The job of a truck driver came to Paul as a miracle, he had been jobless for several years and in this frustration he got his girl friend pregnant, he became more serious in his job hunting the very day he held the white paper with his two hands staring at it and rolling his eyes like an albino trying to read a book under the sun, he tried to find where pregnancy positive might be writing but all he saw was funny hand writings and symbols which he could not understand, daisy took the paper from him ‘I am two weeks pregnant’ she said ‘but I didn’t see anything’ explained Paul but she ignored him and folded it into the envelope.
Paul almost cried begging for the job right there in the interview room, he needed it so badly most especially when daisy’s parent had thrown their daughter to him like a beggar been stone with a loaf of rejected bread, she now lived with him and he had to care for her, the job was finally given to him out of pity not because he had the experienced needed as a truck driver.
He did so well in his first two months as a driver, and so became trust worthy by his boss the manager of Ricorich, a rice distributing company, one day the boss called him to his office and said ‘Mr. Paul your are doing so well, your sales is quite better than that of your colleagues’ Paul smiled and he thought it was a good start ‘thank you sir’ he said ‘now I want to make you the manager, the manager of the warehouse, so Paul monitor the others keep records off what they are taking out’ the manager said and Paul almost knelt down thanking him he was about to lived when the boss said ‘I am giving this job to you because I think you are handling your job with honesty’ Paul nodded his head and thanked him again before he left.
It wasn’t funny for his fellow drivers when he assumed his new position, he made such he had the records of what they were loading on their trucks, and when they came back he checked to see if everything was intact before reporting back to the office, this continue for two months and the management saw a huge difference, but his colleague where not happy they never had the chance to take extra bags of rice and sell to make extra money, and Paul became their enemy, a torn in their flesh and an enemy of progress, they picked fight with him for little things but this soon stopped, they became used to it but one of the driver Dan for that was his name he never stopped, he was ready to get rid of Paul by all means.
Paul had just fished recording the loads of the trucks when he entered his own truck; he had the new truck, it was one of his entitlements for been their head, his truck was nice, new and even had an air conditioner, unlike his colleagues whose trucks where old made a lot of sound and usually very hot, a few hours into the road one of the tyres pulled out and he ran into a bush, it was not a minor accident but he was lucky to have survived it, he stood at the corner crying like a child whose mother had chased out of the house ‘sir you should be thankful for been alive’ the people were saying ‘it would have been better if I died’ Paul said showing them the amount that had been lost.
When he got to the office he was sent for immediately ‘what happened to the truck we gave you?’ asked the boss ‘sir, as I was driving, suddenly one of the tyres pulled out and I ran into the bush’ Paul explained ‘the board has declared you fired’ the boss said calmly and Paul went on his kneels ‘but I won’t fire you, not yet but you are suspended till further notice’ Paul went down crying but the boss walked him out of his office and that same day he traveled back home to meet his wife.
Daisy was surprised to see her husband hauling his bag home, it was not the regular time he was usually giving off to go see his family, and he told her after much hesitation that he was suspended and she knew what that meant they would be no salaries till God knows when and worst of all Paul had not started preparing for his wife who was about four months pregnant
The first month was terrible for Paul, he had borrowed almost his salary to survived, a salary he was not such would ever be paid. Two weeks later he was called to resume work and that morning when he got to the office the boss said to him ‘I have solicited on your behalf and the board has decided to give you a second chance but don’t let this repeat itself again’ ‘thank you sir’ Paul said and resumed worked happily.

To be continued...

