The newspaper on my body suddenly dropped to the floor with the effectiveness of the wind and I woke up shivering. Living without money on the benches was affecting me badly. Living on the streets was both psychologically and physically hard. I needed to find a job, how much money I will earn was not important. At least , I would spend my time working there ; furthermore , I would lend a help to somebody ; however , who could employ a sloppy , uneducated , poor man like me! As my father was taken to jail due to robbing, I had to leave school on the second grade to keep my family. I decided to escape from Puerto Rico to London by a refugee boat; however I couldn’t reach what I wanted in London and I spend twenty years living on the streets. From now on, I had to find a job being more dynamic.
I bought a newspaper to find a job and had a look at business advertisement, there were several jobs for me; however, I was decisive to take a job whatever it was. I glanced at all business advertisement one by one and found some appropriate jobs.
First of all, I applied for a job as a pet shop worker. I was thinking that I could overcome this job easily before I reached there; however, there were some problems. My skin was brown and I couldn’t speak fluently. I went to a telephone booth and called the pet shop owner. I arranged a job interview for an hour later. When I arrived there, I wasn’t even taken inside; I said I was there for a job interview. I hardly entered and the owner rejected me without letting me tell something. I was demoralized, finding a job was not as easy as I supposed. Secondly, I applied for a job as a pizza tosser. Likewise, I called them and arranged a job interview. When I arrived there, some of the employees told me that there was no garbage. Unbelievably, they supposed that I was a garbage man. What else could they suppose? I was re-demoralized; however, I ought not to allow them to let me down. Finally, I decided to apply for a new job. This job was working as a construction worker. I went to the construction site and I was accepted. The head of construction workers asked me to take some fizzy drinks and I set out through the market. While I was returning to the construction site, I saw a child crossing the street. While he was crossing the street, a car ran into him and I jumped to save him...
When I woke up, I was hardly recollecting what I did. I opened my eyes and saw the child I saved standing near me. Then, I noticed a woman near him; this woman was probably the child’s mother. Later, a nurse came and anesthetized me.
When I reopened my eyes, there was nobody around, the smell and coolness of the room only belonged to me; however, something was missing. I was feeling lightness on my body, I looked through my feet, and I had lost them. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Suddenly, I saw a note put near me. “There is a telephone number below. Call us!” was written on it. I called the nurse and telephoned the number. The number belonged to the child’s mother and she told me she would come in a few minutes.
Weirdly, she came four hours later, she coldly thanked to me; in all honesty, her thanksgivings wasn’t enough for me. Five minutes later, they went out. The woman had left some money for me. When I looked at the quantity of the money, I realized that it was only $100 banknote. I had saved her child however he left me little money. Was the life this much unfair?
They gave me a wheelchair and took $110 for it. $10 was the money I earned begging. I was no longer broken. On these days, penury was affecting me deeply. I had lost my feet for only $100. Suddenly, I heard a strange voice from the depth of my body. “You should steal, nothing else can save you” the voice said. I suppose it was the voice of the devil.
After a few weeks, I decided to help the people with filling in their boot in front of a market. Early on, I had difficulty in getting used to help the people without feet; however later on, I started to earn some money. I both felt myself psychologically good and was earning some money. Suddenly, a woman and a child caught sight of me. They were the child I saved and her mother. They saw me; however, they didn’t even care about me. A few days later, I saw them on the newspaper. The woman’s husband had died recently and this family was the one of the richest family in London. Although they were quite rich, they had given me only $100.
A few days later, while I was helping a man, he accidentally hit me and he went away leaving the tip on my body. Life was unfair. A woman who saw me approached and lifted me. She took me her home. When we arrived there, I realized that where she was living had no difference with a shanty house. I remembered the family of the child I saved. The child’s family had given me bit money; although, they were rich however this woman helped me; although, she was broken. After she gave me a meal, I left home while she was sleeping. I didn’t want to be a burden to that woman. I went to the market to work. When I inspected my pocket, I saw exactly $10.000 there. When I saw the money, I directly went her home. When I arrived there, I saw the funeral ceremony of her. I suppose she gave me all of her money as she would die.
I decided to open a gift shop in the name of her with the money she gave me. In this gift shop, I was planning to employ some poor staff to help them with keeping their family. I found some qualified staff and accept them for the job. Fortunately, I rented the store cheaper than its price. I was grateful to him.
Early on, the gift shop wasn’t selling as I supposed; however, we did a first class job. One day, a businessman came and bought all the gifts we produced. Doubtless, I was the luckiest poor man in the world. Out of the blue, I earned quite some money; however, a few days later, three civil servants came to my shop and told me I was selling illegal goods without registration of copyright. When I went to the court, I saw the man who bought all of the gifts in my shop. This man had taken charge of copyright. I was judged because of this and I had to pay $5000 fine. The man had won the case because of being well-known.
I decided to sell miniature toys in my shop. My miniature toys sold well through my qualified staff and I opened another shop thereabout London Bridge. I was no longer poor; I was middle-class. My new aim was employing more staff getting rich. I also denominated my new shop in the name of the woman.
To become a legend took fifteen years of my life. My shops’ incomes were increasing day by day and I was broadcast on the business magazines. The headline was “A journey through the richness.” Then, I opened several new shops in my country, Puerto Rico. The woman who gave me money became a company name.
I recently had ten shops, three shops in Puerto Rico, seven shops in London. I got quite rich. On my first days in London, nobody even talked to me and approached me because of my skin color and pronunciation; but, nowadays everybody wanted to talk to me even elite girls.
As my jobs were expanding, I was offered to be a copartner for new miniature shops by a French businessman from Paris.
To be lonely in Paris was difficult to admit. One day, an attractive woman came to my shop. As soon as I saw her, I offered to hang out with her and she accepted it. When I was a poor man, nobody was aware of me; but now, everybody was near me not caring about my feetlessness.
The woman and I became closer day by day and started to hang out more often. One day, she offered to have some drinks with me. When I entered the house, everywhere consisted of cocaine, extacy and marijuana. She gave me some drugs and told me if I used them, I would be more successful. I accepted to use them so that our relationship wouldn’t be bruised. After using drugs for three weeks, while I was going to London for a trip, I went into a coma and closed my eyes to life when I was fifty.
Richness had blinded me and I spent all my money to the drugs. I lost all my shops in poker and refused the gold tray of God. I can see that, if I hadn’t saved the child , hadn’t worked in front of the market, the man hadn’t hit me and the woman hadn’t helped me I wouldn’t have been so successful and rich. I could have eaten meal in the construction site. Now, I was an unworthy dead man. Although, people thought that they hit the jack, they weren’t as lucky as they thought.
If money is silver, to be warmhearted is gold...
Sami Morhayim
*Special thanks to Izel Furuncu
No comments:
Post a Comment