TWO WEEKS LATER.....
Things had been going pretty well for us ever since Dad got a job, He was hired at a small food factory as a truck driver who delivers packages to buyers all around the city, And he gets paid daily for doing that, Mom has been getting paid double her daily payments lately, And we have been eating good and healthy food now that everything's better now.
Even though our schooling expenses still couldn't be afforded by our parents, I was still Happy to be with them at least, But I still wanted my brother to go to school even if I didn't, But there was nothing I could do about it.
It was Saturday evening, Dad and Mom both came back early from work today, we were preparing to have dinner, My Grandma and Mom were both in the kitchen trying out one of her recipe from her recipe book for tonight's dinner, Dad was out to get some drinks and ingredients that my Mom was going to use for the preparation, Drew and I were both in our room, he was drawing with colored pencils while I was reading some of Dad's old books to keep myself busy, He was an accountant, So he had so many books about it, I had learnt a few things while going through it.
"Hey Aki, How's my sketch of Dad" Drew called out to me for opinion about his sketching which he has been working on since 4pm in the evening, "It's really good, Wow I can't even tell the difference between this sketching and Dad" I said to him encouragingly, He smiled happily "It is just a rough work, I'll sketch a more beautiful one than this, It's going to be my present for his birthday" He told me, "Oh really, Am very sure he's gonna love it" I told him.
Drew had always dreamt of being an artist, he is very talented when it comes to drawing and sketching, he has sketched all of our faces plenty of times, Mine especially for practice and always kept it, He is infact very good at drawing from imagination and also remembering every little details of what he's going to draw or sketch. I really want him to attend a high school of art so his talents can be recognized.
"Andrew!!,Akira!!" our Mom screamed our names from the living room "Dinner's ready, c'mon out now" she called to us, And Andrew being the lover of food he was jumped up immediately from his bed, "Comiinngg!" he screamed out also and I laughed at him while following from behind, We all gathered at our small dining.
Andrew and I both marveled at the sight of chicken salad with sauced pasta and veggies, the aroma was so enticing to the extent I couldn't wait to dig in, My mom had always been a great Cook and I couldn't help but think that the reason why my mom's payment got doubled was because the family she's currently working for had tried out some of her special delicacies.
"This is so good mom" I complimented her after we said our prayers, "Yes indeed, You never cease to amaze me" my Dad agreed with me and complimented my Mom, "Thank you darling" she said smiling. "But y'all be forgetting it was my recipe" my grandma said and we all bursted into laughter.
"Someone be getting jealous here." I said teasing her which made us laughed again, After that we all eat in silence due to our table manners policy we had always obeyed.
Dinner went well and after sorting out the dishes, Andrew, Grandma and Mom had gone to bed, while I was still in the living room with my Dad, We were both watching the news about a break-in at the house of the newly elected Senator yesterday, The news anchor was getting a report from a reporter standing in front of a very beautiful and gigantic mansion which I suppose is the senator's House.
The reporter was saying something about a very valuable artwork being stolen from the senator's house, He said the artwork which was a Horse statue was around five Million US Dollars and it was meant to be given to the president as a gift for his upcoming birthday celebrations.
"Damn, The economy is getting bad and all they do is worry about some damn piece of statue that got stolen and the president's upcoming birthday party, I wonder where we are all heading to in this country." Dad said sighing.
"But the statue is really valuable." I told my dad, "But it isn't more valuable than the citizens of America, they don't care about what's gonna happen to us but they do care that a valuable horse statue got stolen from a senator's house. I'd really applaud those thieves though, they are gradually exposing the real fraudsters to the world." my dad said.
"Why?, they're the bad ones here, the senator didn't do anything wrong." I said to him. "No Aki, they did alot of things wrong, Most of them got engaged in embezzlement to get their money, which is very wrong, That's why the rate of taxes imposed on us is really high, The reason why some of us finds it hard to earn for a living" My dad told me.
"Ok Dad, but do you think those thieves are doing the right thing?" I asked him, "No." he answered me. "They are not, Stealing doesn't brings any benefit to the country, No matter your intention for doing that It will be and always be wrong to steal, That's why they are also wrong here." he concluded.
"Ok Dad" I said smiling, "You better go to sleep now Aki' he said when he noticed I was starting to yawn, "Ok Dad" I said smiling.
I stood up and bade him a goodnight before heading to our room, When I got to our bedroom.
Drew was already asleep with papers and pencils scattered on his bed, "How does he gets to sleep comfortably like this?" I thought to myself, I helped him remove all the stuffs from the bed before setting him to sleep well, And I draped the bedsheet over him before settling myself on my bed.
I couldn't sleep as I was still thinking about what dad told me not long ago, Those thieves and why are they doing what they do...."Are things that bad In the country?" I thought to myself.