All in a Day's Work [Part Two]
a short story
Two
At twenty-eight years of age, Arnold Obi had made no reasonable achievements or developed his personal life for future purposes. The nature of his jobs made him live in the present and depend on his income to survive. He took on content writing freelancing jobs and he worked physically with companies on a contract. It was never enough to sustain himself, Eleanor, and his retired parents; not to talk about his future through savings and investments.
His parents, especially his mother, were disappointed in him because they had expected him to become a lawyer or an engineer. Even now, they still expressed their disdain concerning his decision. After secondary school, he didn’t study the expected course but studied the English Language at the university. He graduated and taught in secondary schools for a while before he moved on to freelancing jobs.
At first, it was an exciting prospect, and the pay was good, especially from foreign clients. However, the market became saturated, and he lost old clients. The newer clients made stringent demands and had ridiculous expectations; they were also harder to keep. Besides, he also had a standard and could not slave himself for pay that was undeserving of him. There were other writers who were desperate enough for that.
He had to take loans and debt to maintain the house and car he had purchased when the business was booming. Eventually, he sold the car to pay back some loans and he could barely afford to keep the house now. Under pressure from his parents to settle down, he dated Eleanor, but he knew he would not be his wife.
Nowadays, he stayed at home working on jobs for meager pay or partaking in lotteries, hoping to get lucky.
Arnold sat on the couch in his living room and watched a local news channel. He couldn’t afford cable, so he watched the free-to-air programs on the television. At least, he was able to pay the electricity bill. The news channel he was watching had bad graphic displays and the news anchoring was horrible, but he had no choice. After all, half-bread is better than none.
He closed his eyes and thought deeply about his debts. He needed to find a way to pay because time was running out. He was about to drift to sleep when he thought he heard his name. Arnold opened his eyes and looked at the television. His picture was displayed on the television screen. He fumbled as he searched for the remote control. He had muted the television due to the horrendous newscasting but now he needed it to hear why he was on the news.
“… The lucky winner of the Pick-and-Win lottery is Arnold Chika Obi. He has won a sum of three million naira and is expected to report to the lottery house to receive his winnings within the week…” He zoned out and couldn’t pick up the rest of the information that the news anchor was saying.
He could not believe that he had won three million naira. Yes, it was small for a lottery winning but it was still something. He had just been thinking about how he was going to pay his debts and now he had been gifted free cash. He stood up, still dazed, and began dancing around oblivious to his surroundings.
Arnold quickly searched for a pen and paper to draft how he was going to spend the money. He divided it into debts, investments, and the purchase of some essential services and items. After planning, he laid back and ordered some wine and food online.
It was time to celebrate.