Test-&-mend

Uncertainties, torturing Abdul’s mind were not only bound to the milestone of his age, but to the vast predictable – yet displeasing – shifts in the local authority. The city government had to put on airs of fairness – in order to persuade the citizens in implementing probity in every sphere of the State Machine. To this aim, they carried out some purging, which was absolutely insignificant to bother “superior persons”, standing above. Yet they were too visible to produce an appearance of “clean hands”. They would imprison some minor officials on the take; and made shows out of these cases by broadcasting them on TV. Common people would watch these investigatory reports and pin their faith in the new government: “Finally! Those swindlers must have been put in jail long ago!”.

Being a “minor official” – just a tiny screw in the gigantic Machine – Abdul could be subjected to this new tendency, either. This “witch-hunt” might inflict something more troublesome on him, worse than a mere loss of his work – his position. On the face of his declining health, a thought of early retirement crossed Abdul’s mind. Over and over again proving to himself the necessity of such a step in his career, he realized the worst: the pathetic sum of money, to which he was compelled to confine in case of retirement, would put him on the same scale with those, he looked down on, mockingly. In reality, salaries of Abdul-likes were no higher than those of other workers; his future pension was to be about the same size as his legal income. The explanation was obvious: once you retire, you are no longer part of the Machine to be taken care of – at least through constant palm-oiling. This loss of benefit would mean a serious blow to his budget. Abdul started to set deadlines to pluck up courage to resign, but constantly put off the full stop with the words: “I will investigate one more case – the last one! There is no way I should refuse it and let down my boss! Besides, it looks rather lucrative. Some spare money will not hurt my wallet, when I retire”. A case after case blinded his mind, ripping him off the possibility to leave the field of evil for good.