I Found A Life

Things were going well for me and my family . We had managed to pay
the rent and afford food . We even had a reasonable car that was a
necessity to get around .
Yes for a while I thought we could get on our feet .
Then it happened . The downturn of work in the factory started .
At first our work hours were cut and then we all were placed on call
.
Next came the friction between the workers and the administration
.
I tried to pretend it was going to go away . But reality hit when I
lost my job .
Things went from bad to worse .
Upset and angry about losing my job I drove around all day pretending I
was still at work and during the first week I was booked for speeding
three times .
I started to look for another job and even took on a very low paid
casual position until I lost my drivers licence .
Then I hit the skids .

With no way of paying rent I ran off and became a beggar .
As one of the many homeless poor on the street , I had no where to go
.
At night I slept on a park bench until the dawn slipped in and I
slipped away towards the centre of town .
There I became a different person trying to forget why I ended up in
this situation .

I asked for handouts from every church in town and from time to time
I
Was given a large garbage bag full of clothes from which I pulled
out
a Burberry jacket and a decent shirts and tie .
I must tell you I left there dressed like a king .
Now that I was in half decent clothes I started cold canvassing for
work .
Before I walked down the tin-pan job alley I said a prayer .
The first day I had no luck .
It was a long day knocking the doors of cafes and petrol stations
.
I returned to the park bench and started to think of my family and
wondered if they could forgive me for running away .
Yes there wasn't a night I went to sleep without that though .
Each tide had an ebb and each night has a dawn .

Next morning I shaved in the gents toilet at the railway station using
a small blunt blade in my pocket . I used the soap that was there and
promised that I would try to find a job today .

As I walked past a pub that was having renovations done I thought to
myself I could do some painting for them and who knows maybe there
might be some other work going .
So I went inside and asked for the foreman .
This fella called Trevor came over to me and I asked him if he needed a
painter or a general hand .
He took a long look at me and then out came his mobile phone .
He pressed some numbers and made a call .
During his conversation on the phone he asked how much money did I want
.
I said about fifty a day which was about the going rate for tradesmen
on site .

He walked away for a few moments and then returned with a positive look
.
"Can you start tomorrow morning ?"
"Yes . What time "
"Be here at 7 "
"I' l be here."
For the first time in a long time things looked good .
I wanted to scream and shout to the world that I had a new job .
If only there was some one who could hear .
I had a job . I had new hope .

Anyway that evening came and I returned to the park bench and tucked
myself up under the stars .
Haunted by the same thoughts I drifted off to sleep .

Next morning as I shaved with my soap and blade I looked into the
mirror at the railway station and said ,

"Guess what . ?" .
I looked away for a moment and then continued ,

" I am starting a new job today ."

It was a happy day .
I slept well during the night and no one had urinated on me or hurt me
.

When I walked into the pub the foreman made it a lot easier when he
said ,

"Lets go have some breakfast before you start. "

Yes indeed everything was going to be all right .

"I'll pay you back at the end of the week "
I said to Trevor .

"Yes I know but don't worry . I'll get a better days work out of you
when you're fed and watered . "
He replied .

He brought me out to his van and drove me to one of the cafes where I
had asked for a kitchen hands job . They looked at me the same way as I
sat down in a booth near the wall . Trevor sat beside me and ordered
two huge cooked breakfasts and then listened to my story .

He seemed impressed that I was once a factory foreman .
He got up and went to the counter and returned with two trays .
He passed over a plate to me and said .

"Go on then . Polish that off ."
I ate like a animal and had the plate cleaned up in seconds . He handed
me his own plate and watched me do the same with that .
His mobile phone rang and as he went outside to talk I sat there very
content with life . I didn't care about the looks people in the caf?
were giving me .
I didn't need it their negative feedback either because I had a job
.
I drank my tea and when Trevor returned he sat down and ordered a
toasted sandwich . We finish off the rest of our breakfast and made our
way back to the pub .

The first day I spent stripping the old dirty black paint that covered
the timber panels around the bar . Once I saw the oak timber underneath
I called Trevor and showed him .
I told him that the panels were made of French oak and that they would
look better polished that painted .

He asked what I would need for the job and I gave him a list of
products .
Shellac and metho . Wood stain and some burnishing wax .
That morning he went with me and we purchased all that I had asked for
.

He also paid for my pie at lunch and introduced me to the other lads
.
I felt as if I had finally arrived . The day went in well with the
fixtures and inlays stripped and ready for sanding . I had put in a
good days work and was very satisfied with the results .
When evening came I had the first base colour over the wood panels
.
The entire place looked well and there was no mess and no fuss .
The boss was very happy with me which made me proud and at ease .

Within two days I had sanded the entire bar and was ready to apply
another tone to the light oak stain and build upon the first coat of
shellac .

Trevor was watching me work and was very pleased with the job so far .
Some of the patrons began to talk to me and offered to buy me a drink
.
They seemed to admire the work which made me feel proud of my trade
.
Just when I was about two days from finishing I had a small set
back.
One morning as I went in I saw that some of the polished panels were
badly marked and gouged from the night before . That meant I had to
start the entire job from scratch again and strip everything back to
bare timber .
Trevor wasn't happy about it and asked the publican if he could shut up
shop for a week or two until we got the job finished .

The publican laughed and said it was impossible to close the bar
.
We would just have to work around the customers . After some grizzly
huffs and puffs we agreed and the job was completed in just over a week
which was pretty good .

I was paid up quite well and Trevor asked me to come with the rest of
crew to do some other jobs that were lined up .
Before I said yes my immediate though was to ring my family .

That week returned home .
It was hard to say hello but somehow I found the words between my head
and my heart .

I was accepted back again and we started with a fresh new look at life
.
I looked forward to the future and the unknown .

It could only get better from here .

THE END