Penfield's Greatest Swimmer

🌊~4

The next day.

I stood in front of the shabby wooden structure Pinto called his home.

With all the money he had cheated off of me, you would think he was living in a mansion. But no, he was living in this miserable construction whilst he spent all the money on alcohol and women.

A sigh left my mouth. Why did I ever agree to work for this man?

Then my brain chose to remind me of how desperate I was those years back. Fresh out of senior high school with nothing to do, had me sulking and searching for jobs; jobs I wasn't getting. So when my mother came home one evening to tell me that she'd managed to convince one of the local fishermen to hire me, I was beyond elated.

Not knowing I was going to be working for the biggest cheat and bully in the country.

My memories strengthened my resolve, and I found myself moving towards the construction with renewed confidence.

My knuckles rapped on the door. There was no response. I rapped on it a second time, hearing some muffled sounds, but no one answered the door. It was only when I knocked harder a third time that I heard a loud grumble coupled with a few shuffles.

I took a few steps back, expecting my boss' gnarly face to appear. But instead, a young woman with smeared makeup, bed hair and definitely not his wife, poked her head out. When her eyes fell on me, she tightened her hold on the cloth covering her chest.

I froze. The thought that I'd interrupted my boss in the middle of... something had me stammering, "Umm... uh... I'm... uh..." I cleared my throat. "Umm... Pinto wɔ fie anaa?" [Is Pinto at home or not?]

What a stupid question it was because I already knew the answer, though the woman nodded and retreated into the room to fetch him. My ears picked up on the rugged sound of Pinto's voice, as he complained about being disturbed this hot afternoon.

Taking another step back, I braced myself for the mountain of insults coming my way.

"Herh Akwasi!" Pinto stepped out, dressed in nothing but old faded boxer shorts that looked too small on him. I would've laughed if he wasn't glaring at me like I was some annoying pest in his life. "Ɛreyɛ den wa ha?" [What are you doing here?]

Happy that he'd cut to the chase, I dipped my hand into my pocket and pulled out the resignation letter I'd worked on after church. This wasn't a formal job or anything, but I wanted to do this the right way in case Pinto decided to send a report to my mother that I'd been rude and ungrateful after he'd generously pulled me out of unemployment. I'd worked with him for a year and a half now, so I knew he was very capable of something like that.

The paper crackled as Pinto opened it up, beady eyes glazing over the content. It wasn't long before a smile crept up his face, then he threw his head back, laughing so hard that anyone passing by could hear him.

I frowned. If there was anything I was expecting--which there was--it was for Pinto to get upset, throw a nasty tantrum and insist on keeping me. But here he was, laughing his heart out and wiping away tears of joy. For a minute, I began to wonder if someone had magically changed the words I'd written into some crude joke, until Pinto's voice yanked me out of my thoughts.

"Akwasi," he chortled out my name. "Do you know that you're a very foolish boy?"

My frown deepened at the insult.

"You want to quit this job, the job I humbly gave to you even though I knew how stupid you were." He paused, eyes running down my body. "Herh, may the good Lord have mercy on you, cuz you're never going to get a job like this anywhere. You hear me?" He drew closer. "No one in this town is going to employ a boy who likes to spend hours swimming instead of catching fish. I only put up with your useless behaviour because your mother begged me to give you a job. But now that you've decided to take matters into your own hands and quit, go!" He suddenly shoved the paper in my face, causing me to stumbled back.