ABC

He sat and the car cursing at the traffic. Up ahead he could see that the four lanes were merging into one. Not only that, the cars in that one lane was rubber necking. About six police cars were situated in the middle of the highway to help direct traffic. It was more than enough. The cones themselves were already a clear indication of where to go. The flashing lights and commotion just made the drivers more curious about the accident. Looking to his right he could see the local traffic lanes speeding on by. The sectioning off of highway 270, the main lanes from the local lanes, proved its purpose. Cars that found themselves in there could easily exit at that moment. A good design, but it was a design that taunted him at the moment.

His cell phone rang.

“John here.” He clicked on his wireless headset. “Yes, I’m sorry. Looks like I’ll be late. Yes. Give me about thirty minutes. I’ll be there.”

The air conditioning was blasting in his brand new Mercedes-Benz. Yet, he could still feel himself sweating. Leather seats with not only built in heating, they came with built in cooling as well. The seats were turn to the coolest setting. He expected it to feel as if he sat on an ice block. Instead, he still felt hot and agitated in his suit. He was running late.

“Goddam traffic!” He hit the steering wheel.

His phone flared up again. He looked down at his phone. It was his friend. He paused a moment and wondered if he could call him back. With the traffic barely moving, he could use the company.

“Yo wassup Troy.” He yelled into the small mic protruding from his headset.

He lifted his hand in courtesy as a neighboring car let him into the lane.

“Stuck in traffic. Fuck, I gotta get to this client too. Yeah. ABC alright.” He couldn’t help but laugh.

John was Chinese, Taiwanese born for that matter. Throughout college people usually thought of him as ABC, American Born Chinese. He spoke English well and adapted in the world of sales and marketing. It came naturally. His father was a socialite. Speaking and dealing with people is as natural as walking. This gift of his had given him the success he had. Now his friends changed his label of ABC to Always Be Closing. A term describing all the deals he’s closed, each one bringing his family a couple thousand dollars. Moderate income if you close several a month, but this was John and he rightfully earned the title ABC. It wasn’t the instant money he gets when he closes a deal. It’s also the residual money he gets when clients resign with him the following years. It starts off small at first, but when the client base grows, he just sits back and enjoys the ride.

However, with the current economic situation, things have changed. People are trying o save money. Cutting back on their expenditures. That results to no buying and more painfully, no one is renewing. He could sell the dream, but it’s hopeless if no one could afford it. For the past year, he watched his client base dwindle. With a huge mortgage to pay, along with all the lease bills, insurance bills, private school bills, and not to mention every day expenses, money was getting tight.

“Yeah, got the whip. Wife’s got the mini. Picking up the kids from music class.”

He laughed as his friend made a crack about his how awful his life was.

“Dude… I’m so stressed right now.”

If his friend knew how desperately he needed this client. The client was a high roller, a fellow Chinese, but one from Mainland China. Being from Taiwan, he knew it was best to just call himself Chinese, rather than Taiwanese. It was a debate not worth having. Dealing with the Chinese was hard enough as it is. And this guy was no exception. Already filthy rich, this client was still making sure he had the best deal, down to the dollar. He wanted to see the proper return on investment before sealing the deal. Worse of all, the client knew the economy was bad and that John needed the deal. It had been a grueling ordeal. He had worked with this guy for half a year now and it was more stressful than all the stress he’s experienced in the past ten years combined. But this sole deal would help him deal with his bills for a few more months. The deal wasn’t the best deal for the client either. While other firms enticed the contract with incentives, such as box seat tickets or dinner reservations at exclusive locations, John’s deal just revolved around the numbers.

“Yeah. There’s a stupid accident. Yeah? It’s on the news? Great, see if you can see me.”

John waited for a bit.

“I’ll stick my arm out the window. See me?”

A laugh came out of his headset.

“Haha! Yeah that’s me! It’s craaazy right?”

A blip came through the headset. John looked at his phone. It was his client calling.

“Hey man, let me call you back. Got the client on the other line.”

He replaced the call.

“John here. Yes. I’m on 270. Are you sure?”

The agitation rose in John’s blood, but he fought hard to keep it form boiling over. He could feel the beads of sweat forming now. His grip on the steering wheel had tightened to a vise. He shook his head and his jaw tightened as he heard the excuse from the other end of the phone. All because the client found it unprofessional that he was late.

“I understand.”

John took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to let this go down without a fight.

“But you have to see it like this. Things will happen. Just like this, a simple traffic jam. They all come up in your life. We all have to deal with it. But you have to see it for what it is and not let it affect your goal. Just like your goal. You want to see your figures. We guarantee you’ll see your figures. Things may come up after you sign – Congress makes a mistake on the bailout, banks freeze up again. Does that mean you pull your money out. No, where money is loss, money is gained. Money only moves, it’s never lost unless someone physically burns it. Our firm lives by this and we follow it to heart. That’s why we’re still afloat in this storm. So if you let this uncontrollable delay affect your decision and opinion, I’m afraid our fundamental thinking are in conflict.”

John’s wiped the sweat that appeared on his forehead and waited on the line.

“OK. Great. I’m glad to hear that. I’ll see you in fifteen.”

He was at the side lane now passing by the scene of the accident. His body temperature cooled. He looked out at the accident that occurred. Now he saw why this was a big deal. It was a chemical tractor-trailer. Any worse of an accident would have been a catastrophe. He glad that didn’t happen and surely glad he avoided his accident.

Traffic was moving again. Everything was coming back to normal. He turned on his radio and popped in his favorite CD. He started singing along to his favorite Taiwanese song, while dialing up his friend.

“Yo,” He greeted calmly. “Yep. ABC.”