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YOU MAY NOT PASS

There was one short term security guard second job that Mekkar worked at when he needed some extra money to afford making a larger item purchase. In one instance on a hot summer day he worked at a very restrictive door at a vintage car show. Only the auctioneers and car owners were allowed through that specific entrance, from outside, that Mekkar was responsible for. The idea was to protect the high dollar vehicles that were to be auctioned off from being stolen before they reached the bidding process.

There was one person in particular that attempted to enter that path without the correct credentials. The guy severely pestered Mekkar for over fifteen minutes. That is, until The Arctic Warrior tersely responded with an ultimatum to stop the grief. Mekkar bluntly said, “It has been explained to you what is required to enter through this way. Say one more word to me about it and you will be picking yourself off of the ground, as I have had enough of you!” Then the middle aged man, after all of this drama, finally pulled out the proper identification allowing him to walk-in directly past Mekkar into the complex. No one else standing there gave the man from the Far North, guarding that path, any trouble the rest of the day.

Later on during his shift, Mekkar’s boss and the owner of the security company that was hired to provide services for the event, came by to speak to Mekkar. The owner asked him, “Does everyone hate you while you have been at this door?” Mekkar replied, “Yes!” Next, his boss told him, “Perfect, you are doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing and what I want as well. There was a reason why I chose you for this spot. I know that you will not put up with any nonsense and are not a pushover. You are not one to just let anyone in areas, where they are not supposed to be. Also, for your excellent performance here, you will be receiving a bonus in your paycheck.” Then, the boss handed him a nice cup of refreshing liquid to cool him off. 

TOURIST BUSINESS & FAMILY RESTAURANT

After working on the fishing boat, his mama demanded that he learn the English language for the family business because there was a need and she thought that he would be a good candidate. There was also pressure on her due to the increasing number of tourists: Yanks (Americans), Canucks (Canadians), Roos (Aussies), Kiwis (New Zealanders), Springboks (South Africans), and most of all Brits (those from the United Kingdom, specifically Great Britain) that had English as their primary spoken tongue.

Thus, her impatience in this regard was understandable. Mekkar was his mama’s choice and she was determined to make him fulfill this role she set out for him even if it killed her. His mama set up home schooling with tutors along with his special foreign language studies. Sirga also felt that this was a good reflection, in one aspect, of her parenting abilities.

When Mekkar’s papa Henrik would go to the United States, Britain, or another nation with English as a mother tongue for business, Mekkar’s mama made requests of him. In her mind, the requests were mainly for Mekkar’s benefit. Sirga would tell Henrik to purchase and bring back English speaking only sports tapes, films, and videos for Mekkar. Mekkar’s mama would gather related items for him during her own modeling junkets as well.

She knew that would the best and quickest way for Mekkar to grasp the correct interaction phraseology was through his passion of sports. Sirga never failed to remind Henrik to tell his translators these things also. She would do this herself on the rare occasions when she met the go betweens directly that would travel with her husband on those business trips. It was important due to the fact that Henrik never learned nor spoke English himself. He admitted being taught a few of the swear words as part of the Allied air group during the Korean conflict, but long since forgotten them. Henrik was able to converse fluently in ten other languages, with business vocabulary in German being most important for his employer at that time.

Henrik would buy in North America, at the behest of Sirga; National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), World Hockey Association (WHA), National Hockey League (NHL), & English Futbol (Soccer) items for Mekkar. Henrik would bring back whole boxes of items. This was done to encourage Mekkar to continue on and to help him develop the skills needed as soon as possible. She designed it as an incentive program for the boy.

Sirga had confidence that Mekkar would succeed in the immediate and difficult task she had given him. Still she had a plan; otherwise consequences would be carried out. Yet, Sirga was not averse to taking that route and could use harsh measures as a last resort to motivate him. Frequently for her oldest son, Sirga held back whipping his rear end on a regular basis and other forms of punishment until the job was done. That is, in a satisfactory manner up to her standard. These factors caused Mekkar to accelerate his learning curve until his mama felt confident that he was ready enough for continuous customer interaction. Then, she placed him “into the fire” by pressing Mekkar into service for business reasons.

On one of the first days of dealing with the tourists in the family restaurant Mekkar was busing tables and took a couple of orders. One early example was a group of tourists that had arrived into their small 15 table specialty diner. The visitors from the United Kingdom appeared to be astonished when a boy came over to their order. One of the customers commented out load about their order taker’s fairly broken English skills.

