DIGGING OWN GRAVE

Things that appear glorifying outwardly do not always assume the same shape inwardly.

Human beings are like that too, as if they belong to the same genealogical chart with every other thing.

Dr Richard O'Neil woke from bed and thought that the day would be like every other day. He had not seen a change and did not expect to see one, especially on that day.

ln fact, he did not know that there was possibility of a change occurring at all.

Sand, frosted with cold, crunched under his feet as he ran along the curving shore.

His muscles had warmed, and moved fluid as oiled gears in the second Mile of his morning run.

His pace was a fast and disciplined jog, and his breath rushed out in white plumes.

He felt fabulous.

The wintry beach held no footprints but his own, and his were stamped, as he jogged back and forth across the gentle sweep of winter beach.

He loved the winter best.

As he slowed his pace a bit, not only to cool down but prolong the solitude. He often took her morning runs with his son's dog, Belly, but this morning he had slipped out alone.

Alone was another thing he liked best.

And he'd wanted to clear his mind. There was a great deal to think about. Some of which he preferred not to, so he tucked those annoyances and problems away for now. What had to be dealt with wasn't precisely a problem. You couldn't call something that made you happy a problem.

Dr Richard O'Neil's wife, Marina O'Neil, was a long legged, blonde with eyes like prime whiskey.

She always ranked first in the family to rise from sleep every morning. She normally woke at 5:00am and go down the kitchen to make breakfast.

She worked in a commercial Bank where coming late to work was hardly condoned. Being a bank staff for over five years had changed her to an early riser, while she always flicked those eyes, her wide, pretty mouth always stayed serious and sometimes unsmiling.

Overall she was a middle-aged, attractive woman, with a very interesting smile, that would easily make a man fantasies about her, but she always were her wedding ring on her finger that stopped her as much proximity to male office staffs.

ln order for her to marry the workloads of her office, with her domestic responsibilities, without leaving one to suffer at the expense of the other.

Richard O'Neil jnr. was the eldest son, he was about eleven years old. He would always wake at about the time his mother would be finishing with the settings up breakfast.

Dr Richard slammed into his apartment at 7:00am,

And peeled off his sports wear as he raced to the bathroom.

"Darling... your back." Marina's voice sounded form the kitchen, as she put together some sandwiche and cookies.

"Hey.. I'm." He responded from the bathroom.

"Dad, we're ready for school." Richard jnr sounded form the dining area.

He'd always wanted to be a Doctor and a family man. He hadn't made a big deal of it. The demands of his responsibility to the family had been a dream come true. He had nothing to regret that the responsibilities had to hang on his neck.

He was full of thanks to God who was actually in control, and his Loving, caring and supportive wife, who made it possible for him to discharge those onerous responsibilities with ease.

He walked out of the bathroom, straight to his bedroom.

His apartment was big and cluttered. his leaving room was a large space, with an area to one side devoted to a long leather sofa, Two sink-into-me armchairs and a wide-screen TV. The double window was shielded with blinds. The carpet was cozily thick and stone-gray.

He yanked open his closet door and pushed through a selection of clothes_ in search of a suitable shirt and pants. if he could manage a quick change, he might actually have time to slap together a sandwich or stuff a handful of cookies into his mouth before dropping the kids at school, aheading to his office.

"Dad, we're late. Dad......." Richard jnr with a very loud voice. Now he's looking a little bit up, while glancing at the wall clock.

"Honey, Hurry these kids are late." Marian added.

"Am sorry guys, let's go." As picks his car keys and stuffed a handful of cookies into his mouth.

"Mom, we're off. See you at lunch time."

"Okay guys, Love you......." Marian replied.

Richard jnr and Ann's school was a good twenty five minutes away, and half again that much if he attempted to drive in rush hour traffic.

Luckily there was little traffic, and let a enough time to drive to Richard jnr's school if he got straight down to the garage and hit all the lights on green.

Good parents like Dr Richard who have the internet of his family first at heart consider the exercise of running their children to school as worth it. They derive great Joy from the family as no one could justifiably claim not to belong to one.

At 8:45 Dr Richard reached his office under this atmosphere of great happiness, after dropping his children at school. There was an emergency case brought to the hospital that morning and yearning for immediate attention of an expert.

The emergency case was as a result of an accident that occurred in the home of a certain family that morning, not far off the hospital.

The victim was a child of five years old. The child had been prepared for school and give breakfast, Sandwich and bread. while a fish sauce was for his Dad, Explained by the victims mother.

