The Men's Talk and Fears

I telephoned a friend of mine yesterday in Maputo and we spent about half an hour on the phone reminding each other the great goody times we had together in Mozambique . He told me he has now been promoted to the position of Chief Executive and there are about two hundred people working under him . He told me he has bought the happiest car of his life the Mercedes Benz and that he is now enjoying the best of his life . I met Cardoso when we were both boys with wild ideas how to make things work in life . Cardoso by then was a student at University of Mundlane in Maputo but he told me.one thing , " You see Snr Lungu , I have befriended you for a purpose , I want you to teach me English . If you can do that then my life is sorted ." I also said this to him , " Amigo Cardoso , teach me Portuguese and then my life is sorted ." After three months either of us was good at the respective languages we desired to learn . When I left the country we remained in touch and although its more than ten years my Portuguese is good enough to speak and express myself. Cardoso on the phone last night told me how well he is doing and I congratulated him but before I finished what I was saying he said , " Amigo Snr Lungu , if you can just do me.one thing then my life is sorted , only one final thing my friend ." I tried to guess what is it ? I couldn't come up with anything. He said , " Amigo , although I said life is good , things are bad here. I have been given a notice ." " A notice for what Cardoso ? " I feared now this was leading to money matters . I feared he was going to ask me for money which I was preparing to say sorry I have nothing . " I have been given a notice to quit my job . Am afraid I won't handle this ." Cardoso said . I spoke in my light Portuguese tone , " Olha amigo , O Deus conhecido o teu caminho / God knows better about your journey ." Cardoso took no time to respond , " Amigo , I know that , what I am dreading is the notice says I will move from being employed to own my own company that will be contracting government and non government organisations ." " So what help do you need from me ? ' He said , " I want you to advise me how to be a better man and how to make this company successful, I will put your name as one board member , as director and as my own family ." " Alright , this is my advice , first sell the Mercedes Benz , buy a corrolla , second , get out of your expensive mansion , put in on rent , move to an average house , third , enroll for an accounting course to know how to guard your money and lastly go and pray for guidance ." I said to Cardoso . There was silence on the phone . I said hello , he was very quiet thinking . After a few seconds Cardoso cleared his throat and said , " This is the hardest thing to do amigo , my Mercedes is my life , everyone knows am so and so once they see my Mercedes passing , not only that , I have a certain upper status in my community because of the Mercedes ." " But do you know how much it is costing you to fix it ? How much are you prepared to take out of your business to maintain an expensive car ? " I asked . Cardoso could not decide . He said he will think about this . I plan to call him this evening after work and follow what we discuss .