Marven’s First Novel, chapter01

     For the longest time, Aldo had become a frequenter of the classified ads section of the broadsheets. And as what others do, he would cut out ads that scream out invitations for him to come apply, checking first if there are no relevant ads at the back of them. After collecting a sufficient number of these, he would then set out to the places the ads indicate.

     On his way through the bustling metropolis, he would already fancy himself doing the work he is yet to apply for; for instance, chilling in a nice cubicle as he works something in the computer. But as he arrives at the buildings after some trial-and-error locating, what he finds is quite the opposite of what he dreamt about at home and en route: a kilometeric line which he can’t help but be appalled to see. What he thought was a job waiting for him and for the skillful few who, like him, were skillful enough to find it posted on the obscurest place in the paper was actually sought after by hundreds, if not thousands, of jobseekers.

     In the lines, semi-circles of chatterers can’t help but form to while away the wait. They would talk about their past experiences and current expectations. Aldo would mostly just listen because he has none of both. Or he would just ask questions.

     He usually does well in the exams and then mess up the interviews. For reasons he doesn’t yet fully understand, the interviewers always seem to find something inept and unreliable in him. They also always love to point out that he has zero job experience and his resume is almost blank. He would very much like to reply, Hello? What can I do?

     At the end of the day, by afternoon and sometimes night, he would see some of those in the lines whom he saw and even chatted with being briefed somehow or engaged in a friendly, familiar chat. Then he would wonder, What’s in them and that’s not in me. Clearly, he has no clue.

     Days like these of setting out to the big city, seeking jobs he thought were waiting for him, always make him go home with a broken pride if not clinging to hopes of hearing from the employers in the least possible means, which would never happen. This serves as a constant reminder to him that he is nothing but a tiny speck in the grand scheme of things.

     Everytime he walks out of the offices after not being able to move forward with the application, he would chance upon other unsuccessful applicants, with whom, he would have courage to chat than talking with the interviewers and would somehow form some kind of friendship which would only last until they part ways. As usual, they would console each other. Who else would do it but they themselves? But as he looks at them, something tells him that they will eventually find work. He just knows they can do it. He’s probably the worst. But he feels it his duty to keep on trying and trying until he makes a career out of applying. He will still apply tomorrow and the day after it and in the days more to come.

     But in the end, Aldo felt the despair and exhaustion of having to do all this job-application routine with no positive result in sight. It seems that what he had been doing was just an exercise: an exercise in futility.

     As the days went by, he set out less and less frequently and instead stayed mostly at home, endeavoring to make himself useful in any possible way. He volunteered to do all the household chores especially washing the dishes, which is perhaps the only thing he will ever be good at. He also willingly obeyed every sort of errand his parents sent him out to whether within the neighborhood or outside in the adjacent city.

     One day, as he was cleaning the entire house, he took notice of a dusty collection of old books lying in disarray on the base portion of an old furniture. He approached it, bent down, and looked at the books. He suddenly became interested in them and decided to rescue them from being just a mess into useful items or an ornament in his little disorderly room, now that he has all the time to do so. What he will do is repair, restore, and refurbish them and put them in a nice shelf. But there is no shelf; other places in the house cannot contain these; and he has to build a new one. In the house, they have a hammer and a few nails but no spare wood. Therefore, the shelf project would have to be shelved and he will instead pay attention to the books. He turned to them and saw that they consisted of textbooks, reference books, pocketbooks, and magazines that dealt with the subjects of history, religion, language, literature, music, and livelihood skills. As he glossed over their pages, they proved to be, in his present point of view, gems that have just been overlooked before but which he can now revisit, read carefully, and study. Therefore, he heartily set out to the task of wiping the dirt away from them with a semi-damp cloth and finding their missing pages and compiling them in the right order. He would have gone on binding them by applying the appropriate glue on their spines and covering their wrinkled covers and gnawed edges with a wallpaper and then a plastic over it;  but he did not have these materials and, obviously, the money to buy them. Therefore, he just put the unfinished products in a nice pile on a surface in his little room, waiting for money to come. Meanwhile, he started reading some of them.

     And O what a fine discovery he has made as he immersed himself completely into their sentences and paragraphs. Now that he has all the time, he can master in solitude the lessons that he didn’t take much seriously when he was a student. He took particular relish and fascination in the practical works especially woodworking. Thus, he felt more desirous to build that blessed shelf which he still doesn’t have the money to buy materials for.

     Only the weak flips and withers away in the face of despair. We find ourselves with our backs against the wall from time to time, but our reaction to it doesn’t have to be negative. We certainly can navigate through hopelessness and still be able to move forward if we would only think hard, make the necessary adjustments, cope, adapt, and wait patiently for deliverance.

tentatively titled, “The Adventures Begin”

from The Simple Adventures of a Simple Simpleton

by: Marven T. Baldo