"He went for the fish sauce immediately. No one knew how it all happened. whether he ate the sauce hurriedly and failed to notice that there was fish-bone. it did go down his stomach quite all right through the right track."

Dr Richard saw the child writhing in great pain, his eyes were gauging out like someone that a hundred boxers had pulled heavy punches on his eyes.

He quickly rang two of their medical doctors to report at the office immediately to form a team with him for an operation on the child.

An urgent operation was quickly arranged, Dr Richard and two other doctors retired to the theatre with the child at 9:00 on the dot.

The attention given to the child's case by Dr Richard and his team was commendable but a breach of official protocol of the hospital. Under normal circumstances,a patient has to obtain a card.

This rule was not followed in the child's case. lt was a confusing situation that everyone thought of nothing else than the safety of the child and to have done otherwise.

"Sweetheart, Stop crying. He will be fine. Jason said."

Evelyn, on her hands and knees, didn't look up. She was a woman who made worry an art, and she worried about Jack.

Someone had to. Frustrated, he looked down at the sable brown hair twisted untidily into a knot on top of her head.

Her neck was slender, pale, her shoulders curved slightly forward as she rested her weight on her forearms. she had a delicate build, with the kind of fragility Jason had always associated with nineteenth-century English aristocrat ladies.

She wore a T-shirt and jeans that were both faded and slightly damp from perspiration. When he looked at her hands, fine boned, elegant hands, and saw they were grimy, he shuddered.

He knew she was going through a hell. Jason understood women go through odd moods in case the these.

"Sweetheart, just how long are you going to go on this way?"

"Until my son is out of the theatre." Her voice was low, and husky.

He had a responsibility to her and, damn it, to himself. Joson blew out a long breath, an old habit he had whenever he meet with opposition. it was up to him to talk some sense into her, to calm down and stop crying.

"Sweetheart, I Love you and Jack. You know I do. So calm down and stop crying. trust me, he'll be fine."

This time Evelyn turned her head, looking up with a flash of a smile that involved every inch of her face the mouth that stopped just short of being too wide, the chin a bit the sweep of cheekbones that gave her face a diamond shape.

Now she sat back on her haunches, blowing a wisp of hair out of her eyes as she looked up at the man who was frowning at her.

She felt a tug of affection, a tug of amusement. Both had always come easily to her. "Jason, I love you and Jack too.

"Now Stop acting like an old woman. You shouldn't be grubbing around on your hands and knees."

"l can't help it." she said simple.

it was the very simplicity of the tone that told him he, she's calm. "I think you need a mug of coffee."

"Oh, honestly. I do." She replied on a low voice.

"Good... I'll be right with it."

He walked to the hospital reception area, and ordered for a mug of coffee. After receiving his order he walked back quickly to his wife.

"Here, you have it."

"Thanks."

After an hour and half, Dr Richard emerged from the theatre area, with a big smile on his face, which could easily give out how well all the operation went.

"Mr and Mrs Williams, congratulations. The operation was successful. Your son is doing good."

"Thanks you Doctor." Jason Williams said.

"Thank you Doctor." Evelyn said , "can we see him

now?" she asked with a huge smile.

"Yeah...in few minutes. my team is cleaning him and they will be done in few minutes. I'll be in my office now."

"Thank you."

As Dr Richard walked towards his office, his phone rang..

"Hello." Dr Richard responded to the call.

"Good morning, sir." the caller said. "I'm Engineer Shaw from National petroleum council (NPC) Maryland.

l was a one time patient of yours some few years ago when I was serving in Jackson, Mississippi. l can't forget the way u handled my case and the kind attention that l received from you."

Dr Richard tried to quickly refresh his memory and recall the event that the caller was trying to resurrect but he could not remember.

"I'm not sure that I have the foggiest what was your case then." Dr Richard confessed to him sincerely and with honesty.

"Of course, you might not remember it now. You might also not know that I'm no longer in Jackson, Mississippi. l was transferred to our Depot at Baltimore, Maryland few months ago."

"Are you at NPC Baltimore, Maryland now?"

"Yes, since roughly half of the year now. l had even opted to come back to Jackson, Mississippi for a certain reasons but the company did not grant my request.

The refusal was like taking a horse to the stream and forcing it to drink. When I went to Baltimore, I found out that I was the most senior officer in my department and to take over from one Engr Harry Kennedy from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. But do you know what happened Doc?"

"What happened?" Dr Richard asked,in a very deep tune.and waited for an answer.

"Engr Kennedy refused to hand over to me, damn it. I could believe that members of the management board allowed him to win their support and remain as head of department. Well Doc, that's by the way and know means the reason for calling you."

