THE DISCUSSION

"Jason, are you fine now?" Chris asked for the umpteenth time, staring closely at his best friend with eyes filled with sympathy.

"Yes, Chris. I am fine now." Jason replied, getting fed up with the incessant questions. "Can you stop with the questions already?"  He continued in a calm voice that sounded forced. He was already boiling inside of him.

Four of them were now sitting and eating their food in a way that seemed a bit sorrowful. Matthew Clay and Zion Murphy remained quiet throughout the meal. The silence was only broken at intervals when Chris would ask Jason if his back hurts or if he should help him get more water and food from the counter. Chris did not care if Jason found it annoying, he just wanted to make sure his friend was fine.

Jason could not blame Chris for his neverending show of extreme and love care. Chris Hunter had been his friend right from their childhood days. They attended the same elementary school, middle school and now high school. They lived close to each other too. Jason's house was just a few metres away from Chris' house. They would always visit each other on weekends, slept over at each other's house and they gave each other gifts on their respective birthdays. Their friendship waxed stronger and stronger day by day. Their dads were childhood friends who grew up together too. Mr Davis Hunter and Mr George Peters grew up together in a small town. They attended the same elementary and middle school just like their sons. But they went to different high schools; that was when they parted ways for some years. But then life still brought them back together as they got married almost at the same time and settled down in the same town, this time a bigger town.

They soon finished eating just two minutes to the end of recess. At the sound of the bell, everybody rushed back to their respective classrooms.

***

It was almost noon when George Peters clambered down the stairs to the kitchen still in his pyjamas. He went straight to the fridge, opened it, grabbed a jug of milk and drank straight from it. He felt thirsty.

"Why not use a glass, sweetheart?" Hannie, his wife who was sitting down on one of the chairs asked politely. She proceeded to get up and get a glass for him but that was not necessary as he had already drank his fill of milk and had kept the jug back into the fridge. She kept the glass cup back and came to sit next to him on the chair.

"Good morning Hun! How was your night?" She asked in a caring voice, staring at him like one who just saw an angel.

"It was boring. Not even a single dream". He replied with an intent of humour. She caught the joke and let out a little laugh.

"Where is Jason? I have not seen him since today". George asked, scratching his eyelids while yawning.

"Oh stop George. You just woke up from sleep. He is at school". She said, rubbing his hair lovingly.

"School? Oh wow! Really?" He exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes. Today is the first day of school after the break". She replied him patiently.

"I am sorry, I just can't keep in touch with some activities anymore". He apologized.

"Are you not going to work today? You are very late already." She asked with concern.

"Ah! No. I had to take a day off. I really needed to rest a bit. It has been a stressful week for me". He replied. He worked at the steel company as a product manager.

"Okay. I understand, Hun". She returned.

"What about you? Why are you not at work?" He asked, with a surprised look on his face.

"Oh dear! Sorry I have not told you. I have been thinking of quitting my job". She said with a tinge of sadness in her voice.

"Why?" Her husband asked, his face displaying shock.

"The pay is not just worth the amount of work I put in. I get stressed out a lot and I am being paid peanuts at the end of the day". She said with a worried look on her face.

"It is just not fair. I am being overlaboured". She continued.

"Woahh! I am so sorry about that, Hun". George consoled. "But how are you going to get another job?" He asked.

"Mrs Armstrong, my direct assistant says she knows a place where the pay better". She said while getting up. "Sometime this week, we will go and check out the place". She continued while walking towards the gas cooker to boil some water for his morning coffee.

She had worked close to 5 years as a baker in the bakery just at the end of their street. She felt it was time to make a change, try out other places and make new acquaintances too.

"Jason stayed up late again last night!" She announced to George as she put the kettle underneath the tap at the sink to let water rush into the medium sized stainless kettle.

"What do you expect? He is a teenager now". George explained as a matter of fact. He had his reading glasses perched on his nose and was scrolling through his newsfeed on F******k.

"And teenagers are widely known to go against orders sometimes". He continued, this time fully engrossed in his phone.

"Oh honey! I know but it is not that". Hannie cried out and mistakenly spilled the water on the floor while taking the kettle off the sink.

"It is about, you know? The curse". She whispered this time, crossed over the spilled water and placed the kettle on the cooker.

"Have you forgotten that he is not supposed to keep late nights immediately he turns fourteen? And he has been keeping to the instructions all these while not until he turned fifteen lately. She added almost at the verge of crying.