John and I charged all the instruments and cleaning agents in our service van and we drove to the first object I would clean in m
y life. My mentor turned out to be the just the opposite of my idea of him. Despite his long floppy moustaches and his huge growth, he was not gloomy or scary at all. In fact he was really chatty. He asked me where do I come from, why I came in London etc. At the beginning I even expected him to start making fun of me, because I thought this happens to freshmen in any firm. Well, there were jokes, but I shall tell you about them later.
John and I fall in a traffic jam and the more we talked, the more I realised he is well-intentioned. We knew each other for half an hour and he already told me about his first failed marriage, about his daughter of my age and about his present wife. He even told me he is sure that his present wife is cheating on him with their neighbour, but he can’t catch them at the “crime scene”. The good thing for him was he cheated on his fife with the neighbour’s wife too. His neighbour however proved to be more watchful than him and managed to catch John kissing his wife. He does not talk to him since then.
We finally arrived at the place. John’s stories were curious, but were too much for me for such a short time. I hoped we will change the subject, but my hope did not last long. My college told me the freshmen receive the honor of cleaning the toilettes and bathrooms. He gave me some directions how to do it and continued with his stories.
He used to be best friend with his neighbour. Many years ago they even used to choose together the houses they rent– they wanted to be near to each other. They used to have fun together every evening: they drank beer, they watched football. Then John fell in love with his first wife and married her. They had a baby girl, but their marriage did not last long. His wife had an only defect – she murmured every time when he and his friend had a good time. She was so sour that one evening when both friends watched the game Leeds United v West Ham she packed her stuff and moved out.
Few years later his friend married and the next year he became a truck driver. He had to drive often and sometimes he did not come home for days. He told John to protect his wife.
John sweep up the furniture while telling me with a sad voice that one rainy night when he had some more drinks and his neighbour’s wife brought him some pudding, he “spit upon their friendship”.