Today I decided to narrate a story which is rather entertaining and somewhat funny but when I was going through the episodes which I am going to narrate, they were surely not that funny at all. This is a story from the category, ‘my neighbors’ as the title indicates.
My wife and I have been living in the house we still live in since we were married, that’s almost fifty years. For a period of about fifteen years we had a couple living next door to us. They came here twelve years after us as the family who lived there decided to move to another village. This couple was more or less our age and we soon became good friends.
My wife and the wife of our new neighbor seemed to have clicked well and became good friends. At that time we both had three children. Our new neighbors had three daughters and we had one daughter and two sons, but all loved each others' company. It was a common thing to hear knocking at the door……..not the main door of our house but the roof door. That meant that their children came to play with our children. They played mostly on our roof because at one corner I built a wooden hut which to them was like their small house. There they kept all sorts of toys and they played together for hours.
One person of this family I did not mention yet is…………. the husband. This is the person I am referring to as my impossible neighbor. If I were to describe Tom (that’s his name), I would say that he looks like a very normal person but when you get to know him better he really is one of a kind. In fact to this day, when between us neighbors we refer to him, without wanting it we smile and often one of us narrates something about him.
Tom boasted with everyone that he did not know how to write his name; yet he was a very successful man. He had a factory of his own which he did not inherit or buy but he built it from the ground up using his unique yet effective character. In my opinion, such, not so common people are in a class of their own. I for one, am not able to do what he does not even if I had a degree in business studies. So what was so special with this guy?
The answer to this question is one word. In the dictionary of his mind the word “shame”, or the verb “to be ashamed” did not exist. Come to think of it, people like Tom who have this inability to be ashamed, get what they want and are always on top.
Let me tell you how he became the owner of a Marble Works Factory. He told me this himself. When he was a teenager, as he was academically hopeless, he left school and found a job. His job was precisely in a marble works factory. There he learned all about marble. He learned how to cut it, polish it and lay it. Once, the owner of the factory was given a big piece of work by a very rich building contractor. There was a big block of flats and Tom’s boss was commissioned to do all the marble works. Tom was a very skillful worker and he was trusted by his boss. Once, while he and other workers were doing their job in the flats, his boss and the rich contractor went on the spot where the work was being done. They stopped just a few paces away from where Tom was working. Tom sensed that he was being watched and he did his best to show off his skills but he was more focused on what was being said. From their conversation Tom learned that the contractor was soon to build three other blocks of flats and the two bosses were negotiating to perhaps reach an agreement.
Do you know what Tom did? Few days after the event described above, he went to the contractor’s office and without the least shadow of any complex, he boasted that he was the head worker of the marble works factory. In short he persuaded the contractor to provide him a place and buy him the necessary machinery and marble and he would do all the marble works of the new flats with just his wage and the wage of two other workers. Then when the work was done the factory and the machinery would be his. After doing the maths, the contractor agreed to the deal and after some months Tom had a large garage with all the machinery and a big yard with many sheets of marble. He even succeeded to lure a couple of workers to leave their old boss and work for him. In a few years Tom became a rich man.
Perhaps you say, “Good for him, he was rewarded for being cunning and skillful.” In a way I agree with you but if you got to know him as I do, you would see what I mean when I say that he does not even know the meaning of the word ‘shame’.
After few months being our neighbors Tom and I were quite good friends. Here may I mention just two little episodes to illustrate better Tom’s character. Once, another neighbor who lived just opposite knocked at my door early in the morning. He told me that during that night he saw a man on my roof and he suspected that he must have been a thief. I was alarmed and went upstairs to check my workshop which was full of tools because at that time I still worked at home as I said in previous stories. Someone surely entered my small work shop and some of my tools were missing. I was puzzled because if it was a thief, why didn’t he take other more expensive tools. Someone could have easily climbed from the back of our house where there was an abandoned old farmhouse. But soon I got the answer. Tom called me from his roof and told me that he had people for dinner that day and during the night he jumped over, took some pieces of wood and some clamps to make an temporary extension for their table………………… I can’t imagine me doing such a thing.
Once on a Sunday morning, I had to go to run some errands. But when I tried to start my car there was no noise from the engine. I tried and tried but not a single response. I opened the bonnet and found that the battery was gone. Again after quite some time I got to know that the culprit was Tom who borrowed it for his usual Saturday night out as he had found that his battery was flat. The way he told me about it was that he felt it would have been improper on his part to wake me in case I was sleeping……………he almost pretended me to thank him for it.