"I thought as much."

"The reason for calling you is, there is this product called Oil Pipeline Pit which has suddenly become like gold dust in the East side. NPC now wants to embark upon massive repair of most, if not all, of it's old ones across the East, following a directive from the Government.

The management has meet for a number of times in this regard and final reached a conclusive decision to buy some of these products.

My department has been assigned with the responsibility to buy them." Mr Shaw stopped to take a breath. "hope your still listening to me sir?"

"Yes, I'm listening. Go on."

"This morning, I learnt that a budget of two hundred and thirty thousand dollars per packet of the product was approved by the management."

Dr. Richard tried to imagine the size of a packet of the product that should cost up to two hundred and thirty thousand dollars.

There and then he thought that he did not not hear the amount stated by Engr Kennedy very well and took it for two hundred and thirty dollars for a packet.

"The so-called head of department is now preparing to begin a tour of the East side to search for the product. He has been scheduled to go to New York, Boston and Providence and finally Qatar and Kuwait in case the stock of the product is confirmed nil. What am saying is that I had been handling such job for NPC Depot in Jackson Mississippi. l use to buy the product from Shell and I remember having bought last from the company just last year at a price of one hundred and seventy. l called you because l know you as someone of integrity that can be trusted, someone who can get my share of the profit after the transaction and keep it intact for me without letting it go lost."

"Thanks for the compliment."

"That is how it is, Doc."

"Okay, What do you want from me?"

"l want you to find out from the store officer at Shell whether they have to the stock of the product, this is, the Oil Pipeline Pit A-10 and still sell it at a price of one hundred and seventy."

"A... what?" Dr. Richard asked ignorantly.

"l said A-10. You don't have to panic or brother yourself about the terminology. There are A-10, A-4, and A-2 type but the type that NPC wants urgently now is A-10.

If Shell has the product and still sells at one hundred and seventy, give me a call and I'll direct Dr. Kennedy to you so that you buy the product from Shell and sell to him.

There is huge gain to make from the deal. When you have found out the price at which the product sells at Shell and confirm that it's lesser than the NPC approved purchase price of two hundred and thirty.

Then call me to link you up with Dr. Kennedy, so that you can talk with him. l don't want him to have an idea that I'm involved in the deal.

He sees me as his rival in the office, probably an enemy of some sort. Call the the Shell store officer and let me know the outcome. I'll text his contact details to you."

"No problem."

"Damn it, Dr. Kennedy will leave for a tour soon, so you have to be fast about calling him."

"I'll do that that in no distant time."

"I owe you for this, Doc."

"For what it worth."

Thanks Engr Shaw was satisfied with Dr. Richard's promise to put a call across to the store officer before ending the call.

Dr. Richard, made a mug of coffee to drink and clam his nerves, and think through his conversation with Engr Shaw, and in his final analysis, he decided to call the store officer but not on the spot.

A half hour later after having lunch, Dr. Richard called the Shell Store Officer to inquire about the A-10 Oil Pipeline Pit.

He responded promptly. He had spoken seemingly reasonable words to Dr. Richard and had given him his name as Francis.

He'd spoken great length with Dr. Richard including making some efforts to thrill him with jokes and explaining elaborately the modus operandi of his company and Dr. Richard had taken all he said like french wine.

He was a complete novice at oil business, which is totally different from his wide knowledge about the workings of stethoscope, syringes and all that which have gained popularity in the medical field.

He was prompted to believe that Engr Shaw was up to something after all, if all what Francis had voiced out to him so far should be taken as truth.

"But I would like to know whether you're registered with our company as a contractor." Francis said.

"No, I have not registered with you yet."

"Then you may be required to register before you could be allowed to transact business with us."

Dr. Richard was somehow having the feeling of disappointment pinching him as his credentials to qualify for supplies from the company were as deficient as if they were non-existent.

He was in this kind of thought for a few moments without improving on the conservation any further.

"Hello Sir, What's up with the long silence, I may come to your help if you tell me exactly what you want?"

"I'm glad to hear you say that. I want to buy three hundred packet of A-10 Oil Pipeline Pit from you if your price is good and acceptable to me."

"We sell at one hundred and seventy five per packet."

"That means you have increased the price. I was told that you used to sell at One hundred and seventy per packet."

"Yes, the price was slightly increased to take care of inflation."

Dr. Richard made to hesitate but decided otherwise. "Anyway, I will still need the quantity in spite of the slight increase in the price."