Even so, it seemed as though both parties understood each other well enough to converse and get the point across after his first order was received in the foreign language, Mekkar approached the kitchen. Mekkar beamed with confidence, well as much as a little boy could muster. In his eagerness, he sought out more opportunities to exercise his foreign language skills that day.

Later on, another kid from another tourist family taught Mekkar a few new phrases in English. However, Mekkar was given inaccurate information as to the true meanings of some of those expressions. The visitor told Mekkar that one of the words was referred to as a type of greeting instead. Why Mekkar took it at face value, without question, from the slightly older visitor we will never know. Not long afterward, Mekkar thought that he was being cool and uttered that greeting to other travelers. He became confused when he received an appalled reaction which caused them to flee out of the restaurant. When Sirga got wind of it, she was angry at Mekkar and smacked him upside the head. The Arctic boy was puzzled and bewildered by his mama’s response. Mekkar thought that he was being friendly. The young boy was unaware that his specific choice of terminology were used as swear words instead of friendly introductions. Unknown to Mekkar, his mama had been warned by one of her friends who happened to be nearby and spoke English fairly well. She revealed what he was really saying. After some embarrassment and attempts to pass the blame, the lesson was learned. Of course, this was all before Sirga began her own process of absorbing English. She felt it was best for her to be relatable to different tourist groups that might arrive in the future.

This was one of the few slip ups by Mekkar. Overall, he was given praise for a job well done. After closing hours, Mekkar was rewarded with the washing of pots, pans, dishes, & other general cleaning duties. He felt that maybe that this was punishment due to his swearing at the tourists earlier in the day. Mekkar began to come up with alternate justifications and possibilities. He told himself the reason for doing these tasks was that his little brother needed to have an example to follow. For Alf to be groomed to carry out the same tasks, when he got older. The problem was there was a lack of available bodies to fill all the positions at the time to complete the work.

Eventually, the family business expanded into other areas and branched out. Sirga also forced Mekkar along with his siblings and friends to expand their foreign speaking skills by hook or by crook. Employment requirements needed to be filled. Mekkar didn’t go to the formal school anyway and instead had tutors, training aids, plus other methods to help him learn. This way he could spend more time working. Any additional time was spent playing sports and being a kid as much as he could. In this culture, it was expected that children had to grow up more quickly and contribute to the family’s welfare. When he got older formal classroom schooling was also sacrificed on the altar of sports and job assignments.

When he was younger, Mekkar was also in the process of learning not only his native tongue, but another nearby dialect of it, the national language of the country he lived in, a regional speech, a couple of continental languages, along with communication in English as his mama required. His plate was quite full at this time. This was all reinforced by the force of his mama’s personality backed by statements of “Do it my way or I’ll beat your butt!” There was no double standard or dual meaning to interpret regarding Sirga’s words or intentions. She did not speak in double meanings or with a lying tongue unlike today’s politicians. The goals were made very clear and defined. She always meant what she said and their native language was constructed in that manner.

Sirga also made his brothers, when they reached a certain age as he did, learn other foreign tongues to fulfill various other needs according to her perceptions. Alf would eventually become fluent in easily over twenty languages including Hungarian, which is considered by many to be the hardest language on earth. In the course of time, Alf could converse in Cantonese Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Greek, as well as prominent Finno-Ugric, Germanic, Slavic, and Romance languages. Mekkar, on the other hand, was considered a slacker in his family for speaking less than ten languages himself. However, he spoke English which others in his family did not speak at the time. Due to lack of use and practice, in time Mekkar would forget a couple of the tongues he learned when he was a kid. He still remembers odd words however. English was here to stay and would be of more use in the future unbeknownst to Mekkar. This was the case almost exclusively in the future, when he had to flee his home forever due to extenuating circumstances.

Another time when Mekkar was a teenager outside tending watching over some of his reindeer, to keep them healthy for the tourist business, other visitors drove by slowly. The vehicle stopped suddenly where he was and a man, his wife along with two children got out. Mekkar instantly recognized them as non locals because of their clothes. His judgment was based on previous interaction with them in their own language earlier. This time, The Arctic herder kept his back turned toward their group and continued his duties while pretending to ignore the family. The man approached Mekkar within speaking distance. The tourist called out disparagingly, “Hey reindeer boy, turn around and look at us, so we can get a picture of you with the animals.” Mekkar heard him and thought that maybe the out-of-towner had not recognized him from earlier. The young man from the far north surmised that the visitor thought he was speaking to someone else. Despite, the fact there was no other native person with Mekkar at that moment.

