A Recycling System in Jamaica

Life is not the same for everyone. Reed looked at the message on his phone and then at the surrounding yard, feeling disheartened. The fence was falling and was in desperate need of repair, the roof in the house was leaking and needed to be replaced, but there was nothing he could do. Reed was only sixteen and in his second to last year of high school. He lived with his mother and his distant cousin. His father had abandoned him and his mother when he was just five years old. So, his mother had raised him with the help of his grandmother and older brothers who were significantly older than him. His two older brothers were Chis, aged thirty-two, and Jason, aged twenty-seven. Earlier this year, Reed's grandmother passed away, leaving her only earthly possession, her house, to his mother. The house was built in the year Reed was born and considering his grandmother built it while supporting the whole family, it is something to commend her for. It started as an incomplete house with only two bedrooms and a kitchen, but over time she added to it hoping that the whole family would be more comfortable, so now it's six bedrooms, two bathrooms with a kitchen, living room, dining room and veranda. Due to it being built at different times, you can see that it has some flaws. The tiles are not consistent throughout, the walls are uneven, and it is not completely sealed. Reed loved this house. It has been his safety net. No matter what he experienced in life, coming home had always made him feel a sense of peace, knowing he would always have somewhere to call home, and it didn't matter how it looked, to him this was home, and he wanted to finish the house and prove to himself and others that his grandmother made the right choice when she left the house to his mother. Reed sat under the palm tree in the yard and thought back to the scene that happened after his grandmother passed on, and the will was found. His mother Pat was the oldest of his grandmother's three daughters, and she had always been the one who stayed by his grandmother's side and took care of her until she died. After the funeral and the will was read, there was a huge commotion. Reed's aunts were very unhappy that their mother didn't give them anything. They had expected that the house would be left to all of them, and they would finally get to sell the house and share the money equally, but they were disappointed. Reed's grandmother Hilary left the house to her eldest daughter, who she knew would protect her legacy, and left a dollar each to her other daughters, making her will ironclad. His aunts, Janice and Dawn, couldn't cause any trouble so after cursing Pat and saying she made their mother cut them out of the will, they left with their children. His aunts each had three children and that was one of the reasons his grandmother had made the house with so many bedrooms. One for her, one for each daughter and two rooms for her grandchildren. Boys would have a room and girls would also have one room. What she didn't expect was that when she got sick and could no longer work to support the family, only her eldest daughter stayed by her side; the other two quickly moved out with their kids so that they didn't have to care for their elderly mother. Pat stayed, she and Reed took care of Hilary until she couldn't hold on anymore and died. Times were hard then because any money his grandmother had saved was used for medical bills and finally her funeral, so in the months since her passing, his brothers were the ones who had been sending money to support him and his mother, and it made him feel useless. The house needed repairs, and he had to prepare for the coming school year. It was currently the twenty-fifth of June and school was now on holiday. He wanted to find a summer job to help with the bills around the house and prepare for his final year of high school. He knew that exam fees, textbooks, and uniforms were needed for September, and he couldn't expect his brothers to take care of everything for him. He had to man up and stop depending on others. This realization came when he got a message from his class what app group chat talking about how one of his classmates was having a birthday party and inviting the whole class to celebrate. That was when it hit him. His birthday was also this month and his mom had baked him a cake, but that was it. The family finances could be spent on a party for him. His brothers both had kids, so they couldn't spend all their money on their younger brother. They could only make sure that he and his mother were not hungry and had enough clothes to wear. Every month they would send money to cover the utility bills, groceries, and medication for his mother. His mother would then do some small jobs to cover his lunch money. Normally, his grandmother would still be getting her pension and that made things a lot easier, but now that's gone he had to get a job quickly. Where could he have money to spend on going to Kingston with his classmates for Shawn’s birthday? Shawn was the richest kid in Reed's school, and they also happened to be classmates. Reed had average grades but was going to the second-best high school in the parish, Clarendon College, which is also named after the parish he lived in. Reed looked around the yard. Due to the many holes in the fence, their dogs and the dogs from other homes tended to bring garbage into the yard, so the yard had to be cleaned constantly, or it would look like the people living here were nasty. It had always been a sore spot for Reed, and he promised that one of the first things he would do when he made some money was build a good fence for the entire yard and replace the secondhand gate they had gotten from Jason's father a few years before he died. The gate had a wide spacing, resulting in dogs being able to squeeze between the bars and come into the yard. So dogs not only come in through the fence but also the gate, making it hard to control them. Looking at all the garbage in the yard, he could only sigh and pick up the rake. “Ding! Ding! Garbage Recycling system activated.” “ Congratulations host on cleaning up garbage for ten consecutive days. You have been rewarded with a welcome package. Please check the system space to collect.” Reed heard a voice talking and looked around constantly trying to find the source of the sound. “Who is talking?” Reed shouted when he didn't see anyone except him in the yard. “Reed, who are you talking to?” his mom asked from on the veranda. Today was Sunday, and she was sitting on the veranda taking in the evening breeze. Reed realized