The Transformation

By Jason Sanders

Mr. & Mrs. Wesley Owens are having a great time in their career as a sailor and bank manager but their only child seems to be having some problems of his own. The young Jason Owen grows up becoming a big concern for the parents and those around him. From incessant brawls to decreasing academic performance, he keeps getting worse by the day. All fervent efforts from his parents, school teachers and those around him to try making him better proves futile and by age ten, Jason is already tagged a menace in school that can never change from his bad ways.

 He soon travels to go spend the summer holidays at Mrs. Susan's, a childhood friend of his mom who claims everyone deserves a chance to become a better person and capable of change. Jason however doesn't fail to show his recalcitrance in his new environment but unlike his parents back home who according to him "gives him attention only when he does something bad" Mrs. Susan treats him differently and talks about the most positive things he is capable of doing. After a month at Mrs. Susan, in what would be a shock to everyone, Jason comes back a changed person and completely transformed.

 

1. The story talks about the direct effects parental neglect can have on kids.

2. It as well highlights on the importance of patience and tolerance in dealing with children.

3. It also emphasizes on the dangers of keeping bad company.

4. The piece teaches that just like adults, children have a mind of theirs and wish to make choices too and their young age shouldn't be undermined all the time.

5. The work reiterates the importance of family and relevance of keeping close bonds with every member no matter the work schedules and other possible distractions.

6. It also highlights on the importance of good friends and sustaining good relationships over time.

7. It equally shuns prejudice of any form in dealing with people as we must understand that we all have one flaw or the other hence no one is perfect.

8. It presents story telling as a vital part of children's growth and how much they can learn from them.

Everybody deserves a second chance to redeem themselves and become better.

9. The story teaches us to be careful with words we say to people as they can go a long way to affect their self concept; either makes them feel better or a lot worse.

10. While it might happen differently and easy to some persons, others need help to improve on their behaviors and we should be kind enough to always lend a helping hand.

11. The story is equally a reminder that anyone is capable of positive change

• Language: English
• Publisher: AITOYA IHIMEKPEN
• Release date: Aug 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393590965

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

The perfect workaholics

Today we celebrate someone has not only been more than instrumental to the exceeding growth of the company but also has been a great source of motivation to other workers.

She was the major reason we were able to secure the highest contract the company has ever handled, the O-rave city project; I know most of us here might not be aware she single handedly drafted and drew out the blueprint and proposal for that bidding.

She had presented it to the company board and I personally amongst other board members didn't hesitate to turn her down. I mean, that project seemed way too large for us to handle and considering the much famous and larger firms that were showed interest for that bidding, we felt it wasn't our fight little did we know that we were wrong, very wrong as a matter of fact.

She went ahead and paid her flight ticked to and fro from her personal cash, no she wasn't deterred and went there regardless still representing the company that didn't even support her movement.

When she came back as the winner of that contract, I personally didn't know what to say to her. I could remember I stood over 2 minutes just staring at her as she smiled.

We went ahead to give her a two week’s vacation for her to rest but the first week had barely ended and she was already in one of our sites abroad effectively supervising the project.

Ladies and gentlemen, I could go on and on telling tales of her splendor and exceptional diligence but I guess I have to end here and hopefully continue on some other special day like this that would be celebrated for her in this company.

Ladies and gentlemen, with a round of applause, I’ll like us to welcome our New Project Manager who is also the award winning best project supervisor for the year, Mrs. Becky Owen.

A thunderous round of applaud accompanied Mrs. Owen as she walked to the podium to shake hands with the very man behind the creation of Baselink Constructions. It was a special day in her life, a day she had always dreamt of.

She had always wanted to find her way to the heart of the company and here she was being awarded as the best international staff of the year barely a year after she had been promoted to the position of the Chief project manager and awarded to that effect.

She knew she was giving her best for the company and had hoped for some kind of reward at least but she never saw this coming; as she shook hands with Mr. Paulo and turned to face the little crowd of colleagues who were equally around to celebrate with her, tears rolled down her eyes. She could feel her heart beat so fast, not out of fear or anxiety this time but out of overwhelming joy.

- Thank you everyone. Thank you so much. She said as she sobbed softly while trying to wipe off the droplets of tears that were almost ruining her rather light makeup. She however found a way to bring in a smile amidst the outpour of emotions.

I want to first of all thank the management of this great company for recognizing my efforts here. I am really grateful and I promise to continue to put in my best to see to the exceeding growth of the company.

To my wonderful family, my loving husband Mr. Owen, thank you for always being there for me; supporting me every step of the way and for those lonely nights you had to endure because of me. Thank you. Everyone quickly burst into a short session of laughter.

And to my wonderful boy Jason; shhh... He should be asleep now, let's not wake him up. Another round of laughter went up in the hall as they all knew he was no where around the hall and was definitely at home. I am very excited to be celebrated today. Indeed this is a life changing experience and I won't forget today in a hurry.

Finally before I step down, I would like to dedicate this award to a very special set of persons in my life, here at Baselink constructions, my fellow colleagues and every single worker here this award is dedicated to you all. I could never have archived this much without your support. We all did it people. Congratulations everyone.

The round of applause that followed her down the podium and down to her seat was louder than the ones she had gotten when she was called up earlier; her little speech had certainly won her more supporters she thought.

The rest of the evening was fun filled as they had all expected. It was the company’s 8th year anniversary and also the successful completion of the company’s biggest project; with the tremendous profits and general growth the company had recorded, they had every reason to make merry as much as possible.

There was food and drinks of all sorts. After a few hours exchanging pleasantries and receiving personal congratulatory messages, Mr. & Mrs. Owen were almost ready to go home when a huge man approached them. He seemed to be in his early sixties but his Tom Ford suit did a lot of job to try and make him look much younger.

Mr. Owen quickly recognized him as the man who presented the award to his wife earlier, the very CEO of Baselink constructions Mr. Paulo. He had heard a lot about his wife's boss but he never imagined him to appear this simple although the manner in which he walked revealed a bit of his hidden ruggedness.

His is indeed a story of hard work and resilience and he has got just the perfect kind of workers to suit his philosophy and principles of getting things done. Mr. Owen had once taken his time to read thoroughly about Mr. Paulo and his company.

Though born into a large immigrant family of 12 in the most underdeveloped part of the country, Mr. Paulo was the 5th child of Brazilian parents.

Upon their successful immigration here, they had settled to cattle rearing as the family business and were yielding quite some good harvest; at least enough to put food on their table unlike back home when they had to go sometimes a whole day without having anything to eat.

He was just 18 at the time his family arrived in the land of opportunities and the young Paulo who had always had a thing for buildings wouldn’t stop to marvel at buildings and soon started working at construction sites as a laborer to support his large family the little way he could.

It was on one of those jobs he met a Brazilian engineer who would change his life forever, Mr. Valdez who liked him so much and he made him his assistant in supervising that particular project. He was so smart and diligent that the Brazilian engineer started taking him on other trips and he soon became a master in the art.

Despite his young age, Paulo was never scared of taking bold steps. After so many years of working under Mr. Valdez, he became more like a son to him and upon his death; he received over 40% of his wealth and his small construction company he had just started before he had lost his life to cancer.

Paulo quickly assumed management of the company and renamed it to Baselink constructions. He employed only the best and immediately began sorting out for contracts. He had too many failure stories to tell as well but his resilience kept him going and today they are handling one of the biggest construction projects in the entire country. Hard work really pays.

As he approached Mr. Owen tried to Imagine how a