NATIA & The Invisible Island of Sawaiki

Job

“Oh! no.” She said. “Not business or management or anything like that. I am really bad at such things. Grandpa wanted me to take over his restaurants after him. When I first looked for a job in San Francisco, grandpa lured me into his restaurant, in the hopes that I would eventually get interested in running it. He thought he could mentor me in the administration of the restaurant while I am an employee there, and have me take over after I graduate. Worst idea of all the time. He was so stubborn that it took a whole year for him to realize it would never work. He finally hired someone for the job.” She shook her head thinking about it. Two managers are mostly running the restaurants now. Grandpa was half-retired. She would probably inherit them after him though. But, never would she have to worry about running them. “I neither have the passion nor the skill for doing business.” She said, looking at Vera.

“You have a job?” Asked Vera. She looked quite surprised about it. ‘Surely, teenagers in Russia work part-time jobs too, don’t they?’ Natia wondered.

“Yeah, I am still working at grandpa’s restaurant,” she said.

“So, papa graces his hidden, precious daughter with his time, but not with his money?! That’s quite surprising.” Commented Aleksandr in a voice that dripped mock-sympathy. He looked strangely amused about it.

Natia frowned. “Getting a part-time job could give you more than just money. It nourishes your financial, working and life skills. It could teach you to stand on your feet. To become independent.” She said.

Natia knew most teenagers take part time jobs for having their own money to spend. But getting a job was never about money for Natia. She gets a generous amount of money as her allowance, most of which remains unspent. Both her father and mother were never reluctant to tend to her needs. Not that she has many needs. The amount of money Natia spent was relatively low compared to other kids of her age. Most was spent on books. Then also, she was not a book worm, so, it wasn't much. She never really cared about her clothes and the same goes for cosmetics and accessories.

When she turned fourteen, her mother insisted she get a job. Hope had told her it would help her in many aspects. And it did. Natia had no friends and her social life was non-existent, another reason for her low money spending. And she was not part of any other activities at school either. Getting a job forced her to interact with more people and improved her poor social skills. It also helped her to spend her time more meaningfully.

In the beginning, it was hard for her to find a job. So, her mother hired her as her own errant girl. She sometimes worked in her lab too. Later, she worked for a lawn care company and then in a grocery store. She once worked as a temporary life guard in a pool too, though it was short-lived, since she was not a certified life guard. She mainly worked in grandpa's restaurant after they moved to San Francisco.

“You are still in school. A job could affect your studies. No wonder you are average in most of the subjects,” Aleksandr said matter-of-factly.

It irritated Natia. “My work never affected my studies. I never worked more than twelve hours on school weeks.” She said heatedly.

“You mean you are just really dumb?” Aleksandr taunted her.

Natia glared at him. But, he just shrugged her off.

“Now, now kids. That’s enough.” Said Valentin. “It’s okay if you don’t know right now, what you are going to do after graduation. You will probably figure it out by the end of this year. I am not trying to stress you out or anything. But, you should seriously think about it. It’s an important turning point in your life.” He told Natia.

“Yeah, I know. There is a high chance that I am going to focus on biology. It’s kind of my favorite subject.” She told him.

“Do you want to follow your mother’s steps?” Valentin asked her.

“She was a marine biologist, right?” That was from Vera.

“Yes, she was a marine biologist and no, uh... I don’t know if I want to follow her steps. I mean, she wanted me to follow in her steps. But, I am just slightly more interested in biology than other subjects. I don’t think that’s enough to do research or anything. You need that much passion and dedication to pursue a subject at research level. It might happen later for me; I am just a senior high schooler now. But, then also. I don’t think I will reach mom’s level of dedication. She kind of forgets everything around her when she is involved in her research.”

“That reminds me,” Vera started, and Natia felt like the questions so far were only a warm up. The real thing she wanted to ask was only coming up.

“Your mother met Andrey in Australia when she was doing her research, right?”

Natia nodded.

“Was there some specific reason she was in Australia for her research? I mean, there are many good universities in the United States which offer a Ph.D. in marine biology.”

Natia felt like there was some innuendo in her question, which she didn’t understand. Why else would mom be in Australia? She decided to answer that question as best as she could. It was before she was even born and she didn’t know in detail about anything that happened then anyway.

“She was-”

“She was there doing her research on marine invertebrates. She wanted to study more about the great barrier reef. That’s why she was in Australia.” Aleksandr came to the dining hall from Natia’s opposite side. He gave Vera an almost hostile look and the atmosphere suddenly became tensed.