Benjanu

The story of a city-dweller and wild hyenas

Benjanu had lived in the city his entire life. As a child he had taken class trips out into the country, and once, at the age of twenty-two, he took a trip to Africa. There was another trip to the beach at age 28, but that was it as far as leaving the city was concerned in the fifty-eight year long life of Benjanu.

Benjanu remembered the childhood trips to the country fondly, but they were not that strong of an impression in the overall scheme of his life. It was the trip to Africa that was the pinnacle of his life. Benjanu had won a contest in a national radio show, having been chosen among those who had answered an obscure geography question relating to Africa. Benjanu had loved geography in school, especially when the study centered on Africa. Many hours of solitary study concerning that continent had led him to a mastery of the subject, although the rewards of that mastery was just the satisfaction of his own curiosity — that is until the day he was laying on the green grass of the city park listening to his radio. When he heard the trivia question, he raced home to phone in the answer. Among a mere seventeen people with correct answers to the contest in the entire country, Benjanu was picked for the grand prize of a three-week trip to Africa.