C9 The Fuse

While, he was still fussing about news regarding the flight cancellations.

His friend, Architect James brown whom he just met and was chatting his bellyful at the departure hall was the only person out of the multitude of passengers who didn't appear to be disturbed by the trend of event at the airport.

The absence of plane at the schedule time of travel at the airport had long since stopped to be news for him.

He was a regular traveller by air and had mastered how the airline operation works.

Prior to that, he suffered a series of financial loss of profit that were suppose to benefit him, not to mention money which he had been found liable to pay for failing to deliver work in accordance with the schedule.

Cancellation of flight schedule for reasons only known to the airline operators was always responsible for all that.

James was a professional architect and he too knew that he had come of age in this profession.

He was very well known around the east coast side of the country and had contract lined up for him in virtually every state of the east coast to design buildings.

Companies that were desirous of erecting a building with the state of the art facility always went for him as the architect of their choice that could deliver the kind of design that is of world standard.

For that reason, James was always shuttling from one state after another to attend to the dictate of his job.

He would travel to negotiate a contract with intending clients and would also travel to deliver jobs completed for clients.

Whenever a flight schedule was cancelled on those occasion of his travel, he would miss his I

appointment with the prospective client or fail to deliver on the due date to his client. He continued to suffer these shortcoming of the airline operators until he devise a plan of checking against flight cancellation.

He decided to start his travel a day ahead of the meeting that he had got to attend with clientsor on the due date that he had got to deliver the jobs completed for the client.

The idea was far better for him than fail to meet up with any of such appointments.

Since then, he never had problem with disappointing his clients because of cancellation of flight schedule and damn the risk of losing contract or paying damages to his clients for failing to deliver their jobs on the due date had become a thing of the past for him.

"What are you doing here, Dr. Richard?" James asked.

"I'll be the one to ask you that question," Dr. Richard replied jocularly.

"What are you doing here? Are you still residing in Baltimore?"

"I have left this city long time ago."

"No, wonder I have not seen you all these while," Dr. Richard said. "Where are you now?"

"I'm in Washington."

"Did you resign your job with the State ministry of housing?"

James nodded in agreement.

"I resigned with a view to set up a private practice of my own," James explained.

"Hmm... I see."

"l didn't know l had been wasting in the ministry until I joined private practice."

"That means your breaking even."

"Very well. Are you still working at the State Clinic?" James asked in a low tune.

"I do, but as a consultant surgeon now."

"l keep wondering why some of you guys in the public service do not want to explore the opportunity that abound the private practice."

"Do you think private practice is better?"

"Menhh... Come on! lts a million times better."

Dr. Richard was surprised. As a consultant paediatric surgeon, he was on a monthly salary of three hundred thousand dollars after tax and didn't believe he could earn a higher amount elsewhere.

"You seem to look surprised hearing me rate private practice better than working in the public service."

"Yeah... of course I really do."

"Do you earn up to five hundred thousand dollars on our job as a consultant surgeon?"

"Nobody earns such an amount in the public service of this state.

James laughed. "When I left ministry of housing, I was on a monthly salary of two hundred dollars. l don't know I could earn better amount elsewhere until a friend of mine talked me into joining him as a junior partner in his private practice.

My share in the profit after my first month in his line of business was One million, four hundred dollars. We were five architects and the principal completes the number of staffs to six.

l have reluctantly left the ministry and joined my friends private practice but realized at the end of my first month, working with my friend was the big deal, rather than wasting serious time in the public service.

For what it's worth, Dr. Richard was amazed, his facially expression was look some who had seem bags of gold coins, he couldn't believe what he had get heard.

"One million four hundred thousand dollars was just the least amount that i earned in a month, before I left to set up my own private practice."

"Damn it... You're teasing me, James." Dr. Richard said dumbly.

"How can I tease you?"

Dr. Richard was silent for a moment, finding himself oddly mesmerized and couldn't know the right answer to give James instantly.

"Mennh, Am sure you're not teasing me, James," Dr. Richard stuttered again while rolling his eyes.

"Teasing you? James said in a slight tune, as he walks closer towards Dr. Richard. "What make you think am teasing you?" he asked.

"How possible would one earn an income of over one million four hundred thousand dollars in a month, if he's not an NBA, NFL Superstar?"

James popped up with a big laugh. "I don't know how to explain this to you again. However you need to resign from your job and join the private sector before you can see what am saying. Then it wouldn't be long before you believe what I just told you."

"Wait, do you really mean I can earn as much as half a million dollars in the private sector?"

"You can earn much more than that, especially if you're lucky to set up a private practice. Right now my monthly income is as good as that of top NBA, NFL Superstars."

"Let me hear the bomb sound, what is the figure?"

Dr. Richard asked with a sense of disbelief on his voice.

"Right now my monthly income is above three million dollars since I started on my own.

Dr. Richard looked mused. The disbelief on his face was legendary.

James continued. "And you, as a consultant pediatrics surgeon, would earn much more than that amount if you are into private practice. You could get retainership and the establishment retaining you could pay you millions of dollars every year. As a medical practitioner into private practice you could hold retainership for over twenty establishment that could pay you two to three million dollars each year, In addition to other income that could trickle in from individual patient coming for casual treatment. l advise you to rest, relax and consider this. You don't have to rush your discission. " James said as he put his hand across Dr. Richard's back. While lying close to his ear "Work out a living the hard way and live the life you wised for or live averagely in the public service."

