Chapter 8: Warren Shows More Than He Intended

Saturday morning Lewis arrived at the shop at half past eight. There had been a temporary manager in the shop all week whilst Mike was on his honeymoon, so Mike had told him not to let on he had a key.

At twenty minutes to nine a stranger walked up and asked, ‘I presume you must be Lewis.’ Shaking hands, he introduced himself as Warren. He looked to be in his middle twenties and was jet and shiny black. Lewis took a liking to him right away.

He opened up and Lewis said, ‘I usually make us a coffee to start with would you like one?’ Getting a ‘Yes please,’ Lewis went straight through and put the kettle on. ‘How long have you worked here?’ Warren asked. ‘Nearly a year now,’ Lewis told him. ‘How about you?’

‘This is my first job,’ Warren told him, ‘I started six months ago and so far, I’ve been relief manager all over the place covering holidays and sickness. I’m currently at the top of the list for a permanent position next time anyone leaves.’

‘I wish you luck,’ Lewis told him. They opened up the shop and had the usual busy morning. They had little opportunity to chat, but Lewis could see that Warren had a good attitude with the customers who also seemed to take a liking to him.

One thing he did notice, on two occasions when they bumped into each other unexpectedly when they turned or both reached for something, Warren went very tense and looked frightened. Lewis didn’t let on that he had noticed anything.

As lunch time approached, Lewis told him what he and Mike usually did for a meal. He liked the idea, so Lewis went to the chippy at ten to one. When he returned, they closed the shop and went through to the back room to eat.

Relaxing over a coffee and a meal, Warren told Lewis that his parents had come from Somalia, but he had been born in the UK. ‘You speak very good English,’ Lewis told him. ‘It’s my only language,’ Warren said. ‘My parents learned English as soon as they arrived and my Dad said this was our country now so this was our language. Although he could still speak Somalian, he never used it.’

‘Do you still live with your parents?’ Lewis asked. ‘No, they both died a few years back,’ he told him. ‘I share a flat over in Roland Street, with my uncle Bashiir. The area where I work is usually thirty miles or less from here, so I tend to drive to work each day.’

As he said his uncles name Lewis picked up a trace of strain in his voice. Then as they chatted Warren told him he had been to university and had a degree in engineering, but as there hadn’t been any suitable jobs he had joined Video Hire to fill in. He liked it and was happy to stay.

‘Are you still looking for an engineering job?’ Lewis asked. ‘No, not at present.’ Warren answered sounding quite miserable about it. ‘But one day.’ he added, brightening up at the thought.

As Lewis took the cups and rubbish over to the kitchen area, He asked, ‘How did you come to move in with your uncle?’ Warren sounded down again as he answered. ‘Mum died halfway through university,’ he said. ‘Then the week after I graduated my dad died. Their house was rented so I had three months to clear it and move out.’

‘Uncle Bashiir helped me and told me to come and live with him.’ Lewis thought that sounded a strange way to put it, ‘Told me to come, not asked me.’ ‘Dad was at my graduation,’ Warren said, ‘But mum never knew.’ Returning from the sink, Lewis noticed he was dabbing his eyes at the memory of his parents.

Coming up behind him, Lewis rested his hand on Warrens shoulder intending to say something comforting, but the moment his hand touched, Warren froze rigid, then he called out, ‘No, please, no!’ As he spoke, he was what could only be described as cowering.

Lewis whipped his hand away and sat back opposite at the table. Warren had calmed down quickly once he brought his mind back from his parents and realised it was only Lewis. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, giving Lewis an apologetic smile. ‘I didn’t mean to startle you. Some old ghosts.’ he added by way of explanation.

Lewis put out both his hands across the table. ‘Warren, please give me your hands,’ he said. Looking puzzled, Warren put his hands out. Lewis took hold of them and looked him in the eye.

‘Please listen carefully to what I have to say,’ Lewis told him. ‘In the last twelve months I have dealt with twenty or more people who had serious problems. Because I am easy to talk to, I managed to get them to open up and tell me about it. I was then able to solve every single one of them.’

Warren was listening intently thinking how lucky they were, but his problem was far too complicated for a young lad to deal with.

‘Since doing that,’ Lewis continued, ‘I have discovered that I can pick up when people have problems that they need help with. Even before we came in here for lunch, I had picked that up from you.’

‘Now, you have the unique opportunity to use my skills and lift your problem, but only you can decide whether you do it or not. Let me tell you that I haven’t failed yet. Also, that if you do nothing it will only stay with you and get worse. If as you are probably thinking at this moment, I’m too young, or you’re too embarrassed, or I couldn’t possibly sort out your problem, then it will do you no harm to at least give me a try.’

‘We have half an hour before we need to open the shop, so you have three options. One, you can keep your problem and do nothing. Two, you can give me a chance to save you starting now and continuing after we close this evening. Or three think about it all afternoon and decide at closing time.’

‘Any one of those is ok with me, it’s your choice. But just be sure you realise that if you choose number one, you are deliberately choosing to remain as you are now with no hope.’

Lewis let go of his hands and said, ‘It’s in your hands now. Let me know when you decide. In the meantime, I’ll check my messages. If you have any questions, just ask.’ He took his phone out and started reading. After a spell of silence Warren said, ‘Lewis,’ Lewis looked up and smiled, ‘I don’t think I could tell you about it,’ he said, ‘But if I could, what would happen to any information I gave you.’

‘Nothing,’ Lewis told him. ‘Anything you tell me in this room remains in this room. If you told me something that I thought you should pass on to someone else, I would tell you so, but that decision would be yours entirely. I will never tell anyone anything you say or do without your express permission.’

‘Thank you,’ Warren said, evidently going back to his thoughts. Lewis carried on working on his phone. Shortly after there was another quiet ‘Lewis?’ As he gave him another smile and waited for him to speak, Warren gave his decision.

He had been turning over everything in his mind. He knew he desperately needed help, but he was convinced any attempt to have someone else involved would just make it worse.

Then there was the impossibility of actually telling someone else anything so embarrassing. Especially a young lad who he had only just met that morning.

But his inner self was telling him, Lewis is the only person who has ever offered you help. You like him, you’d be a fool to say no. Especially when he says he will keep everything to himself. Give it a try at least, when he fails at least you will have tried.

‘I’d like to give it try please Lewis, but I’m sure we won’t succeed.’ ‘I’m happy to try if you are,’ Lewis said. ‘So, what we’re going to do is use the rest of lunch time for me to start to get to know a little more about you and start to get you relaxed with me.’

‘Now, I don’t want to ask you anything about your problem yet, but as I don’t know what it is, I might do without realising it. So, if I do and you don’t feel able to answer it just yet, say ‘Pass’ and I’ll move on, ok?’ ‘Yes, fine.’ Warren replied feeling happy at the idea.

‘Go over to the settee, take your shoes off and lie down,’ Lewis told him. ‘Then I’ll tell you more about what we’re going to do. I’ll just set my alarm in case we get so engrossed we forget to open the shop.’