that no one else had heard the voice, and he couldn't see who had been talking, so he stopped looking around because he didn't want his mom to notice anything strange about him. Her health is not dependable, so he didn't want to cause her to panic. “Mom, I was just singing. You can ignore me.” “Okay.” She replied pacified, never thinking that her son was experiencing something amazing. Reed saw that his mother was no longer paying attention to him and thought back about the words he had heard. Recalling that, the voice said he had activated a garbage recycling system, and he had also been rewarded with a welcome package. Reed is an avid reader, and he has a favorite genre, which is systems. In the novels he reads he enjoys how systems can turn an average student into a top scholar or a weakling into a fighting expert. He had always wondered what it would be like to have a system in real life. But he had never expected that he would get one, but it would be a garbage recycling system. He looked at the garbage that he had raked into a pile in front of him and had a complicated feeling and then in his mind he called out the system to his show status. A translucent blue panel appeared in front of him, partially blocking his vision of his surroundings. On the panel, the following information appeared. Host: Reed Carter Level: 1 Experience : 0/100 Strength: 8/10 (Average 10) Physique: 7/10 (Average 10) Intelligence: 8/10 (Average 10) Charm: 7/10 (Average 10) Abilities: Attribute Points: Seeing the information in front of him, Reed's breath sped up as his heart raced. He almost couldn't believe it. This has been his fantasy ever since he discovered Chinese novels and learned about systems. He knew that no matter what type of system he got, it would change his life hopefully for the better. In his mind, he said “Open welcome package” “Congratulations on receiving one body-enhancing potion and the ability to purify. Do you accept it?” “Yes,” he answered without hesitation. This was going to be the start of his new life; there was no way he was going to reject it. He felt his body heat up and soon understood his new ability to purify. This had both passive and active skills. One of the benefits of his ability was that the surrounding air would be purified, and his body would always be clean without having to take a bath. His active ability was that he could select things he wanted to purify. And the impurities extracted could be recycled by his system. At the same time, he also felt an object in his pocket. He took it out and saw a glass bottle with some bright red liquid inside stopped by a cork. This must be the potion mentioned, but he had read enough novels to know that she couldn't take this right now. He had to wait until he took a shower later. “Please state the system functions,” he said in his mind, hoping that this was not one of those systems that made him have to figure out how to use it on his own. Knowing the basic functions of the system would save him a lot of time and effort, and he needed to know the correct way to use it right now so that he could start changing his and his mother's lives. “The Garbage Recycling System is to be used to recycle garbage while helping the host to enjoy a better quality of life. Up to level 10 the host can earn money and experience points for garbage collected to help the host level up and have a better quality of life.” After hearing this information, his mind began to spin. He will get money in exchange for garbage. This was more than just a pie from the sky. This was the solution to all his financial troubles. He didn't have to worry about school fees or any other financial worries; he could finally make some real changes in his life. Reed was so excited that he started to laugh, startling his mother who was still sitting on the veranda. “ Boy! What is wrong with you? Why are you laughing at yourself?” His mother Pat asked when she heard his laughter. His mother's shout brought him back to his senses and reminded him of where he was. His mother must have been suspecting him of going crazy since he had been standing in front of a pile of garbage laughing like a fool. “Mom, it's just some mad ants. They are tickling me.” He lied quickly before getting the shovel and loading the garbage into the old wheelbarrow that they had in the yard. It is mostly used for this exact purpose of bringing garbage to the garbage dump in the community. All the people in this community dump their garbage there and the garbage truck is supposed to collect it, but they don't do it very regularly, which results in dogs scavenging the pile of garbage and scattering it along the roads and in some yards that are not properly fenced like his. Knowing that he could now recycle garbage for money, he wanted to try it, but he didn't know how he would explain if his mom saw all the garbage disappear. So it is best to pretend to take it to the dump and find a chance to try out his system. Reed pushed the garbage out of the yard and onto the road. He turned right and headed for the dump. It was not a long walk. If he rushed, he could get there and back home in five minutes, but he had a different idea in mind. As he passed his neighbor's house, he came to an empty lot. This lot is about a quarter of an acre and filled with tall bushes and garbage. When he was growing up, he used to come here to hunt birds and catch butterflies, but as he matured, he stopped playing and focused on school. This is one of the reasons that he can attend the second-best high school in the parish. Plus, as consumption increased, more garbage began to accumulate here. Consequently, it became abandoned by the kids in the neighborhood. After pushing the wheelbarrow behind some bushes and making sure he couldn’t be seen from the road, he dumped the garbage on the ground. He didn't want to accidentally recycle the wheelbarrow because he knew that, in its current state, it could be mistaken for scrap metal. “System recycle!” “Please select the area in which the host would like to recycle.” A screen appeared in front of him showing him where he was standing and the surrounding area. He quickly selected the area in front of him and all the garbage that he had dumped plus others that were in the area disappeared. “10 pounds of garbage has been recycled, and the host has been rewarded with $10,000 and 10 experience points.” Reed felt his pocket get heavier. He reached in and took out ten brand-new $1000 bills. Now that he had the money in his hand, he knew that the system was real. Now money will no longer be an issue and his life will be changed.