The Diplomat--Part One

The Diplomat-Part One

Jane never saw the car coming. It just hit her. She didn’t know if her mind had just been wandering and she was unaware of anything going on around her or if the car had just turned the corner and plowed into the rear of her car. What she did know was that she felt the impact. There was a jolt and then she went into sort of a daze. It was almost like daydreaming and floating at the same time. She looked back over her life. It wasn’t a life review like she’d read about in stories where all her life flashed before her eyes in a split second. It wasn’t that kind of experience. It was more like a quick glance at all the things that had happened to her up to this point. It didn’t take long. Nothing unusual had ever happened to Jane. The truth was nothing had ever happened at all unusual or otherwise.

Jane Plano was 22 years old and worked as a secretary for Real Life Incorporated. The company made dolls. She was unmarried, lived alone except for her Cocker Spaniel, Ginger, and was currently not dating anyone. She had been dating Cliff, but finally had gotten enough courage to tell him that her idea of a date on Friday and Saturday nights was not sitting in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn. Cliff wasn’t even imaginative enough to try something. She figured that if she had to take his hand and show him where to put it, it just wasn’t worth it. She had had enough. She figured that even if she had to spend the weekends alone at least she could choose videos to watch. Cliff wouldn’t even do that. He didn’t want to spend money on videos when he’d already paid for Cable. Cliff was cheap.

Revlon, Cover Girl, and Maybeline would have loved to have courted Jane Plano. They would have sent her coupons and trial offers. They would have sent her samples through the mail. And, they would have called her on the phone to answer surveys about “What is your favorite product?” and “Which one of these products have you used in the last 30 days?” They would have treated Jane as one of their own. But Jane had never responded to their offers. She didn’t wear much makeup because she didn’t think it would do any good. Cover Girl had failed to hook her when she was a teenager and the makeup industry as a whole had lost her as a good repeating customer. Somebody was probably going to be fired over this.

Jane had grown up in the same small town that she was living in now and had never ventured far from it. Once or twice she had had opportunities to travel. She had loved it. She loved seeing new places and meeting new people when she got the chance. That was seldom. She didn’t know people out of town and she didn’t make a lot of money. Travel, for her, usually meant watching National Geographic on TV with Cliff. That was another thing about Cliff. He didn’t want to travel; or do anything else. His life was more pathetic than her own.

All through high school she had managed to have a few friends, but she had never been considered popular. It had been the same way in college. She still had a couple of girl friends, but as time went on and her friends got married she had gradually lost any closeness with them that she once had. It wasn’t that they had fallen out with each other or anything like that; it was that they just had different interest. She didn’t have kids to worry about or PTA meetings to go to and they didn’t have time to just sit and have coffee or go to a movie. They had gravitated to two different worlds.

All of this flashed through Jane’s mind in a split second. She was stuck in a job that she didn’t like, she had no prospects of getting a better job in the near future or of getting married, and she was not looking forward to the next 22 years of her life and growing old with a Cocker Spaniel that had bad breath and wet on the floor every time it got excited.

Now she had been in a car accident. As her head cleared and she realized that she was still sitting in her car and that she had been rear ended, she saw through her rear view mirror that a man had gotten out of the car behind her and was moving towards her. He had a cell phone in his hand and was talking to someone. She didn’t know who he was talking to but she was hoping it was 911. She didn’t know whether to move and get out of the car or whether to stay put. She had never been in an accident before. The only thing that she knew about them was what she had seen on TV news programs and specials, most of the time with Cliff. What she had learned in these sittings was that sometimes moving was not the best thing. She almost wished Cliff were there to help her in this situation. Almost. The man approached the car.

-2-

James Jeffery Cochran was 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 195 pounds. His hair was black and his eyes were blue, but they were the kind of blue that was hard to describe. When you first looked at them they looked to be deep blue. It made you wonder if he was wearing tinted contact lenses. The fact was that he wasn’t. He had 20/15 eyesight. When you looked at his eyes a second time, you could see that one of the reasons that they looked so blue was that the whole colored part of his eye was showing. This made his eyes appear to be a deeper blue than they really were. The effect was stunning.

