Under Observation

I have a new gardener under observation if he could do the routine work in my garden. He works though very slowly as is usual among newcomers. Being still young, he gets hungry easily, takes a bath too often and gets out of the house many times. He celebrated his birthday and as a gift for him I ask my other helper to cook 'pansit'.

He shared to me the story of his family. They are six siblings, one of them is a 10 year old boy he brought with him to attend his birthday. He said his mother also wanted to come but no money for bus fare. His other sister is to be wed before the end of the month but his father doesn't have a 'barong tagalog' to wear. They are that poor. He doesn't even have a pair of shoes.

Again my heart was touched, so, I picked one very old 'barong tagalog' with matching pair of pants and a very old pair of shoes that he quickly brought to his father. When he came back in the afternoon he brought vegetables taken from the farm where his father and other siblings are working.

I don't find him fitted for the gardener I needed but one thing good about him is the fact that he has no vice. He doesn't smoke, doesn't drink and no cellphone. He works slowly but he follows my orders.

I am giving him up to the end of the month to show some improvements before I hire him. If I finally discharge him I don't know where he will work and who will hire him and it gives me a little lump in my throat...there are so many desperate families now and every time we have a chance to help, we must help in anyway we can.

Exactly one week and one day after I started observing him, a thick dark cloud suddenly appeared in the picture. After telling him in the afternoon to ask permission before going out and to let me know where he was going, that night, he just left with the bicycle of my farm boy. This is the second time he did it and again he didn't return the whole night.

The following day, after the six o'clock mass he has not returned. I began to worry but was easily pacified by the thought that I personally knew the person who recommended him. He was supposed to be the recommender's cousin-in-law.

At around ten o'clock in the morning I was tempted to report him to be in the blotter of the Barangay Hall. On second thought I decided to wait till afternoon while I texted the "cousin-in-law" about the incident.

Before lunch time the gardener returned with his mother. She explained to me that she was opposed to the idea of his son working. He had an accident when he was 13 years old that caused brain concussion.

Since then he became forgetful and disoriented every now and then specially when he was tired or lack sleep. Actually he has never been exposed to any gardening work and the one who recommended him, who thought he was doing good, was not his "cousin-in-law but just a farm acquaintance.

So thanked God everything turned clear before any damage could be done to anyone. Well, I am now scouting for another real gardener.