The Cleaver

 “I brought home some beef”, Abdul called out to this wife. Abdul’s wife Halimah walked smiling brightly approaching him with a cup of coffee in her hand.

“To be honest, I am glad you are butcher. I went to the grocery store and almost got a heart attack at the price hike on all the groceries,” Halimah said.

Abdul looked up at Halimah and smiled. “If the price keeps going up, I doubt my boss will let me bring home anymore beef.” Halimah sat next to her husband looking worried. 

“Don’t worry dear. If we can’t afford beef, we can eat eggs and have beef for special occasions. We should always live within our means,” Halimah assured her husband.

Abdul stood up and took the coffee cup from the table and walked towards the kitchen leaving his wife to rest a bit while he washed the dishes.

The next morning, Abdul set out to work. He wore his brown apron and sharpened his favourite cleaver and started butchering the meat.

“Wow Abdul, that’s some sort of skill with the cleaver. Aren’t you scared that chopping the meat at that frequency might actually cause you injuries?” a young lady customer questioned.

Abdul laughed and replied, “No ma’am. That won’t happen. This is my favourite cleaver and been using it for about 15 years now. I know how it works.” Abdul smiled warmly and handed a plastic of beef to her and continued butchering.

The next day, Abdul went to work as usual and his boss requested him to cover for a sick employee in another meat shop. Abdul agreed to the request and set of at once. The meat shop looked almost the same but Abdul forgot his cleaver. He tried using the cleaver in the shop and injured himself mildly while slicing the beef. Blood dripped out of his finger and Abdul regret not bringing his own work tools. Rest of the day went by and Abdul went home hoping to work at his usual place the next day.

The next morning started with a heavy downpour subsiding into a mild drizzle when Abdul was setting out to work. Once again, Abdul’s boss requested him to work in the other shop. Abdul made sure to carry his own cleaver this time.

He did the same stunts he would every other day and the cleaver slipped off his hand and landed right on his little finger and chopped it off. Blood was squirting out and customers started panicking. One of the assistants in the shop rushed to help Abdul and took him to the hospital. The doctors managed to salvage the little finger and attached it back to the hand however, the stitches were visible and the finger was swollen. The pain was unbearable.

Years passed and the scar remained. Abdul realised that, regardless how well he thought he knew something, a small moment of carelessness could backfire him so badly. He continued working in the meat shop but, the brave stunts and high speed butchery never happened again.