He was muscular without the muscles bulging. He worked out on a regular basis. He did it on purpose. He was not a body builder and didn’t want to be one. He just wanted to look good in and out of his clothes and be able to do the things he needed to do without effort. He knew he needed to be in shape to be able to do this.

He had a light tan. This he kept year round by playing golf. He had found that playing golf with some of his clients was an excellent way to do business. Especially if he let them win without letting them know he was letting them win. They might know, or suspect something, but neither he nor the client would ever mention it. It was just one of those things that went on in business. He was a fast learner. He was only 26, but one of the first things he had learned early on was that if you made people feel comfortable and feel good about themselves things went easier. That lesson had helped him out more than once

People who knew him referred to him as Brand. His parents had nicknamed him that as sort of a joke. They had said that he would make his mark in the world some day so they had named him Brand. Somehow the name had stuck. He preferred it to James Jeffery, names given to him in honor of his Grandfather and father. Somehow Brand fitted him better. He was making his mark on the world.

His parents had both been well off when he was born. They owned a company that manufactured middle to high range aircraft. His father had been an aeronautical engineer and had invented a new design for an airplane that had revolutionized the aeronautical industry. He had been astute enough not to sell the patent. In essence that meant that he owned a part of every airplane that was built using his principle. It had helped to make him and his family rich.

When Brand was 14, both his parents had been killed in a plane crash. His father had been testing a new design that he was positive was safe and had asked his wife to fly with him for the weekend to a business conference. Brand was in school at the time. He was not invited to go along. Sometimes he thought it might have been better if he had. Everything that his parents owned had been placed in trust for Brand to inherit when he turned 21. His father’s attorney had been the trustee and had managed the holdings well. When Brand had his 21st birthday, he had inherited 150 million dollars. That was his beginning. That was the start of his making his mark in the world. He planned on making a lot of marks before it was all over with. Right now, he had a problem to deal with. There was a young woman sitting in a car in front of him. He had just run into the back of her car. He needed to handle the situation before it got out of hand.

-3-

When he had swung around the corner, Brand had seen that the traffic light was green and he had assumed that the car stopped at the light was going to move. He hadn’t been going very fast and he anticipated not having to step on the brake because the car ahead of him would have traveled enough distance to give him clearance. Brand prided himself on his driving and he handled machines well. The problem was, the car ahead of him hadn’t moved. It had just sat there and by the time he put on his brakes it was too late. He had bumped into the back of the car that was just sitting there. The light was green, but the car was just sitting there. It hadn’t moved. It wasn’t a big crash and it didn’t look as if the back of the Toyota had much damage done to it, but that wasn’t the real problem. The real problem was a lawsuit. Brand had learned early, even before he had inherited his money, that if you had money, lawsuits were a constant threat. His father had taught him that. The combined total of retainers for his lawyers on a monthly basis was around $100,000. He couldn’t remember exactly but he knew it was about that. It was money well spent. But his lawyers weren’t there and he had to deal with this problem as quickly and expertly as he could. It was called “damage containment”. He would not call 911 unless he absolutely had to. He did not want a record of this for some hungry lawyer to get his hands on. It might be the one thing that a jury would look at that would award the “damaged party” a big settlement. It wasn’t so much that Brand would mind paying for damages and to help anyone that was injured get back on their feet, he just hated the fact that a slick lawyer would get 50% or more of the settlement. That he hated.

As he walked to car in front of him, he called one of his lawyers on his cell phone to tell them what had happened. They told him to watch what he said and to see if the person was hurt. If they weren’t he was advised to try and swap insurance cards with them and help them in any way that he could. Nothing more, nothing less. He understood. He walked to the car.

-4-

Jane saw a good-looking man walk to her car. By now the cobwebs had gone and she knew where she was. She looked around and realized that she was not hurt. At least not that she could tell. She was grateful for that. As Brand stopped by her car and bent over, she was startled to see how really good-looking he was. Drop dead good looking. It was a shock. Jane very seldom saw someone who was this handsome. Especially up close. She also noted that his clothes were expensive. She didn’t own many good clothes herself, but she knew them when she saw them. It was unmistakable.

