He looked at his mum as she wiped the sweat on her forehead with the back of her palm. Ronald was standing on the other side of the road from his mum, watching her pathetically as she held the broom firmly in her hands, sweeping under the trees.
He shook his head with a heavy heart before adjusting the strap of his bag well on his back and walking towards his mum. As he got closer, he managed to fake a smile on his face as it would only break his mum more to see him sad.
“Mum,” he called with his lips stretched widely in a broad smile, almost hurting his cheeks.
“Ron,” his mum called with a broad, genuine smile on her exhausted face. “Oh, baby. How I miss you.”
“I left home this morning. We were home all weekend.”
“That wasn't enough for me. Come here,” she replied to him, dropping the broom in her hands and stretching her hands out for him.
He walked into her arms reluctantly but finally rubbed her back as she squeezed him against her chest.
“So, how was the interview?”
“Mum. I told you not to do this anymore.”
“Do what?“ she asked, clueless.
“Sweep around.”
“What?” she chuckled as she picked the broom back up. “This ain’t no sweeping around. This is a job.”
“I want you to stop this job,” he replied, making the quote sign in the last part with his hand in the air.
“Oh well, that would determine how well the interview was,” she retorted as she walked him, holding his hand for them to leave.
“You're done though?” he asked and she nodded.
“It's almost time for my shift at the warehouse.”
“You still wanna go for a shift?”
“I gotta make money, Ron.”
“Mum, you don’t have to. I’ll do that.”
“Then tell me why you’ve been trying to avoid my question. How was the interview?!” she asked as she stopped walking with a serious look on her pale face.
Ronald had stopped walking too and his mum was now staring intensely at him, waiting for his response.
He sniffled back the tears that were starting to form in his eyes and he looked away, rubbing his nose and adjusting the strap of the bag well on his shoulder.
“Ron. Are you okay?” his mum asked with a concerned look immediately masking her face.
“It’s just…” he blinked back the tears a few times but his voice failed him. “It’s just so hard out there,” he sobbed.
“Oh, baby. Come here,” his mum said, pulling him in for another hug.
“It's just so exhausting. Nothing ever favours the male gender. People are just fucking biased!” he sobbed bitterly, pouring all of his bottled emotions that he had hidden behind his fake smile in every tense in his words.
“What happened, Ron?” his mum tried to ask again. She knows him quite well. She knows that if he doesn't spill it all out, it’d just eat him deep and he’d remain so sad.
Ronald pulled out of the hug and stared at his mum with his tear-soaked eyes before he began to wipe the tears. He sniffled and cleared his throat before he started speaking.
“I have always wanted to get us out of this mess. This shit hole of a life…”
“It isn’t a shirt hole,” his mum quickly chipped in, correcting him.
“Mum, I…we have to face reality here!”
His mum sighed as she knew that was true and gestured for him to continue and Ronald nodded.
“I have always wanted to get us out of all of these ever since Dad passed away. I have always wanted to do the work while you sit back and rest without having to work so much as you do. I just want this to go well and trust me, mum. I have tried. I have really tried my possible best,” he paused as his voice trailed off in a soft cry. He felt much more vulnerable right now as the estate they were in was quiet.
“You are doing so well, baby.”
“But I don’t think I am. If I was, I should have fucking gotten this job today instead of a lady. Guess why she got the job, the man sitting as the boss said the position was best fit for a lady!”
“What?” his mum furrowed her eyebrow.
“Ma, it’s an off-site quantity surveyor job. A fucking lady is fit for that?”
“Oh, he made the worst decision of his life. Someone else who quite knows your worth would get back to you.”
“But none of them ever did. I have applied for tons of jobs and none of them ever got back to me but I mean, the gender inequality wasn’t as obvious as this one,” he scoffed as he ruffled his hair.
His mum could sense the rage and frustration in his tone so she tried to encourage him further when his phone rang.
As Ronald checked the screen, he picked up on the second ring.
“Is this Mr Ronald Don?”
“Yes, please.”
“You have been offered probationary employment as the quantity surveyor for our company and an email has been sent to you,”
He was too stunned to speak as he stared blankly at his mum. Indeed, someone who knew his worth got back to him after he applied for the particular job two months ago.
This is my submission to the Inleo prompt suggestion for the month of May. The topic is "gender as an advantage or disadvantage.....". You can join here. This is the calendar
