THE MECHANIC SHOP

Image taken from Google Images

It was a sultry summer and the scorching heat made me restless and to procrastinate my work although I am flowing full of aspirations to get the ball rolling. I was annoyed as I could not find anything from the newspaper and placed it on the wooden dining table and sighed at my wife who was gazing at me lovingly. 

“Did you find any?”, asked Mariah. 

No, not yet dear, I said. 

I went near the old antiquey mirror that was hung in a corner of the room to look at my face before leaving for work, it was dry as a dust and my tousled beard was very untidy and I thought of going to Greham’s store. Uncle Greham turned on the radio as soon as I entered his shop. I said I wanted to trim and have a clean shave, Uncle Greham nodded and took his scissors and a comb and started trimming my beard. I closed my eyes with the melodious number running in the background and then suddenly something alarmed me once the tune was stopped, there was an announcement made about the list of agents in Phew Phew land who can provide us with labourers for cheap wages from the nearby towns. My face grew as bright as a button after this announcement was made and I walked back to work after changing my appearance which before was like a face that would stop a clock. 

I was in a tearing hurry to reach the shop and make calls to those agents whose numbers I mentally stored exceptionally at full tilt. I made a call to the first agent like the wind who sounded needless to say ever so nifty. He was of a phlegmatic bossy character and assured me that he will get me a person soon after eliciting about the shop, type of work, salary and other details required for a person to be hired in a company. I was full of the joys of spring while returning home and shared this with Mariah who also felt over the moon and we both were with bells on over the reply from the agent. 

I was tossing and turning all night and got up restless at the crack of dawn and hurried to work. After a dry day, a big stout man with a squeaky clean brown hat in his head came to the shop along with a few other men. The man delved in a stern voice to me that if it was “Justin’s Mechanic Shop”, and I nodded swiftly and asked him who he was. He told me that he’s the agent and asked me to pick the labourers like vegetables in a market as I please for the shop. I felt like a fish out of water to pick one withal half of them were of tender age, I asked who would like to gum up with the work and described this work as the labor of love, there was this smart guy named Samuel who looked like a company man who came forward and told that he would sweat blood and work his fingers to the bone for this shop to go great guns. 

I was in the first instance wrung out with Samuel who looked more like a man of action and then signed on him tout de suite along with few others. All of them turned their hands to get the hang of the work inquisitively and started out in the shop within two shakes of a lamb’s tail. In a couple of years, with the liaison and combined effort of these labourers, my shop received acclaim and adulation in this lacklustre and half-hearted proximity. This was feasible and practicable only by the uphill work by backbreaker Samuel and his confidant Bertram along his supremely collaborative colleagues. They did what I could not do for a long haul on my own. I began trusting him lately as he was burning the midnight oil to meet each day’s demand, he has been solely responsible for everything that happened in the company due to his out of the box thinking. I was delighted to see my mechanic shop growing into a well-recognized company over the years that consisted of more than 1000 migrant labourers from far off places and had never missed the mark and has raised the bar in the vicinity. 

Everything was smooth except Bertram who kept pulling an issue with the workers of Phew Phew land for which Samuel did not react. Bertram and Samuel have known each other for years before even joining here. Bertram who although is Samuel’s friend is a true baiter who is such a cold piece of work and creates a ruckus wherever he goes. Moreover, Samuel keeps shrugging off for all the tantrums thrown by his beloved pal and gets back to his work fervently. He often visits home and has always been in the good books for Mariah and the family. Samuel was like a brother to me from another mother, I began learning good deeds from him and whom I can rely on for anything at any time.   

One fine morning, I was sitting in the fresh green garden and looking at the dew drops over the corners of a grass and was having a cup of hot tea. My peace was interrupted when the phone rang and I looked at Mariah surprisingly as it was too early to receive a call. Mariah ran into the room and picked the phone, it was her mother. Mariah grew concerned and was in a state of shock when she disconnected the phone. I went near her and asked what happened. I heard everything and called Samuel and told everything and left and said that I will be back in a few days. 

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I was back after a week, Mariah and the kids stayed there and did not accompany me. I made up my mind to focus on the work so I went to the company after I freshened up myself. I dressed up and rushed up to the company and meet Samuel to ask what happened in the company when I was not here. In a split second, I reached the company and was as happy as a clam to meet Samuel.

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Samuel looked vacuous and totally different, he did not seem to be happy as I returned which bothered me so much. My heart felt so heavy for how he reacted and I went near him and asked him what went wrong, he gave me the TV remote and tuned in to the news channel which was flashing - “The government has imposed tax regulations for the immigrants as they are the significant economic contributors” 

There was a huge clamour that was heard, I went near the window to see where it was coming from. I began sweating after catching sight of the scene where all of the labourers gathered as a union and protesting. I felt on edge and overwrought after noticing this event. I expected Samuel to console me and tell me to remain calm. I turned to notice what Samuel was doing.

He was keenly reading and re-reading a document in his hand and when I called, he looked at me in the eyes, this sight of him went through me and disturbed me a lot. For the next few minutes of his speech I could not believe anything that was happening, and I was frozen the moment Samuel told me this. 

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He raised his arms to reach me with a pen and a document.

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And finally told – “We have been burning candles at both ends for this company and worked our fingers to the bone for you to be in this position and it was possible only because of me and my painstaking colleagues to even reach this level. I have always been trustworthy for you and made things easier. If I have been greatly accounted for everything, then shouldn’t it be me who has to take over this company?”