By Neil Primus
DARREN was a thief. He began stealing in his early teens. His father died when he was 14 and after that he seemed to have gone wild. His mother tried to keep him in school but failed. Eventually he took to stealing.

There is one important fact to note about this. Darren was a specialist. He specialized in agricultural products only. When fruits are in season he sells fruits. When vegetables are in abundance he sells that.
Farmers in the surrounding communities were plagued by this skillful thief. After years of losses on their farms, they held a meeting and agreed to employ guards for their farms.

Not security guards, jumbie guards. An unknown substance was buried in each farm. A spiritualist came and performed a simple ceremony. After that each farm had adequate protection.
Darren decided that he would be moving water coconuts one night. It was a moonless night and visibility was reduced to a few yards. The wind was nippy and energetic and the trees swayed and bowed to its will. Night creatures were out taking care of their needs. All except one.

Darren had a well thought out method of operation. He would creep into the farm, skim up the tree and settle at the top. He would then attach a rope to a thrush of coconuts, cut it and lower it to the ground. It was a perfect working plan and one he had employed over and over. When he had collected all that he desired he would exit with the booty. The next day he would have fresh items for sale. It worked like a charm. That is, until the guards took over the farms.

Darren moved from shadow to shadow cleverly concealing his presence. He arrived at the coconut trees and immediately skimmed up the trunk of a fully loaded tree. This feat was accomplished without the use of a belt or a rope on his feet to assist him with the climb. He had become an expert climber. Swiftly he attached his rope to a thrush of nuts then cut the thrush. He lowered the booty quietly to the ground.

He slid down to retrieve the rope and repeat the operation. When he got to the bottom of the tree an unpleasant surprised was waiting for him. There was nothing attached to the end of the rope. The thrush with about sixteen coconuts was gone.
Shock, fear and confusion assailed him. He struggled to keep his nerve. He was a seasoned thief so he knew there must be some logical explanation, or so he thought.

Darren picked up the rope and climbed the tree once more. He repeated the operation this time keeping an eye on his precious cargo. When he hit the ground for the second time he met an empty rope. Logic was receding and anger bubbling up. He suspected that another thief was at work and a lazy one at that.

He mounted the tree again his adrenalin surging. No two-bit thief would out-do him. He focused on the thrush from the tree to ground. His eyes never left the dark shape on the ground as he slid down to collect it. When he alighted on the ground it had vanished much to his amazement.

Darren lost his temper. It was enough that the thief had stolen one thrush, but three, that was too much. He began to cuss at the top of his voice.
“Who is de thiefing dawg dat tek me coconuts?”
Silence.
“Wat yo frighten? Boy if I ketch you is madness tonight!”
Only the breeze tugging at the leaves answered him with cynical rustling and hissing. Then he made a big mistake. He challenged the thief to a war – a decision he would regret for a very long time.

After the loud challenge he gloated about the thief not having guts and being afraid of him.
“Come out na! I would mess you up boy!”
When Darren turned around to go back to his picking he found himself looking into the coldest, meanest pair eyes he had ever seen. Pure evil was written over the face of the creature and the thief sensed that it was about to take up his challenge. It then dawned on him that this was not the work of another thief-man.
“Sorry uncle.”

He tried to withdraw. The jumbie stood in his way.
He ran for his life heading for the trench. The jumbie stood there waiting on him.
He spun around and raced away in the opposite direction.
His effort got him the same results.
Panic and desperation caused him to make the second mistake of the night. He tried to run past the spirit in order to flee the farm.
Pow!

When Darren opened his eyes he was lying under the coconut tree. Pain was shooting from his broken jaw and tears streamed down his petrified face. A sinister booming voice made things clear for him.
“IF YO TRY FO LEAVE DIS FARM YO DEAD!”
“Ow uncle a very sarry!”
“YO GOT FO WUK TILL YO GET RELEASE!”
Believe it or not, Darren is still working hard… for free.