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MUSTARD IV – Ch. 6 | KT OLLA

JOSHUA pitied himself and he wished things weren’t this hard for him.

He had always boasted with his life. His attainment, money and all.

But then in his stillness he thought himself a fool. Someone who only toiled to bear other people’s burden.

He wept and wished he could walk out of that cruel fate, or get it sorted somehow.

Then the clock struck eleven at that moment.

Yes, it seemed quite late to go to bed for a school head who would be heading to work early the next morning. It seemed too late already.

Morrow gazed at the wall clock and moaned.

‘It is late. Too late for you! So what will you do?’

No, the middle-aged man wasn’t mourning the hour. But then again he was.

The school head was at the eleventh hour of his life, even near the age to retire.

He was closing to 60, but hadn’t lived that much.

Truly, Joshua had dropped smoking and alcohol. He dropped that life in ’79 after he moved into his house.

Yes, he’d ditched things before to live right. But every time he left something, it seemed life itself placed more things in his way.

Just like the floating roof of those earlier years.

And then again there were these. Some odd panic attacks.

◘◘◘

When things dropped to ground, or whatever things that made for sound, Joshua heard those sounds the loudest...

And his heart raced like lightning.

Well, it wasn’t that the old man had some panic disease, or that he’d got someone on his tail.

It was just fear. Apprehensions, frights... just fears he couldn’t explain.

Soon this man caught insomnia, and nights felt more frightening to him.

Now he couldn’t sleep but saw fear. Then when he slept at all, it was nightmare.

Real nightmares.

But then this good soul found yet another load of worry capping those ones.

He suddenly couldn’t keep a partner anymore. The few women he was seeing but couldn’t wed... he suddenly couldn’t keep them around.

Well, it felt as though this was age stuff – like his age factored here.

But Banji’s issues were those that appeared reasonable – physical, medical... everything science—

Except, of course, they never were. No, never once.

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