Mekkar became perturbed at the condescending comment and responded by turning slowly to his right. He responded, what he referred to as those arrogant bastards, with the native version of flipping the bird at them. It occurred to Mekkar that the visitors might not have understood the meaning behind his reaction. Just to make sure they received his response properly so they would get a clearer picture, he then proceeded to drop his pants to his ankles and moon the tourists there. He even patted his bare bottom in their direction for added emphasis. Mekkar intentionally had reacted with a flippant attitude in this manner. He did what he thought was an appropriate comeback to combat the snobbish attitude and comments on the part of the sightseers.

UNDERSTANDING

One day Mekkar was having lunch, with his younger brother Alf, at an outdoor restaurant. It was in a foreign city where their team was about to play an ice hockey game that evening. The waiter approached the table soon after the brothers had seated themselves. Alf didn’t say a word but just pointed at his selection on the menu. When Mekkar spoke regarding the order in english, the server discovered that he did not speak nor understand the local language. Automatic assumptions about Mekkar were made and disparaging comments were discerned in the waiter’s speech.

It seemed as though there was an expectation that the Arctic Warrior would never find out what was being said about him in the local tongue. Big mistake! The restaurant employee could not have been more wrong in his judgment. Alf spoke the language of the country fluently and understood every word that was spoken. He was even aware of the arrogant tone and proceeded to translate every sentence to his older brother. In his true feisty manner, Mekkar became furious and expressed this in an outward display.

The two brothers ended up not ordering their meal. Instead Mekkar arose from his seat with intent to do some harm. Mekkar got in the waiter’s face and responded with a few choice words in the server’s tongue. Alf had quickly taught him a few simple phrases to respond with during their brief interaction at the table. Mekkar was now sure the waiter grasped that the snide words he had used previously about the Arctic Warrior were exposed. The countenance of the staff member changed to fear and he probably realized that he was in an inevitable position. There was no escape.

Next, the teenager from the far north stopped talking and threw a rapid fist, connecting in the middle of the server’s face. This stunned the taller waiter as Mekkar could unleash a powerful blow from his hands. One more punch to the stomach bent the employee over at the waist. Mekkar exhibited the strength to pickup his adversary enough to toss him into a nearby plate glass window. Flying shards of glass were all over. Mekkar didn’t foresee that much damage, but was in no mood to care. The brothers immediately decided to get out of there as quickly as they could. They wanted to avoid the local police, who they were sure had been called by a bystander observing the activity at the restaurant.

Mekkar and his younger sibling chased down a taxi to take them both back to the team hotel. They figured there was no need for further incidents and they could get some food at the team hotel or maybe even room service. The game day routine followed as usual without interruption.

However, when the match began that night Mekkar was still in a vicious state of mind and he wanted to take it out on someone. He would get his wish. The Arctic Warrior announced to his coaches on the bench for them to be ready to alter their lines. He commented that he was going to play forward and would probably receive an early ejection from the game. Mekkar’s target in this case would be anyone in an opposition national squad uniform, it didn’t matter whom. The bigger, the better!

The side that included Mekkar, his best friend Lasse, and Alf was far superior talent-wise. Thus, the team would have no problem winning the matchup without Mekkar, even though they would be one defenseman short for the whole game. Right at the beginning of his first shift, Mekkar exploded like a heat seeking missile. He sought out the toughest opposing player on the ice. After charging in and forcing a one-on-one tie-up, Mekkar unleashed a beatdown. The other guy quickly prostrated himself into a turtle position, but Mekkar continued his barrage. Mekkar, on this occasion, was sent to the sin bin for five minutes. His team scored a couple of short handed goals in the meantime.

When he was set free from the box, Mekkar did not join the flow on the ice. Instead, he chased after another potential victim and released the beast within. The intent was clear to all people in attendance. Mekkar’s own squad knew what his fate would be on this night. He threw many right hand blasts at the head of his opponent. Blood was streaming from the face of the other player. Since, Mekkar adrenaline was escalated, along with his boiling over anger; the young man was charged up and felt neither pain in his hands nor anywhere else. His teammates quipped that his smashes likely broke his opponent’s protective headgear at the same time. Mekkar didn’t notice and had no capacity for any mercy during the encounter. The Arctic Warrior’s attitude was taking no prisoners and Mekkar obeyed his fury.

It was ironic that Mekkar was ejected from the game, in the initial period, not for the pummeling he dished out. The action of picking up someone’s hockey stick lying nearby and subsequently swinging it like a club is what got him tossed. Even though Mekkar missed connecting with anyone, his baseball bat striking attempt sealed his fate this night. Alf afterward commented, “Beware of what comes out your mouth because you never know who is listening and there might be consequences, especially around Mekkar.”