Every hammer blow kept time with the flow of the moment. After Nevzat and I finished painting a car completely, he took a deep breath and put down the paint gun. Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his arm, he said, "I'm going to the room. Call me if anyone comes," and walked inside.
I started working on the remaining tasks with Ahmet, Nevzat's relative who is in 10th grade. While Ahmet was organizing the materials and sweeping the floors, I began sanding a car door.
My mind went back to how I was on my first day; back then, it took me a full hour and a half to finish just one door. Now, I was handling my work more cleanly and much faster. Lost in these thoughts, Ahmet came over to me. He also started sanding another door. As he worked, he said, "Rüzgar, ya know, I met this girl the other day—she was a total knockout." To brush him off, I just gave a slight smile and dismissed everything he said with a "Yeah, sure." How could someone's only conversation topic be girls? When Ahmet realized I wasn't listening, he shrugged, turned on some music on his phone, and went back to his sanding.
Somehow, we had gotten everything ready for Nevzat. I looked at the wall clock in the shop; it was nearly five. I said to Ahmet, "Put the tea on the stove." Ahmet took off his gloves and went to prepare the tea. I went to the small grocery next to the shop. I went in, bought the chocolate that Nevzat likes and a few packets of biscuits. I told the shopkeeper, "Put it on Nevzat Usta's tab," and walked out.
When I entered the shop, Nevzat was standing with his hands clasped in front of him, listening to some mafia-like men with his head bowed. The two mafia-like men handed a bag to Nevzat and shot me dirty looks as they walked out. Nevzat seemed to relax after the two men had left. "Rüzgar, Ahmet, shut the rolling shutters and then you can leave," he said. When I asked,"Bro, it's still two hours until seven, did something happen?" he just replied, "No. Just tidy up the shop and shut the shutters." Then he pulled a wad of cash from his pocket and gave two hundred liras to me and Ahmet.
Within ten minutes, we had tidied up the shop and closed the shutters. Nevzat was the type to make up work if there was none; he never let us leave early. Maybe he sent us home early because of those mafia-like guys. I wondered what was in that bag they gave to Nevzat. Honestly, what did I care? I was getting to go home early today. I wasn't going to worry about the rest!
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