Nice beginning
Good job

Part 2

Another one month went by and work continued as usual, and as usual Paul had to fight with Dan everyday this made them got queries, but Paul wanted their fight to stop by all means but he just could not, Dan would start a fight over nothing, he knew his job was at stake and he could not afford to lose it, he knew how many years he had wandered in the streets before landing this one he would do anything to keep it, but really there was nothing he could do he just had to develop muscles and be ready for a fight every time.
Paul was still taking records at the ware house when the boss called him, he told him he would be going on a meeting ‘my driver his not around he left this morning, so I would want you to take me on my car to the meeting ok’ said the boss ‘yes sir’ Paul said, he was happy at the offer at least he would have a one day fight free with Dan. When he came back he saw Dan hauling an extra bag of rice into the truck ‘hey what are you doing?’ asked Paul pointing to Dan ‘i thought you truck was full what are you doing with that’ Dan looked at him with a face of horror he was so unhappy that Paul had caught him ‘it’s just extra it might be important’ said Dan ‘no return it, you don’t need an extra bag’ Paul said recording the loads on the other trucks ‘and what if I don’t’ Dan said like someone ready to fight in the next minute, Paul looked at him and smiled ‘I will write plus one’ he said ‘and you know what, you still have to sell It’ he continued recording and soon he saw Dan yanking the bag back to the warehouse and he giggled, when he was coming back he hit Paul roughly with his shoulder and he staggered to get his balance.
The next morning Paul took the records before joining his boss in the car, half way into the road one of the tyres pulled out and they almost ran into the river that was by the side of the road his boss had never been so angry and Paul had never been so scared the meeting was canceled and they went back to the office.
The boss told him angrily to get to his house in the staff estate and wait for his sack letter, Paul cried for a third chance but the boss chased him out like a mad man. he went to his house at the estate crying, as he cried he thought about how he would find himself back in the streets and the suffering poor Daisy would had to face, getting a job in the country had never been so difficult , he packed his things in tears and waited for the sack letter, two days later the long awaited letter came it was brought by one of the clerks ‘the boss asked me to give you’ he said and then left, Paul took the latter he wanted to tear it but didn’t he threw it into his bag and traveled back home.
His wife was surprise as it was the first time, it was still not his off day but yet his husband was dragging himself home tiredly and weakly, ‘what happened? were you suspended again?’ asked daisy ‘I was sacked, fired’ Paul said and brought out the letter he threw it on the table. Soon they held a knock on the door it was one of the men who had lend him money ‘thank God you are back, I need my money’ he said, Paul brought out some money from his pocket and paid, soon another knocked he brought money and paid, it continued like that until the little money he brought was almost gone.
That night Paul refuse to eat, his wife forced him like a mother forcing her sick baby to take drugs, when it was midnight she woke up and didn’t find Paul on the bed she searched the whole room then she came out and raised an alarm and the neighbors came out ‘I can’t find my husband’ she said and the neighbors went to their rooms to get their torch they search the whole compound until one of them screamed ‘come and see him here’, they all ran to the tree where Paul stood tying a rope round his neck, they brought him down and hauled him to his room ‘what his wrong with you? what were you trying to do?’ asked one of the man but he kept quiet, his wife sat on the floor crying ‘he came back this evening with that letter, and told me he was sacked and since then he had been behaving strangely he refuse to eat and now he wants to kill himself and leave me al alone’ she cried.
One of the men in the room picked up the letter and opened it and first read threw ‘this is great’ he said and Paul raised his head and the man read again aloud
Dear Paul Michel
we are sorry for the troubles we have cursed you, we have found out the cause of those accidents that happened, it was Dan who went and tampered with the bolts on the tyres, as at the time we were finalizing your sack letter one of our staffs who saw him reported, as we speak now he is already in the police custody. Once again we apologize for the mess we have placed you in, the board has also made provision for your salary to be paid twice and we hope to see you next week.
Yours sincerely
Mr. Donald
The manager.
Paul stood up from the ground and took the letter from the man and read threw himself to make such he was not been pranked, Daisy too had stopped crying her eyes was alternating between the man that first read the letter and her husband.
When he resumed worked the following week, he went to see the boss ‘congratulation Mr. Paul good to see you back, I think you should get back to work right now’ the boss said smiling. the first time he gave him such a smile was the day he shook his hand and said ‘congratulation you got the job’.
Work started in full swing and Paul was happy again his joy which was once stolen had returned and sometimes when he looked around and saw that there was no Dan, he took a deep breath of relief. As long as there was no Dan there would be no fight.

THE END