After the red string was cut, the banana tree started bearing fruit. The bananas were large and sweet. Miss Lim enjoyed eating them as much as she had enjoyed her banana man.
Then one day she fell ill. The doctors could not do anything to make her better. Miss Lim was so ill that she stayed in bed all the time. Candy began to worry about her.
Ming and Candy talked about her illness, but the only conclusion they could reach was, the banana tree was the cause of the illness.
Even though Ming knew a lot about plants, and mythologies of fruit trees, he could not find an answer or cure for Miss Lim. It was not until after her death and funeral, did Ming come across some bits of information.
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He happened to talk to a customer at the garden center. He had come to buy some flowering shrubs, but somehow the conversation led to banana trees.
The man lived in a small estate not far from the city. Just a few years ago, his neighbors had died, and the house was put up for sale. This had started a lot of gossips because three members of the family had died, one after the other, in a short span of a year
His neighbor had a young son around the age of 20. He did not have a girlfriend, and one day he heard a story about the banana ghost. His friends had been telling stories of how a beautiful girl came to have sex with them, when they tied a red string to their toes.
So the young man tried it. He stuck a needle into the banana trunk, and tied the other end of the red string to his toes. Sure enough, a beautiful girl came during the night, and they made passionate love.
This went on for several months, until his father started saying the tree was not producing any fruit. When he found the needle in the tree, he cut the string and removed the needle.
After that their banana tree started bearing fruit again. That was when the trouble started. Members of the family started dying, one after another. Until, the remaining members had to sell the house and move away.
Now, Candy and Ming were most careful, with the banana tree that has started growing in her garden.
YOU ARE READING
Banana
Short StoryA short story based on a true ghost story only told in Borneo. A middle age woman starts a relationship with a young man she believes is the banana ghost. Many people have tried it, and the banana man has indeed appeared to many lonely women.
