"What’s this, little guy?" Mukela asked Banjho, his pet armadillo, who spat out the coin that was on the ground. Mukela quickly snatched it up. "Wow! Look at this! I need to show this to Mama and Papa!"

So, Mukela trekked quickly through the barren wasteland to the desert oasis dubbed Zanulo.

"Mama, Papa! Look at this coin!" Mukela shouted as he ran into the tent and caught his breath.

"What’s this?" Mukela’s dad asked as he examined the coin curiously.

"Banjho spat it out on the ground." Mukela answered, intrigued by what the coin might be.

"You should trace his paw prints to where he found it. There could be some sort of a treasure! Go and get it!" exclaimed Mukela’s dad.

So, they walked quickly through the desert to the boulder where Banjho spat out the supposedly valuable piece of gold. Mukela got to digging, clawing through the dirt with his hands. Three hours later, when Mukela was tired and sweaty, the opening of a white silk bag poked the dirt. Banjho pulled with his strong teeth and Mukela with his hands until it came out, dozens of coins falling to the ground.

"WOW! We’re rich! We need to get this to Mama and Papa!"

The next week was the best of their lives and the worst of their lives. They journeyed through the desert to the South African capital of Johannesburg, and took a plane to America to seek good fortune. With the treasure money, they purchased a large and luxurious mansion and moved to Chicago, Illinois. Mukela’s father bought a Ferrari and got his license. Finally, the day came for Mukela and his brother, Guano, to attend school. Their mother dressed them up in their best garbs, not knowing too much of American culture, and their father happily drove them to Armstrong Elementary.

As the two brothers stepped out of the car, students quickly turned and stared at the different-colored newcomers. Some snickered at their clothing. Their father left them and that’s when it all started. A crash was heard by all of the people nearby. Everyone turned their heads to see a white sedan plowed into a red Ferrari!

"Father! Are you okay? Let me help you!" Mukela shouted down the road. He started to run, but a large hand clasped his shoulder tightly.

"Where ya going, you little negro?" a tall sixth grader asked menacingly.

"Let me go! I need to help my father!" Mukela said as he struggled to get free.

"You ain’t helping anybody, you burnt-skinned shrimp!" The bully taunted as he held Mukela in the air and punched him in the stomach.

"FIGHT! FIGHT!" The crowd of students cheered.

"Alright, settle down, settle down." The principal said as he came out of his office. He broke up the chaos and the day resumed as normal.

* * * * *

"Mama, Papa! We’re home!" Mukela said as he ran quickly off the bus and onto the lawn.

"Mukela! Guano!" Their mother said relieved as she hurried them into the house for some lemonade. They saw their father with his left arm in a sling from the accident earlier that day.

"Daddy!" Guano said, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I’m fine, son. I don’t know why that idiotic man crashed my car, though! That cost us seventy of our golden coins! And the guy said something about me being a "helpless nigger." Replied their dad.

"A bully at school was keeping me from trying to help—"

Mukela was cut short by a startling crash, which turned all faces to the foyer window. A man with a ski mask and only white clothing on smashed straight through the window with a pair of nun-chucks and leapt right through to the living room. Mukela’s mother had one last look of pure shock on her face before she passed out. The vandal then sprinted over to the shocked Mukela and Guano who were too stunned to move and grabbed their stomachs. They were squeezed tightly.

"DIE, you stupid nigger-child!" the murderous vandal shrieked with delight. He then prepared his nun-chucks and whipped Guano fiercely on the back of the neck and dropped Guano down to die. He strode quickly over to father, and he gave a quick jab of the foot to his stomach. Father then slipped into a blissfully unaware state of unconsciousness. Now, Mukela was the only one left in commission.

Mukela was finally pushed over the edge. His muscles tensed and his face turned a sort of purplish shade. He began to tremble and his eyes filled with tears.

"H-h-how d-dare y-you h-h-hurt my family!!!" Mukela yelled, now shaking with pure rage. He then bit the vandal’s wrist, freeing him. The vandal dropped his weapon, still writhing in agony from the boy’s piercing bite. Mukela ran over quickly and picked up the heavy nun-chucks. He whacked the man in the eye with the dangerous items and he reeled back. With his eyes closed, he couldn’t see Mukela getting ready to kick him in the ribs. The sheer power of the blow knocked the man unconscious. Mukela took a deep breath and dragged the limp body outside and kicked it into the brook nearby. The man washed away to end up in a faraway place. Mukela bowed and uttered his last respects to the vandal. He then walked back inside his family’s vandalized mansion.

"I-is the man gone?" Mukela’s mother asked, worried.

"Yes. I took care of him." Mukela answered.

"I’m very proud of you." Mukela’s father said. "You learned to stand up for yourself and others.

"Yes, thanks for getting rid of that bully. I don’t want to see him again." Guano said as he woke up, holding his neck gingerly from the crack of the nun-chucks.

"GUANO!" all of the others said as they went over and hugged him, for he had been the worst injured.

"Let’s go back to Zanulo where we belong." Mukela said.

"So be it." His father replied.

So, over the next two weeks, they took the same fateful route back to their native home in South Africa and were quickly reinstated into the tribe of Zanulo. They lived prosperous lives. Mukela’s father lived old enough to become the village elder and Mukela married and was the proud father of two boys and two girls. Mukela’s mother became the village medic and cared for many wounds and ailments, and Guano grew up and moved to India to scale the Himalayas.

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