As I told you, Tom became a rich man and he bought the ground which was adjacent to his factory and there he built several garages. But since that area was rather out of the way he did not succeed to sell any of his garages. So once he invited himself to have a drink in our house saying that he wanted to help me. But I never asked for his help so what did he really want?
Once in our sitting room with his favorite drink, a glass full of whiskey, he began his
farfetched way of reasoning. “I was wondering why a good woodworker like you should work in a small workshop on the roof! You should have a factory as I have. You should have employees to help you. I know what you are going to tell me……that you are a teacher and you work part-time………that you can’t afford to rent a garage, the renting prices being what they are……….. and so on. But listen my friend, I really am a good friend and when I was praying in church I was illuminated that I should help you. You know that I just built a dozen garages near my factory. I am ready to give you one, all for yourself….. for say three years and then after three years we will arrange a renting price and I can tell you that as a friend I will be very generous. You see when I like a good friend I will do anything to help him.”
I was stunned; I always wished to have a proper place to work in. Perhaps God sent me an angel in the form of my friend Tom! But knowing Tom I was wandering what was behind his offer, I thought for a few seconds what I was going to say and then the most obvious question just came out of my mouth and I asked, “but Tom, please be honest and tell me the real reason. What have you at the back of your mind………there surely is something that you will benefit from.”
“So you don’t believe that I consider you as my best friend and you do not believe in me being illuminated. But never mind I will pretend that I did not hear these things. The offer is still open and I will be honest and tell you what’s at the back of my mind but you tell me then if in spite of this, whether my offer to you is still a very good deed on my part which will help you. So, I am doing this so that you will go there and work there so that others will be encouraged and come and rent or buy the other garages. Isn’t it still a good deal for you my friend?”
Honestly I thought that it was quite a fair deal. I talked it over with my wife and we concluded that we should accept. We were very enthusiastic but I did not have the least clue what I was getting into.
I will end this story by listing some things which I had to do as a result of accepting that deal.
1. I had to empty the garage of all the debris in it. I had to white wash the walls and ceiling with paint. I had to do all the plumbing and electrical fittings (but I did not mind this that much because as they say ‘beggars can’t be choosers’.
2. Tom rarely was in the factory as he was now more dealing in the construction business but he left an employee to do all the marble works. So Tom asked me to help him and so I did. Enough to tell you that several times I hurt my back badly ........... you do not have any idea how heavy marble is. Besides, he had a telephone extension installed from his factory to my garage so that I will answer all his calls, take orders and even deal with his costomers. Moreover, when he had a done deal I had to write all the details, estimations, costing…….. etc. I was his unpaid secretary.
3. Then came the worst part. His plan was a success because one by one the garages were being rented or sold. And this involved a lot of work on my part because when a new buyer or renter came on the scene, Tom asked me in his usual shameless way, to give him a hand to clear the debris, paint the garage, install the electricity and pluming……… etc. I was working more for him than for myself and my business was deteriorating. Perhaps you asked me why I kept playing his gain. It was difficult to do otherwise because he gave me a garage for free and I wanted to show him that I was grateful and in a way I reasoned that in dong what he said I was paying for my stay in the garage. So I thought that I will bare all this for three years and then when I would be paying the rent, I will surely refuse to do any more work for him.
4. But then something happened which as they say broke the camel’s back. It was the last straw which made me explode and take him to task giving him a piece of my mind. This is what had happened. I was out to deliver and fix a kitchen in its place. It was Saturday and I left my elder son working in the workshop. As I told you in another story he was my sprayer. We had some urgent work to do and instead of taking him with me, I preferred him to finish the spraying. But Tom went to my garage and when he learned that I was out working, he almost ordered my son to follow him. He took him to a garage which he had just sold and in front of the new owner told my son to fix his toilet because there was something which was blocking it. My poor son felt humiliated and did not know whether he should do such work. Fortunately, I returned to the garage because I had forgotten somethings. In a few minutes I learned what was going on and there and then I exploded as I never did before. Tom tried to humiliate me too in front of the new owner saying that I was not grateful to him after helping me to be successful. But that day I was on top because I vomited what I held on my stomach for months and he did not have the least chance to say another word. He turned white. At every accusation which I shouted out at his face he tried to say something but I shouted even more and made him realize what kind of person he was. He really was afraid that day
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This had its good and bad consequences but I can see that this story is long enough and I have several other episodes to narrate about my impossible neighbor which I will tell you about next week.
Quote of the day:
Thank you God…………for he opportunities to show patience in order to gain experiences, which lead me to wisdom.