Dr. Richard was neither completely in agreement with James's revelation that was intended for the edification of his knowledge nor in doubt of the truth in a whole of the revelation.

He only remained in wonder like a child beginning to come to reality with the concert world.

He was more likely to agree with James than to doubt him. James had been into private practice for a number of years now and had gained considerable experience from which he was speaking to him as if giving him a special lecture on a new discovery.

He also knew James as different from a shady character type of people and never sounded boastful or bombastic to make his point ring bell.

"Well, James, I don't know what to say now," Dr. Richard said. "Thank you for showing interest in my welfare. I really have to think about all you have revealed to me today. Menhh I never knew the private practice is such a treasure trove."

"Please do. I'll be glad to see you come into private practice. The sector need intelligent, disciplined people like yourself."

Dr. Richard gave a little smile and felt being flattered by James.

"Where do you base? l mean your office is?" Dr. Richard asked.

James with a big smiling face, went for his pocket immediately and brought out a complementary card in a golden colour, which he handed over to Dr. Richard.

"As you can see from the card, my office is at Washington were I live but my area of operation is the entire length of the east coast part of the country and beyond. The reason is that I also have clients outside the U.S who patronize my service and had engaged me to design architectural works for them. lt pleases me to be in this profession."

"You're a real professional, James," Dr. Richard uttered.

"I'm only trying to make a better life for my family, enjoy the good things life have to offer, and make ends meet, nothing more," James said smiling.

"You have grown just beyond that. No one can imagine the size of your income and influence now as I can see."

"Now," James said, indirectly finding a way to divert the conversation away from discussing his income with Dr. Richard,

"None of us had said anything about the university. l heard that Professor Michelle who took us in one of the course during our first year had died."

"That's no news anymore. He died a long time ago. You know he had a very bad smoking addict and when he refused to heed all the warning normally giving by cigarette producers that smoking is dangerous to health, cancer of the lungs caught up with me very badly and spare his life."

"Men, that's unfortunate for a gem like professor Michelle."

"The recent news from the University is the case of the V.C which occurred in the very early hours of this morning," Dr. Richard said.

"What case? ls he having a legal duel with anyone?"

"No, understand me. The V.C died this morning."

"Died?"

Dr. Richard gave no answer to James rhetorical question about the V.C's death.

"Did he die as a result of an accident or what?" James continued to ask in wonder.

"l don't know the details that led to the death as same was not revealed." it's a pity.

There was an announcement that came shortly from the airport authorities. Dr. Richard and James mussed, as they listened to know what the announcement was for.

Luckily, the announcement gave the passenger a flicker of hope that their travel might eventually survive flight cancellation on that day.

This seems so because the announcement was to inform all passengers traveling to Washington that plane from Boston would soon arrive the airport, while other is getting ready to proceed to Washington with passengers from Baltimore. The passengers to Washington made up no less than two quarters of all the passengers in the airport.

After the announcement, James almost leaped up for joy as if he never knew he could make his journey that day.

Dr. Richard could see a big relief surge into James's plump face and congratulated him for going to have his travel that day.

He made to tell James and nearly told him that the friend he had come to the airport to receive had not been lucky at the New York airport but something seems to tell him he shouldn't mention it to James.

The plane begin awaited from Boston soon arrived Baltimore airport.

As the plane landed on the tarmac and was taxing to gain a complete stationary position, the passengers already told by the earlier announcement about the arrival of their plane shortly started getting ready to go and board the plane as soon as the passengers who had boarded the plane from Boston alighted.

Then James and Dr. Richard quickly wound up their conversation so that James could go to take his position in the plane.

They parted at that juncture saying goodbye to each other in line with their usual and peculiar mannerism.

Dr. Richard started walking slowly to his car waiting at the parking lot and, as he went, he subjected his mind to a certain thought he wouldn't have conjured by any stretch of imagination but for his meeting and long revealing conversation with Architect James.

He had been thinking that life was all a bed of roses for him at the State Clinic and fooled around under that canopy of false belief.

He summed up the number of years since he became an employee of the State Clinic and noted how very long it had been without him having much to show for it, except to say that he was a consultant paediatric surgeon who's family lived a comfortable live of an average american.

Okay, he was a consultant paediatric surgeon quite all right which is every medical practitioners desire and as many as ninety-nine percent of the whole lot of the practitioners that had aspired to that level actually succeeded.

Damn, No wonder he was not looking down on this consultancy cadre of a thing because it had ceased to be seen as an achievement but an allcomers affair.

He took a good look at his position and tried to place it side by side with the level that James had reached in his own profession.

The difference was conspicuously amazing. lt would not be a good comparison to go that way at all because the three hundred thousand dollars paid to him as a monthly salary was less than a trifle sum when compared with over there million dollars that had stabilized as James's take home earning every month.

The difference was very too clear and he almost swore to bridge the gap of this different if possible.

The only way he could do that was resigning from the public service and going into private practice proper to earn his dream Superstar NBA, NFL type of income like that of James.

He had acquired enough skill to fit in properly into private practice but lacked the human courage to resign his job and venture into that.

He didn't know what to do but James's words of advice was good enough to ginger him up.

Since morning he had been running around and spending money to chase shadows all in the name of business that was yet to click.