A golden story by: SPC88The gold mine in Brazil was as desolate as the planet Pluto. The day was June 17, 1964. Ja, Fell, and Aaron were going on their lunch break. Ja had skin the color of chocolate; Fell was dressed with a black sweater on; and Aaron had an unzipped jacket on. They were the best of friends you could have. But, Ja and Aaron didn’t know Fell’s secret. He wanted to blow up the mine! He was sick of the lousy offerings.
As Fell stood there, Ja asked, “Hey, you coming?”
Fell replied back, “Ye… Yes, I’m coming.”
Fell didn’t have the guts to tell his closest friends that he wanted to blow up their workplace. He was as frightened as a kitten trapped between two bloodthirsty stray dogs. When Fell finally had the guts to tell them, they agreed with him.
Ja and Aaron both said, “We’ve been planning that for years. We have wanted dental, health, and life insurance from the boss for years. We thought that you’d be furious at us.”
As they all ate their lunches, they thought of co-workers who might want to also be in on the plan.
“Maybe big, old, Abeeku might want in. After all, he was part of that strike a few years ago,” Aaron finally said.
But Abeeku was a gargantuan, unkind, and shy person. Ja, Fell, and Aaron drew straws, and, unfortunately, Ja drew the short straw. As Ja walked up to Abeeku, he had butterflies in his stomach the size of Jupiter. When Ja reached Abeeku, he couldn’t think of the words to say. He had never spoken to Abeeku, but he had beginner’s luck. They had gotten the biggest and strongest man in the mine.
The four of them, Ja, Fell, Aaron, and Abeeku finished their lunch and went back down to the mine. All afternoon, Ja, Fell, Aaron, and Abeeku couldn’t stop talking about ways to blow up the mine. The next day, Fell offered that he could get some bombs really cheap from his brother who worked in the United States as a bomb manufacturer. Ja and Aaron said they would spread the news. Abeeku said that he was a bomb expert in World War Two. They all knew what to do when they blew the place up. They decided to call their plan, “The Golden Plan.”
Soon everyone knew about “The Golden Plan,” including the boss! As soon as that happened, Ja, Fell, Aaron, and Abeeku were called down to Abhay, the boss’s, office.
Abhay screamed, “What is going on here? I offer a reasonable amount in each of your paychecks. Fifty percent of your findings is enough, right?”
Fell answered right back and said, “You’ve got it all wrong. In the United States, the citizens that work get health insurance, dental insurance, and even life insurance through their work. You don’t offer any of that the last time I checked.”
Abhay calmed down and said, “N… No. I guess I don’t. I’ll consider that. You’re all free to go, except you, Abeeku.”
Abeeku got really annoyed with Abhay. He thought that he could just go. Abeeku and Abhay have had a gigantic rivalry. Ever since Abeeku led that strike a few years ago, Abhay had wanted to fire him, but he couldn’t: Abeeku was the mine’s best employee.
Abhay said slowly his commands, “You aren’t going to mess up my mine again. Ever since that strike, things haven’t been going as smoothly. You are either going to give up, or you can be on the streets asking people for spare change. You’re now free to go.”
But, those few little words didn’t scare Abeeku. He walked out the door and told his new friends what Abhay had said. When they heard the news, they knew what they had to do, blow up the mine and make a point. But, Ja wasn’t convinced.
Abeeku told Ja, “Come on man. This is war. We’ve made it this far and now isn’t the time to give up.”
Ja said he’d sleep on it. Abeeku was certain that if his words went his way, he would’ve changed Ja’s mind.
The next morning as Ja, Fell, and Aaron were arriving, Abeeku was already there.
Ja asked, “What are you doing here already?”
“I’m always here at three o’ clock in the morning. Want a cup of coffee? What is your answer, Ja?” Abeeku replied.
Ja said, “I’m not sure. Last night, I had a dream that instead of the bombs going off in thirty seconds, they went off in only ten seconds and everyone but Fell, Aaron, and I die.”
Abeeku answered, “Don’t worry about us. I will be the only one who gets hurt if anyone. I’m going to say that I’m going to blow up the mine. Then, I set the bomb and run out of the mine as fast as I can. Don’t worry; I’m an expert at bombs.”
“Oh,” Ja paused, “well then, I guess I’ve got nothing to worry about. I’m in.”
The day went on and everyone did their job, as usual. When it was lunchtime, the four of the friends decided when to do it and what the signal would be.
Ja suggested, “Abeeku should say something like, ‘the gold for us’ or ‘the gold for everyone,’ since we are blowing up a gold mine. But, we shouldn’t do it for at least two months.”
Fell, Abeeku, and Aaron agreed with the signal, “the gold for everyone.” But Fell and Aaron didn’t want to wait that long.
Fell said, “We cannot wait. My brother says that if we hold it off for that long, he won’t give me the bombs.”
Aaron agreed with Fell. He said the sooner that he got out of the mine the better.
But Abeeku again convinced the other two.
He said, “We cannot do it that soon. If we do, than Ja might not be with us. After all, he did just decide this morning. I say that on August 18, we shall put our names into the record books as the only people to have a planned destruction of a mine.”
As the day came, the four of them decided that 1:30 would be the time. At 1:30 P.M. Abeeku planted the bombs at each of the 50 support beams. He connected the bombs fuses to one big wire. But, he didn’t set them off until 1:50 P.M.
He then said the signal, “The gold for everyone!”
Fell and Aaron heard the signal clearly. But Ja couldn’t hear it. He was on the far side of the mine. As the bombs went off, the only person still in the mine was Ja. Everyone was certain he was dead. The impact was like a meteor hitting the earth. But, walking out of the dirt and ashes was Ja! He’d survived the explosion!
The only thing that could ruin this moment would be Abhay coming over and yelling at Aaron, Abeeku, Fell, and Ja. It happened.
Abhay screamed, “I thought I’d convinced you guys! Look at what you’ve done! It took me 25 years to build this mine, and it’s gone! I will kill you, Abeeku!”
As Abhay came charging at Abeeku’s throat, Abeeku gave him a hard left hand to the face! He’d lain out the boss!
“You don’t mess up my mine again!”Abeeku said afterwards, “So what do you guys want to do? Mess up another mine with my plan again, eh?”
