t touch the sap!”

Sala got back to work. She didn’t feel tired anymore.