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## The Question of Work (Part 2)
***[Read the Part 1 Here](https://steemit.com/life/@petermarie/the-question-of-work-part-1-discussions-with-my-father-3)***
“The thing,” I muse, “is that one can actually decide at any point in his life to get up and lay his bed well, no matter how long it has been in disarray.”
“Yes!” My father agrees enthusiastically. “Of course! Have you not seen your cousin, Ikechukwu? He is doing so well now. However, that was not how he started.”
I smile to myself. My father is about to launch into another story. But it's still midmorning, and although I have a lot of work to do, I remain exactly where I am --under the orange tree with him. Father's lessons are always worth hearing.
He adjusts in his seat, takes a drink of water from his cup, and begins.
"Do you know how Ikechukwu and his sister came to stay with us just a few years after you were born?" He asks. I don't, so he goes on. "It was not a funny story. Their mother, after giving birth to the two of them and their youngest brother, suddenly snuck out of their father's house one morning and ran away!"
I gasp. "Just like that? Why? What happened?"
"Oh, nothing! Nothing at all!" He replies. "She just up and ran, and left all the children except for the youngest. Papa Ike went to look for her and found her in her mother's town, but she gave some flimsy excuses, finally admitting that she could not live in the village anymore and wanted something better." He scoffs. "Funny thing is, she had no handwork of her own and could earn nothing. But that's by the way.
"Papa Ike had fallen on hard times, so after struggling for a while, he'd sent the two of them, Ikechukwu and Ijeoma to live with us. They were just of college age then (that is entering Junior secondary school) and we were glad to have the help with you guys, still so young. So they came and we enrolled them in school. And for a while everything was fine. or rather, we had no idea anything was wrong.
"Then your mother started complaining.
"She had just begun selling frozen fish and poultry at the local market, after quitting her previous company folded up. But everyday, after selling cartons after cartons, she would come back home, take an account, and see that she was running at a loss. This was so perplexing because the goods were moving. In fact, they were moving faster than we had both anticipated! It was just by a stroke of luck we found out what was happening. You see, everyday, after sending you all and his sister off to school, Ike would come back, go to the freezer and prepare deep fried chicken for himself. That day your mother forgot something --I've forgotten what it was --and she rushed back home to get it. Only to see the boy eating her chicken, enjoying himself immensely!"
Here, I can't help but chuckle. I know this part of the story --it's one of the family's favorites.
"I was very angry then," Father continues. "Only later did I understand. He did not believe in school work, and thought the thing to do anywhere you find yourself is gain as much as possible at that time, no matter how you do it."
I nod, thinking. "He held this mindset for a very long time, didn't he?" I say. "I remember when he was working at that ice cream shop. Everyday, I and Daisy would branch there while coming back from school and he would fill our bags with cups upon cups of the product! We were so young at the time, we didn't know we were being accomplices in theft."
"That's even a long time ago," father says. "He did it again more recently. Messed up a chance he had then to really change his life."
"What happened?" I ask. "Is it the incident that made Megan's mother open up to advise him?"
"Yes," father replies. "This one happened at the hotel job he got from your other aunt, Puedo's husband. Ike had come back from the university with a poor grade, but was an accountant nonetheless. We had met Aunt Ike's husband for a job at his hotel. Unfortunately, the accountant opening had been filled, and he could only be one of the busboys until the spot opened again. He didn't want to take it, was actually saying it was below him, yet after much pressure, he finally did. What he did not understand then was that it would be easier to secure a spot if you already working for the company than if you tried to apply from without. Anyway, he did, and worked as a busboy for over two years.
"Then the long awaited moment came! There was an opening for an accountant. Puedo's husband called at once to tell us that he had the job. Do you know that Ike turned it down? Said he wanted to remain as a busboy. Why? Because the busboys worked in shifts, and more importantly, were making money on the side by renting rooms for short durations and not entering it into the company's records. Can you just imagine?"
I shake my head. It's exactly what I had said --short term gains instead of long term work. He could not see the big picture.
"Puedo's husband was *so* disappointed. A graduate wanting to remain a mere busboy? This was when Megan's mother came forward to advise him --she was wondering if he had really graduated at all." My father takes another drink. "Then, less than a year later, one of them was caught with hard drugs in the hotel, and that group was laid off. Ike was unemployed once again. And his CV was still discouragingly blank in experience.
"I think that was when he started having sense. He actually broke down and cried. Since then, he has not been afraid of putting in real, honest work, going for training to improve himself, and pushing himself forward. Now, look where he is. Not that he's high up there, but at least he has enough to take care of himself and his family. He had turned around mid-flight."
I smile and nod. That was the phrase: *turning around mid-flight*. I think of my own mistakes and realise I can always turn around too. Even better in my case, as I'm still a young man.
Nothing can't be fixed.
> Image Source: [Pinterest](https://www.pinterest.com/explore/work-hard/)
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### Watch out for the next 'Discussions with my Father' title: 'Death Comes As The End'
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**Discussions with my father is a blend of fact and fiction, dwelling on issues of life, past events and moral values.**
**But mostly made up of fact**
> Cover Image: [Alamy](http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-1950s-historical-father-and-son-in-the-front-room-watching-television-99909528.html)
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