The locus

The locust 

By Sallie Castile 

“I’ve got a plan for this roach”

Crunch! 

The size three shoes came down vigorously. 

“Another one bites the dust,” exclaimed young Jake as he grounded the last of the locust into the scorching soil. 

His sister Jane had been too late to stop him 

“Why do you do that, you nasty boy? It was not doing you any harm. It’s about time you learned to have some respect for other living creatures” 

Jane was not the excitable type, but she really hated to see animals that are treated badly. There was a time, recently, when Dad had let her spend a weekend in the bush in Africa with a group of his associate and help to look after the animals. 

Jane hid once in the shrubs; she was trying to watch the lion cubs playing with their mother. Suddenly, as I watched the mother and the cubs had spotted poachers approaching them. The Poachers were obviously after killing them for their furs, which is illegal. Without a second thought, Jane had run out to warn the cubs and their mother to stop the poacher, as it looked like an attack on her offspring. 

Jane smiled as she realised Jake did not mean any harm to do with the locus compared to the poacher. Dad had often told them how locusts, when they swarmed, looked like huge black clouds which blotted out the sun areas of all vegetation in a frighteningly insufficient space of time. On their own, they were harmless enough. It reminded Jane of the grasshoppers she liked to watch in the English countryside. 

“Ok! Jake, it’s time for us to get our things packed. At the end of the week, Dad's job is completed, so we will fly back to Britain. I am so sorry that I got mad at you just now. But everything has a purpose to live even the insignificant locust. Try to remember that, eh?”

Jane had only arrived in Africa a few weeks ago during the holidays from school, it seemed longer as she had got to know the people and the area very well, but most of all she loved being able to see all those magnificent wild animals roaming around free and not behind bars like at home. She would miss this place. Still, maybe when she was older, she could come back. 

The journey to the airport did not take exceptionally long. As the land rover bumped its way across the sandy roads, Jane waved a fond farewell to the elephants drinking lazily at the pool, and before long they were up beside the executive jet, looking like a gigantic bird meditating in the shade. Dad was already in the cockpit with the pilot, Mr Knight, waiting to start up and fly them home at last. 

They had only been flying for about half an hour when Mr Knight noticed something was wrong. 

“The compass is playing up,” he cursed. 

“Shouldn’t we turn back and get it fixed?” Jane asked. 

But their dad would not hear of it. 

“I’ve been working in Africa all this time. I know we can make it. We will be there soon. We have such lovely weather now, so there should be no problems.” 

Although the weather report had been good for that day, they somehow flew in a thick cloud. Mr Knight took the plane as low as he could, but the cloud got no thinner. 

“It could be rather dodgy without a compass which is not working and bad visibility! So, I think we should turn around and go back” 

The plane banked steeply, spilling the sticky lemonade from Jake’s over-full glass. Jane looked out of the window. Was it her imagination or were the clouds getting darker? She was about to say something when they were deafened by a terrible battering noise outside the plane. 

“We’ve hit a swarm of locusts now,” mumbled dad as though he could not believe what was happening. 

The battering got worse as the minutes ticked by. There was silence–apart from the coughing and spluttering of the engines. Dad’s voice sounded anxious now. 

“Those locusts, they’ve blocked the engines. We will have to make an emergency landing before they pack up completely. Let us hope there’s an empty patch of ground down there!” 

The plane dropped like a stone, then levelled out again, making Jane feel quite dizzy. After what seemed like ages, it hit the ground with a loud thud and rode along the uneven surface before skidding to a jolting halt. 

Nobody moved. White-faced, they sat glued to their seats. They jumped when dad turned around and asked if they were all right. 

By now it was getting brighter, but when I looked out of the window, it covered them with sand. The three of them got out and see where they had landed. 

Jane had already told herself the crash landing would be the biggest scare she would ever have in her life. She was wrong! Just a few miles ahead of them was a mountain range. Mr Knight, who had lost his bearings, had been aiming the plane right into the heart of them. 

“Oh, my god! If I have not made us to land…” he said. He did not finish the sentence. It was bad just to think about what could have happened. 

As Jane stood under the wing, gazing ahead to awe, something fell into her hand. It was a battered and tipsy looking locust. It had fallen from the engine. She looked shocked and stared at him for some time. Then she turned to her brother and looked at him. 

“Oh! I know, Jake, all things have a purpose, but…” her voice trailed off in disbelief. 

Jane turned towards her brother and father, crying, and run up to them and gave them the biggest hug ever. She felt that she could not let go of both for if she did, she would die. 

“Can we go home please, Dad? I just want to get far away from this place,” 

Her Dad turned towards the mountain and said, “Come on let’s go!” 

The End