Rainy season started a month or so ago. Although there were hardly any storms, the rain was heavy and relentless. It rained for more than three-quarters of the day, every day. Laid off the same time when the rainy season began, Jobs never left his home. It had since become his whole world.
"I can't tend to my garden. I can't go out for a walk. And I can't afford to fix the leak in the living room," he complained daily to no one in particular. "All I can do now is to empty the pail before it gets full."
He was referring to the red plastic pail he placed to collect water from the leak. He sat for hours staring unseeingly at water drip into the pail. The moment when his boss told him that he was being replaced by a fresh graduate was the only thing playing in his mind. Since then, Jobs had lost his confidence and was sure no one was going to employ a man in his fifties so he did not bother to look for work.
Drip, drip, drip. The monotonous, unwanted sound gradually became a pleasant and comforting rhythm.
During the time Jobs spent waiting on the pail, he had inadvertently turned his living hall into his bedroom. In the nights he slept on his couch. The weight he had gained made sure he sunk deep into the old couch. He had his lunch and dinner - he skipped breakfast - delivered to his doorstep and then gobbled the meals sitting on the couch. Thankfully, after a couple of weeks of unemployment, he turned to his working table (which he had conveniently ignored) and noticed his laptop lying there.
"Useless old thing can't even hold a charge," he cursed when he went over to turn it on.
He dragged his coffee table to the front of the couch and placed his laptop there before plugging in. He felt luck was finally on his side. The power cable was just the right length running on the floor from across the room. There was not a centimetre more nor a centimetre less. When it eventually booted up, he launched his favourite streaming app and binge-watched soap operas.
Even though there was neither day nor night anymore, Jobs found excitement again in his life as he watched one episode after another. It was amazing how the soap operas never seemed to end and yet able to maintain the thrill, the conspiracy, the politics and one affair after another.
Eventually, the leak and the pail became an afterthought. On the day he finally forgotten to empty the pail, water overflowed and shorted his laptop charger which was lying on the floor. There was a loud explosion. His laptop was still showing the soap opera. The detective was about to reveal who the murderer was before the built-in battery ran out of juice.
"What in the world?!" He exclaimed.
Frustration and panic crept in. His life was about to change for the worse. He was going to have to revert back to his days of watching the pail fill up. No more soap operas. He put his face in his palms and wept until his whole body shook. Half an hour later, he stood up, wiped his tears and snog, and walked out the door.
It was time to brave the rain to get the day's newspapers and look for a new job.
- End -
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