"Three hundred packet will place you in the category of our major buyers. We may consider selling to you because of the quantity that you want to buy, though you may not have registered as one of our contractors."

"Thank you."

"Because we do not sell to individuals, you'll begin to commence your registration as soon as you have paid. We are only giving you this grace because of the large quantity being requested by you."

"I'm very grateful. I'll call you tomorrow to intimate you when I'll pay for the number of packets."

"Are you paying for the product tomorrow?"

Yes, of course." Dr. Richard answered in the affirmative.

"Good, you have to call me when you're ready for it."

"I will definitely do that."

"Do have a nice day sir."

The talks that he had concluded with him and Engineer Shaw appeared to bear some remarkable significance for him to consider taking them seriously.

He reasoned that there were quite a few people now doing business and making fantastic profit and his own should not be different.

But was there really money to be made from the deal?

He asked in a soliloquy.

He calculated, mentally of course, that the difference between two hundred and thirty dollars and one hundred and seventy five dollar was a mere fifty five dollar and when multipled by three hundred gives sixteen thousand five hundred dollars only.

This rationalization gave him guts to conclude that the gain ran short of the trouble that might go with it.

This is not to suppose that he would have the sixteen thousand five hundred dollars all for himself.

Not at all. Engineer Shaw had indicated keen interest to have a share in the gain and it would be quite unfair to deny it to him.

After all he was the one who initiated the business and had not rested to see it afloat.

Then granted that the both of them, still remained the only people expected to come up with claims to whatever gain, it would not make any difference to the amount.

Each of their shares would still be very small whether or not someone tampered with it.

It has become common knowledge that businessmen are no angels. They hardly waive any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them, which was certain to be the case in the present circumstance.

Perhaps at the end of the day someone say, most possibly Dr. Richard, might invent a fairly long list of expenses incurred by him to be reimbursed from the total gain before sharing it with his business partner would come to mind.

On the other hand, one could as well not take Engineer Shaw for a bloody fool who had connected him to the business.

To say the least the net gain after cutting every expense might not mean more than a peanut to each of them.

Damn it, for all that Dr. Richard saw the business as something that was never going to be a lucrative type and sweating over it a waste of time.

He decided to relax and push the business to the back of his mind and so didn't call Engineer Shaw to get him up to date, regarding the talks between him and the store officer.

On the morning of the following day Engineer Shaw called Dr. Richard on phone.

"Hello, Engineer Shaw." Dr. Richard said with low voice. He felt a twinge of conscience pricking him that he did not call Engineer Shaw on the previous day as he promised.

The instant call from Engineer Shaw himself actually played the role of a reminder to him of the promise, these made him feel some bits of regret for refusing to call him, at least to say

he had lost interest in the business.

Engineer Shaw reciprocated the greeting accordingly.

"l decided to call you after waiting for your call since yesterday without hearing from you. wonder if anything is the matter."

Dr. Richard hesitated just for a moment, and then came up with a lie to Engineer Shaw.

I was so trapped in a tight schedule of my official assignment throughout the whole of yesterday that l couldn't even remember my promise to call you. I'm very sorry for any inconveniences that the disappointment might have brought." Dr. Richard apologized.

"That's over," Engineer Shaw said. "Now tell me about your discussion with the store officer at Shell or didn't you call him as agreed?"

"l did, and he was kind enough to give me every piece of information that I needed from him. l guess he's a nice fellow."

"People talk good of him," Engineer Shaw said. What about the A-10 Oil Pipeline Pit. Does the company have it in stock?"

"Yes, they do. l was so informed by the store officer that the product is in stock and in enough quantity that can take care of the number of packets being requested by me."

"At what price per packet does the company sell?"

"One hundred and seventy five."

"One hundred and seventy five!"

Engineer Shaw exclaimed. "The company has increased the price then."

"Yes, since January this year according to the store officer."

"There is still something to gain from the deal between the company's price and the NPC approved price even at the new price of one hundred and seventy five."

"How much is that?" Dr. Richard asked with a searing scorn in his voice. "is it not just fifty five dollar per packet totalling only sixteen thousand five hundred dollars, when multipled by three hundred packets?"

"No, Doc, you're getting it all wrong. lt is not fifty five dollar but fifty five thousand dollars per packet making a total of sixteen million five hundred thousand dollars."

"How can that be?" Dr. Richard asked in utter disbelief. "l don't understand."

"Now listen carefully. l want you to understand. The NPC approved price is two hundred and thirty thousand dollars while Shell sells at one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars, which makes the difference between the figures fifty five thousand dollars per packet. Then if fifty thousand dollars is multipled by three hundred, the sum will be sixteen million five hundred thousand dollars which is the gain being expected. Do you understand the arithmetic now?"