When Brand spoke, it was in a deep voice that reminded her of some actor that she had once heard. She couldn’t remember who it was, but it didn’t matter, the voice was nice to listen to anyway. The voice was asking her if she was all right and if she thought she could get out of the car. She thought she could. Brand slowly opened the door. She got out making sure that her feet and legs would hold her before she put all of her weight on them. She wasn’t sure if she was shaky or not. This was her first accident. When she stood up, she realized how tall Brand was. She was only 5 feet 6 inches tall. There was 8 inches difference in their heights. He was a big man to her.

He was saying something to her about whether or not she wanted him to call the EMT service or someone else. She felt more than thought about it. She felt all right. She had heard or read somewhere that sometimes it took a while for trauma to set in, but she didn’t feel shaky now and she knew everything that was going on. She thought, felt, that she was going to be OK. She told him that she didn’t think she needed the Emergency Medical Team. He asked her if she wanted to sit down and she said no, she’d rather stand. It felt good to have solid ground under her. He asked her if she wanted him to call 911 and she thought about it. She walked around to look at the back of her car to see the damage. There really wasn’t much. Some of the paint had flaked off of the bumper. It was an impact bumper and it was supposed to give and absorb shock at low impact collisions. It looked as if it had done its job. There didn’t seen to be a lot of damage. She asked him if the police were necessary and he said that they weren’t. He explained that in cases like this that they could handle it themselves and exchange insurance cards. Then the companies could get together and iron out the details. It was his fault, of course, but he was curious about something. He wondered why she hadn’t moved her car when the light had changed from red to green. She didn’t have an answer. He accepted that.

As they were about to exchange information a thought occurred to him. He was headed to a local get-together called a Business After Hours, or BAH for short. This was something that the local Chamber of Commerce sponsored. It was a chance to network with other people and get to know them. He wasn’t a Chamber Member, but a friend of his was and had invited him to the event. He wondered if she might want to come along with him and meet some people. She hesitated. She was not much of a social person. Especially when she wouldn’t know anyone there. She didn’t know what to say. Brand seemed to read her mind. He told here that he would have her car towed anywhere she wanted and that she could ride with him to the BAH and he would take her home afterwards. He told here that it would give her a chance to make new friends and maybe even open up new opportunities for her. Even though she was a little bit uneasy, she decided to go with her new escort. She could always leave if she wanted to. Brand called a local wrecker on his cell phone and they waited until it arrived. Jane’s car was towed to a shop and the two climbed into Brand’s car. Jane was barely breathing. She hoped.

-5-

The BAH was held at one of the local watering holes called the Blue Nole. It was on the West side of town, a place Jane never went. Brand seemed to be at home. He knew a couple of the people there and he seemed to know exactly what to do and what to say. It looked as if he had been doing this all of his life. Nametags were made and money exchanged hands. They were ushered into a large room where there were two buffets and a couple of cash bars. Brand got drinks for the two; Scotch for himself and a Bloody Mary for Jane. She took a small sip of hers. She didn’t drink much. She noticed that Brand didn’t drink any of his. He just held it with one hand and shook hands with the other. Most of the people he didn’t know. In fact, almost all of the people he didn’t seem to know. He told her that the main reason that he had promised to be there was to help out an old friend of his, Joe Diplomat. Joe and he had been friends ever since he had done a deal with Joe’s company Slip-Grip. It had been one of those things where it had not only been a business deal but a friendship had started. Joe was easy to get to know. Branch looked forward to introducing Jane to him. Brand hadn’t seen Joe yet but he knew he would be there. He was supposed to meet him.

