Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: COMPUTER (05/19/16)
-
TITLE: Mother's Bored | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
05/22/16 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
The young man’s dark beard flowed over his chin and touched the lettering on his Cleveland Cavelier’s jersey. He adjusted his office chair and spun around. As he did, he made eye contact with Faisal.
Faisal nodded and rose. “I’m Faisal, new from Syria. Quality control.”
The young man nodded back and stood with his hand outstretched. “Pleased to be meeting you. I am Harpreet from Calcutta.” He shook Faisal’s hand vigorously then pulled his sweaty palm away and wiped it on his baggy orange cotton trousers.
“Peace to you,” Faisal responded. “What project are you working on?”
“I break encryption algorithms through quantum factoring.”
Faisal stepped back toward his cubicle. “They brought you in from India for that? Have you had any problems since you came?”
Harpreet nodded vigorously. “Most definitely.”
Faisal waited as Harpreet continued to stare at him. Finally, he broke the silence. “And what might your problems be?”
“Mother’s bored.” Harpreet pulled at his beard. “Nothing is working right.”
Faisal wrinkled his brows. “That’s a problem for you?”
“Big problem for me.”
“Did you have this same problem in India or is it something new?”
“This is not something new. My turban is filled with headaches over this.”
Faisal settled into his office chair. “We have a department to deal with this you know?”
“The company deals with such issues? How?”
Faisal looked across the large space toward the floor to ceiling windows. The boss stood with his fingers interlaced behind his head looking out at the lake. The company had been good to bring in newcomers and Faisal felt good about extending the welcome to his new colleague. “If there is a problem we switch out the component which isn’t working for something that will work.”
“Does the boss encourage such behavior? It must be costly.”
Faisal shook his head and took another sip of his latte. “Not at all. In my home I’ve already installed three new ones. This is cheap in America.”
“Yes, I have heard in your religion that a man may have up to four for his children if he can afford it. I am surprised that such things can happen here.”
Faisal wrinkled his brows and shook his head. “This has nothing to do with religion. My neighbour believes in nothing and he asked me to help him change his.”
“How does the boss’s children feel about this change?”
“He’s too busy to have children. He does whatever he wants. He’s the boss.”
“In my country we would be surprised by such action. To us the first one we have is essential. We would try to fix things if something went wrong.”
Faisal nodded. “Of course, in Syria we too understood that the main one held together most of the crucial elements for the whole system. We fix what we have to if we can’t find a new one.”
“What can I do if I only have one and don’t want to change?”
Faisal rubbed his chin with his knuckles. “When you get home, open up your computer and make sure you find the biggest piece of silicon. Make sure the CPU, ROM, PCI and USB ports all are working. If everything is in place things will be fine.”
Harpreet nodded and set to work on his project.
When the boss stopped by for a chat Harpreet asked, “And how is your mother today?”
“Busy, no doubt,” the boss said as he took time to review the project goals.
Nothing more was said between the new colleagues and at the end of the day a simple nod expressed their farewells.
When Faisal arrived in the morning, Harpreet’s fingers already flew across the keyboard in his cubicle.
“How did it go when you got home?” Faisal asked.
Harpreet’s teeth flashed through his ebony beard. “It was such a thing of beauty,” he said. “I opened up the computer and I showed my mother the pieces. I told her that from now on it was her job to fix everything because in America they replace things that don’t work.”
Faisal set his case down on his chair. “That is highly unusual.”
“Yes, thanks to you, my mother is no longer bored. She started her own computer repair company. We both thank you. My headache is gone.”
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