"Yes. l think l do. l had been making the mistake of taking those prices to be in hundreds."

"No, they are in thousands. You can see that a lot of money stands to be gained from the transaction and so much to lose if we don't proceed with the business. Engineer Kennedy is preparing to leave for Providence to search for the product. l want you to call him on phone and negotiate price with him."

"But I don't know him, either do l have his phone number," Dr. Richard declared.

" That's not a problem. I'll text you his number."

" Good. till then."

Dr. Richard did not allow his mind slide away from the business while waiting for Engineer Shaw to text him the phone number of Engineer Kennedy.

He made a mug of coffee to take, while he picked a pen and paper to do a simple arithmetic of how much was going to be gain from the transaction and was convinced beyond all shadow of doubt after his arithmetic calculation that Engineer Shaw's sum was absolutely correct.

The gain was attractive indeed, he thought and revived his interest to become a party to the transaction.

ln fact, he wanted every bit of the business to start working out immediately but it was not possible to happen the way he was thinking.

The business could not progress any further unless Dr. Kennedy's number got to him. He now longed for the number more than anything else and the five minutes requested by Engineer Shaw to enable him text the number seemed to him like an hour.

Engineer Shaw was following up everything in a business man-like way. When it was exactly five minutes, the text popped in as he had promised.

"You have to call him now, sir,"

"Certainly, I'll do that right away."

"Don't put me at sight, with Engineer Kennedy. if you do, he will try to back out of the business and all our effort will be in vain and waste like rubbish consigned to the death dump."

"I understand."

"You have to tell him that you're a contractor with NPC Jackson, Mississippi Depot and got his number from the depot. lf you say so to him, am sure he will believe you, for he knows it like the language of his mother tongue that each depot has particulars and details of every principal officer of NPC. Please try and call him now and let me know the outcome of your discussion with him."

"Damn right, I'll call him right away and give you feedback after."

"Thanks."

He didn't start calling Engineer Kennedy the moment he received the number. He was almost through with preparation to leave office and chose to make the call when he reached there.

As luck would also have it, he was not scheduled for duty on that day and was as free as air to make use of all the time in the world to discuss business with Dr. Kennedy.

At 8:45am he arrived in his office. Then the office was already filled up with other staff that reported earlier than him for duty.

His arrival used to attract the attention of workers in his department.

He shifted his attention to the business area of the hospital. lt appeared to be as ruthlessly efficient as the rest of the area was indulgent.

The workstation held a computers and phones. Across from it stood a large monitor that showed all the hospital areas. One could tell, it was a security cameras throughout the public areas.

He was one of the senior medical officers of the hospital who commanded tremendous respect from his subordinate staff.

Being a consultant paediatric surgeon and head of department was not the only thing that gave him solid recognition. There were many more other things too numerous to mention.

Because of certain informal protocol in and out of his office on a daily, he did not call Engineer Kennedy straight away on getting to his office.

He also knew that such protocol was always short-lived like the blink of an eye. At times, how long the protocol lasted depended on him.

He knew when to draw the line with staffs that enteres his office for greetings and enquire. He also enjoy sharing good humour with the staffs.

Ten minutes after his arrival in the office Dr. Richard could see that he was through with his departmental staff besieging his office to share greetings with him.

For the first time in years Dr. Richard was observing the shortest time ever being consumed by such protocol in his office.

He was happy that it came when he needed it most. ln the absence of further interruption in sight, he started getting ready by dialling Engineer Kennedy's number.

Now, in his office alone, Dr. Richard walked over to his office coffee machine. He'd insisted on one of his own to save himself the annoyance of buzzing an assistant every time he wanted a hit.

He sat at the desk, his back to the wall as he focus on the floor-to-ceiling shelves of books.

He did not finish doing that before someone, a fast guy, was first in time and called his own number.

Behold it was Engineer Shaw again calling from Baltimore.

"Hello, Engineer Shaw."

"Hello, sir. I waited to hear from you to know how you discussed the business with Engineer Kennedy but l couldn't get your call. Did you call him as proposed?"

"No, I'm yet to do so. l was onto it when you called."

"Okay, please do. He has got set to travel. He just got back from the bank and will soon leave for the airport."

"You know what?"

"No, sir."

"Just drop the call, still me call him straight away, then get back to you after that."

"Okay, till you call."

"Right then."

One could imagine the huge surprise that the turn of invent was to Dr. Richard.