Building My Life

Chapter 12 Finding Something to Begin

When Josias goes down to the bathroom, he decides to just wash his face and brush his teeth. He no longer cared about other men bathing uninhibited in front of him, as he only took a shower late at night, before going to sleep, just so he wouldn't meet anyone.

As he approaches the reception, Teodoro is almost crying with the debut of “Lady”, by Kenny Rogers, being played on the radio with profusion. “The guy sings very well, how wonderful...” Teodoro notices Josias's presence, “Hello, boy, good morning. Are you going out again?”

Josias reaches out his hand to prevent Teodoro from giving him more money. “Not today, Seu Teodoro. I am going to take a walk right here in the locality.”

Teodoro raises an eyebrow. “Really? Well, I must warn you that here you will only find that type of job that requires a lot of effort and very little reward.” He makes a “money” sign with his fingers.

Josias shrugs. “What can I do? No one in the downtown area is going to hire me, not until I'm dressed accordingly, and prepared accordingly. I don't have a vocational course, I can't speak English, I can't type, anything like that. It's time for me to start at the bottom.”

Teodoro smiles, he’s admired by Josias's willingness. “Boy, you are going far. Everything will be fine, you will find something.”

“Remember, Seu Teodoro.” Josias smiles, “I'm not looking for something that I like, but something that I need to do. Anyway, I'm going to help myself to coffee and bread in your kitchen and then I go out.”

After drinking coffee, Josias leaves and starts walking down the main street. He got to go, for the first time since he came, to the furthest part of the slum, where Melissa probably lived. Who knows, he might not find her out there?

Josias shakes his head. He did not go out to meet girls, but a decent and honest job. However, as Teodoro had warned; the location was not abundant in commercial and business options. All local businesses appeared to be family businesses. For example, there was the bakery, where the husband was the owner, the wife was the clerk, the oldest son was the baker, and some cousin or nephew delivered the purchases by bicycle. That is, in a shop like this, the chances of them hiring someone from outside were zero.

Further on, Josias is faced with a scene that caught his attention. When he saw a construction site, he found a boy, probably his age, practically fighting a hoe, trying to mix cement with water to produce the mortar for laying the bricks. The boy was thinner than Josias and did not have the strength to mix. Josias felt sorry for the boy and approached him, with the same willingness to help as he did the other time with Melissa at the pharmacy.

“Excuse me, my friend.” Josias calls him, approaching, and saying, “Let me teach you how to do it.”

Yes, among countless tasks that Josias performed was that of a bricklayer assistant. He gently takes the hoe from the other boy's hand and performs the task deftly. Then a gentleman approaches the two, in the age of forty approaching, with black skin, hair already turning gray.

“Boy,” he says in a thick voice, but in a tone of admiration, “You know how to handle the hoe!”

Josias stops the service and turns to him, all humble. “I'm sorry; I just wanted to help my buddy here. No offense.” He says the last part, turning to the boy.

He is quick to say, “No problem, I was being beaten by the hoe!” He turns to the old man, “Seu Romualdo, is there anything else I can do? The buddy here is better than me at cement.”

Romualdo laughs, in a pleasant and not scandalous laugh. “My young Uélton, since the hoe is not for you, then I will assign you to carry those bricks to the mason who is building the bathroom walls. Can you take it?”

“If I can't take it, I can jump off the bridge after embarrassing my dad!” In a good mood, Uélton thanks Josias and goes to the place where the bathroom of the house is being built.

Romualdo then realizes that Josias has not yet left. He is facing the construction, watching the progress of the work.

“Are you from here, son?” Romualdo asks, breaking Josias's trance.

Josias is startled and replies to the eldest, “No, I am living alone out there, trying to start my life without my parents. I was looking for some service to be done here in the neighborhood.”

Romualdo smiles, he’s satisfied. “Then you don't have to look any further. You already found it.”