As Jane looked around she saw one or two people that she recognized. She couldn’t say that they were friends or even acquaintances, but she knew who they were. She had seen them come through the doors of Real Life Inc. She nodded to them ever so slightly. As one of them started to come over to her, she noticed that her palms were starting to sweat slightly. She tried to wipe them on her dress without looking conspicuous. She dreaded having to shake hands with someone and have them report to her boss that she had sweaty hands. She’d never live it down. She didn’t know what to do so she just stood there and tried to smile. She thought, “If I smile, maybe they won’t attack.” She had read that somewhere. She thought, “When all else fails, try humor”.

The person walking over to her introduced himself as Jerry Goodmore. He said that he thought he had recognized Jane and asked her how she was doing. She said fine. She didn’t know what else to say. He asked her if she made many of the BAHs and she said that she didn’t, that this was her first one. He told her that she ought to make more of them and that they were a good place to meet people and to network. She didn’t really understand “network” but she didn’t tell Jerry that. She just said, “Thank you, I’ll remember that.” Jerry asked her who she was with and she told him and pointed Brand out. He was across the room introducing himself to someone he had just met. Jerry asked her how the two of them had gotten together. Jane briefly told him. Jerry asked her if she was all right. She said that she was. He told her that if she felt anything at all that it might be a good idea to go to the emergency room and let them check her out or at the very least call her family doctor. She said that she would. Jerry also didn’t seem to think that it had been a good idea not to get the police involved. He said that it would have been better if she had gotten the police to write out an accident report. That way, there would be a report on file. You never knew. Jane was a little upset. She wished that someone had been there to guide her through this ordeal. She didn’t know now whether or not she had done the right thing. Jerry said that it was OK. That there was nothing that could be done about it now and that if she had exchanged insurance information with Brand that was probably all that needed to be done. Brand seemed like a nice guy.

Jane had been at the networker about 30 minutes when Brand came walking up to her with someone else. He apologized to her for leaving her alone some of the time. He said that he wasn’t going to be able to stay as long as he would like to and that he was trying to meet as many people as he could before he had to go. However, he said, the man that he was about to introduce her to was his old friend Joe Diplomat and Joe was going to take a personal interest in her and introduce her to some of the people there. Jane shook Joe’s hand. He had a big smile on his face and he was someone that gave you the feeling that you had known him all of you life. She liked Joe immediately. She felt secure with him. Joe asked her what she did for a living and she told him. He knew her company and her boss. Joe had a long-standing relationship with Real Life Inc. and he liked her boss. He mentioned a few other names of people at Real Life that Jane knew and she felt more at ease. She was glad that Brand had introduced Joe to her. She was glad he was there.

As Joe took her around and introduced her to other people that were there, Jane began to relax and enjoy herself. It was fun being at something like this and with Joe there to break the ice for her she didn’t feel as self-conscious. She was glad she had come. With everything that was going on, she forgot Brand. When she did remember him and looked around she didn’t see him. She panicked for a moment. She was there by herself and didn’t really know anyone. Her car was across town and she needed a way to get home. She didn’t know where Brand was. She asked Joe if he had seen him. Joe said that Brand had already gone. He apologized to her for not telling her but he thought that she knew. He had only stayed for a little while after he had introduced her to Joe. He had other engagements. He had left it up to Joe to see that Jane got home OK. Joe assured her that he would take good care of her. She began to relax a little again. As the evening wore on, Joe began to explain to Jane that he was a Diplomat for the Chamber of Commerce. He told here that her company, Real Life Inc., was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and that that made her eligible to become a Diplomat if she wanted to be one. She would need to check with her boss, but Joe knew him and could say something to him if Jane wanted him to. If would be good for the company and it would be good for Jane. Jane wanted to hear more and Joe promised to tell her more and invite her to the next Diplomat Luncheon.

-6-

As Brand left the BAH he felt good about himself. He had done what he was supposed to do. He had made sure that Jane was all right, gotten her car towed to a place to get it repaired, and calmed her down. He had taken her somewhere to get her mind off of the accident and had introduced her to someone so he could slip out. He had done everything that he had been told by his lawyer to do and it had worked. There was no accident report, no medical report from EMT, and no police report. There was no paper trail. Now it was for the insurance companies to settle this. He was in the clear. He would never see Jane again.


END OF PART ONE