The Tables Turned 8

CALEB'S POV

By the time Caleb got home from the mall, it was noon. His grandfather had already left for the office, thus he decided to take the rest of the day to relax and browse the internet about cars and bikes. He would need his personal means of transportation - something moderate which wouldn't give him away as a rich guy as yet, especially on days he might want to get to the office by himself without waiting for the entourage.

He sat in the mini living room attached to his bedroom upstairs, with a glass of red wine he found in the wine bar.

A few years ago while he was still job-hunting, he assisted his friend, Raj, to run an errand with his boss' scooter. And though it wasn't a motorbike, he dreamed of owning one someday. It was such a tall dream at the time. He thought of a Harley-Davidson, Ducati, Yamaha, or Suzuki brand.

He was still poring the internet when his phone buzzed.

"Hello, Grandpa," he answered.

"Are you back from the mall?"

"Yes. We came in a few minutes ago."

"How did it go?" Mateo asked.

Flashes of the embarrassing moment inside the mall returned and made him stiffen up, his hands started to shake so violently that he immediately dropped the glass of wine on the stool next to the cushion. There and then he decided that when his grandfather gets back, he was going to demand that some money be transferred into his personal account so he could save face in case he needed to drop by the mall again.

"Em, about that..." he stuttered, "I think I would need some money in my account."

The old man didn't let him finish when he cut in.

"Yeah, right. I was going to discuss that with you just now. Your account needs to be credited and, also, you'd need to start learning how to drive - that is if you don't already know."

Caleb brightened up. "I'm not a professional driver, Grandpa. I only did a few road runs when I underwent some training for a job I applied for."

"But..." he thought to add, "I do know how to ride a bike."

The old man paused a short while then asked, "Then you won't mind getting a bike?"

His grandfather's question made him smile. "Of course not. I was just browsing the internet about bikes..."

"And did you find your choice as yet?"

"Hmm," Caleb made a throaty sound. "MTT Turbine Streetfighter."

He held his breath when his grandfather didn't respond immediately.

"But if it's too expensive, a good car would just do," Caleb added.

"Don't be silly, my boy," his grandfather joked, "there's no machine whether on two wheels or four wheels that is too expensive for a Dezani to ride or drive."

"Oh yeah?" Caleb screamed in excitement.

"Send your account details to me as soon as this call is over. I'm going to forward it to the accountant and ask him to credit your account."

"Thank you so much, Grandpa."

"I will contact the manager of a motorcycle vendor I know and ask him to bring that model to the house."

Caleb was overjoyed.

"Or better still, since you're not occupied with work at home, you could go over there with Ricardo and get to choose something even better."

The last suggestion sounded perfect. He wanted to have fun inspecting other brands of bikes and possibly choose something different from the picture he saw on the internet.

"I will go over there myself," he confirmed to his grandfather.

"Good. I'll see to it that the money the accountant is sending to your account will cover the bike too."

"Yessssss!"Caleb drawled enthusiastically.

His grandpa laughed softly and ended the call. Caleb immediately texted his details to him.

Five minutes later, a message beeped on his phone. He picked it up and opened it. The amount that appeared on his screen made him scream so loud his mother came running from downstairs to bang on the door.

"Look, Mama," Caleb was out of breath. He showed Leah the 7 digits figure on his screen. Never in all his life had he seen such an amount of money anywhere, let alone sitting pretty inside his own account.

The alert said $10,000,000.00.

Leah didn't understand why there were so many zeros in the number. "Wait, did you get a loan from the bank?"

"Good question! But no, I didn't. Grandpa asked his accountant to send it to me." He explained.

"Whatever for? That's a lot of money, my son."

"I'm going to get myself a motorbike." He replied beaming.

"That's great. At least people will stop embarrassing you now."

The smile on Caleb's face disappeared. The scene at the pay point registered again in his subconscious. "I wish this had happened earlier," he groaned.

***

Caleb and Ricardo drove out to the bike vendor. On their way going, he peeped at himself from the rearview mirror and remembered he hadn't gotten the haircut he said he would.

"Can we stop by the barbing salon first?" he said to Ricardo.

"Master, the bike vendor is only a few blocks away while the barbing salon where the boss usually patronizes is on the other axis we're just coming from. But let me make a U-turn."

"No, no." Caleb objected. "I'll have the haircut on our way back."

They arrived at the place and Caleb asked Ricardo to wait in the car that he won't be long. Ricardo obeyed.

He actually wanted the freedom to explore without any interference.

Two salesmen were standing outside the building. He approached them and said he needed to get a high-powered machine that runs at an insane speed.

The First salesman chuckled in derision. "You're talking about an MV Agusta F4CC built for high speeds. Are you joking?" he gave Caleb a measured look from head to toe.

"Not exactly. But if that's the best you have, I don't mind, " he answered politely.

"Then you must be a clown," the salesman snapped. "That motorcycle costs over $120,000. It's not built for people like you." He hissed with indignation.

Just then Ricardo appeared. He was obviously bored staying in the car by himself and so thought to come and skulk around. When the salesman who was attending to Caleb saw him, he immediately left and went over to Ricardo.

The second salesman approached Caleb and apologised gently. "So sorry for that, sir. You can actually make your choice from what we have displayed here or you could follow me to the showroom where we have a variety."

Caleb admired his kindheartedness. "Thank you. Are you the manager of this place?" he asked.

"Unfortunately no, I'm just an intern. We both are," he said pointing to his colleague.

"We are hoping to get promoted to becoming permanent staff at the end of the year if we make more sales to our name," he added casually.

Caleb noted.

"Well, lead me to the showroom."

They went inside and the salesman calmly explained in detail the function of each motorcycle.

Caleb eventually settled for a Suzuki AEM Carbon Fiber Hayabusa - widely known as the world's fastest-production motorcycle. It cost even more than the MV Agusta F4CC the first salesman mocked him for and the MTT Turbine Streetfighter he originally had in mind.

"This is the highest single sale I've made since I started working here," the salesman expressed with gratitude. "And this sale alone will more than make up for the past two months of not meeting the target. Thank you, sir."

Caleb smiled.

"Do not worry, I'm going to patronize you again."

They both looked up and saw the other salesman frowning. "What's wrong with him?" Caleb asked in pretense.

"Let me go and find out, sir."

Caleb followed behind him.

"I thought this gentleman was going to purchase at least one item. But instead, he says he came with his boss."

"Who is this boss?" the second salesman asked.

He pouted his lips at Caleb," Him."

"Really?"

"So did he buy?" he murmured in his colleague's ear.

"Yes, I did buy," Caleb replied.

They were both surprised he heard them.

"In fact, I picked something superior to the one you claimed was too expensive for me."

The first salesman's mouth hung open.

"Yes, I like that look on your face."

Caleb then turned to look at his salesman, "And I'm going to make sure I recommend him to the manager for promotion."

"But he barely started two months ago while I've been working for close to nine months without making sales half of that amount." He protested.

Caleb shrugged. "You can forget about any sales you'd be making going forward because I'm going to speak with the manager and see to it that you're dismissed from working here."