HIS ULTIMATUM

“As you all aware, I summoned you all here to have a brief meeting concerning the terrible situation that everyone living in this town of ours is facing right now as we speak especially most local businessmen trying to earn profit in this season where everything is expensive, and sadly, people living in other areas are facing similar situation which I believe is happening in the entire country...”,

He took a slight pause, to see if his listeners were paying attention to his speech and found them staring at him eagerly expecting him to continue especially Abraham who got his mouth drooling a little quantity of saliva in a way that irritate him but he didn’t pay heed to the man’s disgusting look and was about to continue when William commented.

“Yeah, that’s true. Even the fishermen are finding it hard to survive the plague that broke out recently after you left for the main city”,

“A plague?”,

Roland queried in a bit of astonishment after he was taken aback by the sudden news that reached his ears but he quickly composed himself without letting them know that he had been taken off guard.

“Yes, boss. It came few weeks after you left the town”,

Logan remarked,

“Only to ravage most of the sustaining livelihood of the peasants living here with us”,

“No wonder I saw many poor houses that were charred to pieces and some houses looked so highly unkempt”,

The boss uttered in reply, recalling the repulsion he felt when he was being driven from the border of the town to his estate few hours ago.

“The houses that got burnt were some of the measures which the affected farmers and local authorities tried to carry out to checkmate the spread of the plague”,

William explained, setting his legs apart from each other.

“And they succeeded only for a short time till it resurfaced but the epidemic appeared to have affected the fishermen the most instead during the second outbreak”,

Logan explained further,

“Did it stop or...”,

“Luckily, the authorities curbed the situation two days before you arrived”,

“But Old John passed away because of it”,

Logan rejoined,

“Since there wasn’t enough medication in the town’s infirmary to take of the casualties involved”,

“This year’s economy has really been a terrible one for the country especially for us living near the

“Hmm. You all have endured a lot and thanks for the feedback. Anyway, As I was saying, the current situation in this town hasn’t been that favorable for making profits and sales are getting a bit poor unlike the gains we have made the past years before now”,

He took a slight pause once again and savored their eagerness to know what he was about to say concerning his firm which he knew that they were all eager to hear what he had decided like other businessmen in the town rumored to have deducted the wages of their staff workers even before the deadly epidemic anticipatedly broke out as a consequential effect of the poor stagnant economy plunging majority of smaller firms that were unable to cope with the widespread scarcity deepening the State’s economic growth. He knew that the workers were silently growing anxious with the numerous strike action taken by majority of the workers of other firms going rampant in the town for having their pay cut down to insufficient size and needed to hear the decision he had to make for the fate of everyone down to the least workers earning their wages in both his plantations and his Mill but he wasn’t going to let fear of the workers turning against him becloud his judgement, not when it involves the fate of his source of wealth which would crumble if he doesn’t do what was necessary to save his lucrative Mill as well as his crop plantations from becoming bankrupt.

“.... So, considering the poor profit we have made this year because of the current state our town is, I... have made the decision to cut down the salaries of the workers in both workplaces, to a minimum beginning from the senior workman to the least...”,

“But, Sir...”,

“I’m not finish yet, Logan. So, shut the hell up”,

He retorted against the intrusive comments made by Logan who withdrew in fright of his coarse voice which suddenly became sharper and louder for him to bear while the others shuddered slightly as soon as fear was gripped them all except for William whose visage had turned sour the moment he heard the decision of the boss.

“Let me make this clear to you all. My profits have hit rock bottom since this year started and I’m not gonna fold my hands while other business owners are doing something worth it to save their firm from becoming extinct”,

“We know that times are hard on everyone, but the workers heavily rely on their wages during this period where things are hard on everybody”,

William said with a frail attempt to persuade his boss even though he knew that he wasn’t going to change his decision regardless of what they might say to convince him to recant his decision.

“Boss, William’s right. They won’t be happy to hear about this”,

“I don’t care. I have made my decision. Saving my firm from collapsing is my top priority, therefore, whoever want to quit should go ahead because I ain’t stopping them”,

“Really, Sir?”,

“You heard me loud and clear, Liam”.

“What about the workers working in the plantation?”,

“Their wages will still be cut down as well”,

“That would be wrong thing to do at this time”,

“How so, William?”,

“Apart from all of us and the Mill workers....”

“And some of your crops as well”,

“Yeah, the ones that got burnt”,

Abraham rejoined trying to suppress his anger that was boldly written on his face and quickly evaded eye contact with the boss in order to hide his demeanor about the whole issue.

“What do you mean my crops got damaged?”,

Roland queried feeling a bit of his temper trying to overwhelm him completely.

“Most of their loved ones suffered greatly when the plague first broke out especially the children who were victims of the disastrous plague”,

“I don’t see how the children of those lowlifes got to do with the crops in my plantation”,

Roland replied,

“You are wrong, Sir. You see, we didn’t know that the plague had also affected your crops and as a result, many of the innocent victims including the workers were sadly lost due to the plague”,

Logan cut in.

“Not until it was discovered early that the crops were affecting the workers as apart from the fishermen but much of the workers had already suffered greatly and then, we had to curtail the spread of the plague so that it won’t affect the healthy ones”,

“By having my crops burnt to the ground, is that it, Logan?”,

“Exactly. We had to do what was needed to be done”,

“Really? Fine. I still have to do what needed to save my business and none of your complaints will change my mind”,

Roland said in a fit of anger and stood up at once on his feet while Marcus and his comrade drew closer to see if he needed anything from them.