William stood up on his feet soon after he got up from the seat, staring at his appalled visitors with more irritation than ever before.
“Don’t do this to the workers, boss. At least give them some more time to endure this harsh period with the wages they receive monthly”,
William pleaded but his plea fell on deaf ears while the others wanted to join the head supervisor but Roland waved them to remain silent.
“Not this time, William. You know very well that we aren’t getting enough profit to sustain everyone this period”,
“But you can do so when the food situation the town has improved”,
“No, I can’t wait for the authorities to render help and we don’t know if this strife will continue till winter or not”,
“Please reconsider and wait for some time to see if the situation will get better for all of us”,
The men thought that the boss would heed to their request but he barked out in anger
“I already made my decision which I know will lengthen the life of my business. They didn’t set up this firm, I did! So, henceforth, tell them to obey my instructions tomorrow sunrise and they are free to leave if they refuse to comply. And to add to that, there won’t be any allowances henceforward”,
He said peering at the men, more ferociously than ever before while the eyes of his guests widened with bewilderment.
“Sir Roland, doing so will be too much for the workers to bear especially the farmers because they solely rely on the allowance, they receive every weekend to make ends meet”,
William spoke first.
“I don’t care if they depend on it. What concerns me, is that irrelevant extravagant spending ends from now on till there’s improvement in the sales we get from selling our timbers. I alone know how to run my business, so it’s better for me and my firm if they want to leave anyway”,
Roland replied and walked away from them, heading to the staircase accompanied by his henchmen who followed behind him, leaving the visitors in standing motionless in utter shock and bewilderment till he completely disappeared from their sight to the upper room upstairs alongside with his guards. Having achieved nothing, the guest soon began to exit the mansion, one after the other, starting from Logan who left first in a fit of rage which he struggle to contain as he walked out of their midst without taking a second look back at the others whose feet were hesitant to depart from the mansion of their boss while William was the last to leave the furnished parlor into the sunbaked courtyard, trailing behind Abraham and Liam who were whispering to one another concerning the outcome of the meeting as they trudged towards the gate which was still quite far off from where they were chattering amongst themselves very much oblivious to the eyes of the boss who was watching them as they through his window from his bedchamber above beside the terrace.
William kept quiet while he listened to the silent conversation of the two men walking in front of him to the gate and kept to his own opinion about the whole situation that wasn’t looking good for all the workers especially the farmers and the senior staff which definitely includes them.
“I told you that he would do exactly what those other businessmen did”,
“But he should know things would go ugly if we tell the workers his decision”,
Liam replied as they slowly approached the gate.
“You heard what he said. He doesn’t care if they all perish trying to survive this harsh period”,
“Things are bound to change, once we inform the workers”,
“You got that right. It’s now inevitable that the workers might respond negatively to his decision”,
Abraham said glancing at the pretty red roses at the rear of the mansion.
“I hope they don’t do what I’m speculating they may do once they come to know that their meagre salary will be reduced to nothing at the end of this month”,
“It’s obvious that they won’t be impressed with him and I believe that we should have done better in convincing him to recant...”,
Liam stopped for a brief moment when he noticed William coming closer enough to hear him and moved aside to allow William to walk along with them in their midst.
“Then you should have knocked some sense into his head in there a while ago”,
William intruded as they strolled along the walkway which was about to come to an end at the gate.
“Me?”,
“Yeah”,
“William, you know very well that Liam and the rest of us can’t go against him”,
“Tell him, Abraham. None of us has ever been able to speak to him like that except for you”,
“But Logan did”,
“You are different from him because the boss trusts you more than us”,
“Don’t flatter me. I may have been able to convince him in the past but it’s different when his firm is at stake here”,
“What about Madam?”,
Liam questioned and halted in front of the gate though it was slightly ajar since Logan had left the vicinity a long time ago without waiting behind for his fellow members while the gatekeeper had left it opened for the rest of the men to leave the premises.
“That’s right. Won’t she be able to persuade him to change his mind about it?”,
Abraham asked gleaming a hopeful smile across his face which soon vanished when he saw the blunt visage of William’s skeptic face staring hard at him and his brief silence quickly disappointed Abraham who thought that there was likely chance to turn the tables around to their favour.
“It’s worth a try but I know he won’t listen to anyone else if his firm is at stake, not even his wife would be able change his harden heart”,
“So, we have no choice but to do what he says, is that it, William?”,
“Is there no solution we can provide to help this situation get better for all of us?”,
The two men asked William who remained speechless and peered at him expectantly eagerly waiting for an earnest reply to clear their doubts but he said nothing and just avoided them before taking a final look at the mansion standing erect under the bright sunshine behind the trios till his eyes, by chance, fell on a narrow window that was slightly opened and which revealed a half section of his man’s face staring at them. He could hardly make out the face of the person watching them because of the distance even though the curtain inside the window was shifted enough to reveal the person’s true visage but he knew deep down inside of him that it was the boss staring at them from afar and decided not to say anything to the others before returning his head back to the gigantic gate in front of him.
“I don’t know but I’ll think of something. Let’s go for now”,
He said and pushed the gate open which paved way for him to leave first followed by the two men till they were out on the streets where they took a turn down the next route that led out of the neighborhood before they further depart with each of the three men to their houses, still consume in deep thought of what is to come the following week.