The gypsy Google driver

Most people just don't realize how free they are: they are free to learn, free to work, free to travel and build relationships, free to build a life without all the weights and dead lifts on their shoulders pulling them back or even below. He was so jealous of them because of this freedom... and now, for the first time in his life, he also can live that kind of freedom up, as this is his first day being employed, legal and declared.

It is his first day at work as a Google driver.

In almost all cases before, people turned their back on him, companies closed his application, always pinned down with the same label: "gypsy".

Gypsies are going to steel you blind, people say. But they do not know, how was it feel like when he was 8, and saw the rich kids buying the most delicious chocolates and the biggest sandwiches, while he and the other poor kids just held their heads down going back to the classroom with drooping stomach. At least those other poor ones had something packed from home, but he barely even had anything to eat that day. The snacks, provided by the school was nothing fancy or too delectable, so most children just left them behind in the classroom when going out to the school yard to play. He wanted to take the leftover from the snacks, so he and his siblings can eat at least something for dinner - but has been caught red-handed by one of his classmates. The youngster fall silent, then turned around and left without saying a word. However, from the next day, the snacks remaining were taken back to the canteen, making he feel ashamed, left alone with the problems from home.

Gypsies are one fry short of a Happy Meal, people say. They believe gypsies are ill-bred and uneducated, because these kind of people doesn’t have much between the ears. But they do not know how painful it is, when you just do not have the choice to study further. Since he was 12, he learned his ass off in physics and mathematics and became best of the class. At nights, he was busy reading the studies of the newest inventions in robotics under his blanket. He dreamed so badly of becoming an engineer. However, with a father in jail and with a mother having mental disorders, there were not much option for the 3 siblings, but to go for anything that can make them some income. As the eldest, he had to become the breadwinner, even if it was more to bite than he could chew.

Gypsies just want to have the subsidiary and all the benefits from the government, and do not want to work, people say. But they do not know, how humiliating it is to attend an interview as a member of the minority race. On the phone, everyone was enthusiastic, open and tweeting with him, but as soon as the interview moved to the personal stage and people  saw him, whispers began and he got no more questions asked, only a look of disgust. So he stopped applying for normal jobs, and opted for a career on the black market, where he can at least have a chance. Those jobs was either not reported to the authorities or illegal, but paid the bills anyway.

This was the first company, where no one cared of his label that haunted him. Google took a chance on him, giving him a job, and with that, giving him the opportunity to take the first step on a long road towards a free life. The kind, where the days are free to be enjoyed without any threat - that may be nothing spectacular for most people who have never lived on the edge, but for him, it is life-changing.

In a month, he will start to repay the usury her mother took, as she had no other options to pay for the overhead bills, which she was already running late. She had no job to have a fixed income, and without that neither banks, nor any service provider offered her any options to make a living. Besides, the unemployment benefit was such a dole that she had to decide each and every month which bill to pay. Hopefully a remittance would make the loan shark back off.

In 6 months, he will support her sister to enroll to vocational school. She was dreaming of becoming a hairdresser, and with his help, she will be able to study without setting back on the life of their family.

In a year, he will gather the courage to ask out the girl next door. He is not going to hold his head down, feeling ashamed of being penniless, as he always did before. He is going to take the girl to cinema, and will be a gentleman: he will pay for the tickets, even going to buy popcorn for her. He will be too shy to even hold her hand, but the girl next door will give her a smile and cuddle him. The movie will be sappy and forgettable, but their first kiss after it will be nothing like that.

In 2 years, he will take out the girl next door for a walk by the riverside. He will bring up all sorts of nonsense in confusion, but when the sunset comes and the , he is going to kneel down, and propose her with a simple, charming ring, which he will buy from his income without any bank credit.

In 5 years, he is going to buy his own flat from the saving, he started from the day he received his first wage, and will move in there with his future wife. The flat would not be big, not be anything spectacular, and still he would have to take some loan, but it still would be their own. His future wife will  

In 6 years, his child will be born, and his heart will burst with joy. Between his tears of happiness, he will vow to give them the life, in which they can be free, leaving any livelihood insecurity behind.

But today he starts the car engine and gets to work, proving Google that he befits this job. Proving the world, that he deserve the life that was taken away from him so far with all the distrust and negative labels he had.

This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for a gypsy.