Conundrum

Champ stared passively through the glass at the aggressive torrents that tore through the sky and made home on the ground he stood on. Watching the rain had always seemed to him like a trivial thing to do, he never understood what people loved about water falling continuously and preventing regular day to day activities; or at least slowing them down. It was time wasting as well as vigorously annoying and time was money. But as he sat still embracing the chill the rain came with, he figured listening and watching it was better than trying to understand the buffoon seated across him. “ …or would you prefer she speak to you instead, I don’t seem to be getting anywhere with this.” The young man muttered, successfully halting Champ’s chain of thoughts.

Champ wrinkled his nose in slight irritation. Was that a pathetic attempt to shield his thwarting? Champ was annoyed. If anyone was to be growing impatient, it should be him. He was the one being forced to listen to this. Damn Karla for always putting him in positions like this.

“would it make any difference?” champ questioned doing his best to suppress the condescending tone he knew was blatant.

“ I beg your pardon,” the man responded after a quick sip of his hot chocolate. 

“this woman you speak of” champ continued, "would it make a difference speaking to her? It’s the same tale she’s going to spin isn’t it, or do I have to listen to another session of this undiluted lies?” he didn’t care anymore if he sounded rude, they were not going anywhere with this.

Stunned, the man opened his mouth to respond but champ beat him to it. 

“ I just want to know what the odds are really. You mean to tell me that six months have passed and you still can’t find the location?” champ inquired angrily. “ Are you really paid to do this? Some finder you are." He scoffed out bitterly.

“ it really isn’t that easy, Mr. Clover. I didn’t say we haven’t found the location, its just a bit more complicated you see” the man added softly. 

“And what is this complication? Karla never said anything about a complication. What are you talking about?”

The man sighed, “ the money was traced south of the suburbs but it dosen’t seem to be there” 

“ so you are saying you haven’t found it! That is not a complication, that’s just incompetence. It just means you didn’t find the right location” champ insisted.  

“the location wasn’t the problem, the package just seems to be missing”

“seems or is!” champ yelled.

“It cannot just be ruled out as missing because we cant find it at the moment. We need time”

“ what do you mean its not missing. When something cant be found what is it presumed? Huh? Genius, tell me” champ glowered now visibly annoyed.

“ well I did say it seems to be not that it is out rightly and definitely missing. Seems isn’t a definite conclusion”

Champ narrowed his eyes at the frustrating man he had entrusted with this job. “I didn’t realize I was hard of hearing, my apologies. It appears I also can’t speak nor understand basic English.” at this point, Champ was seething. His money was at stake here and this good for nothing brute was confusing him the more.  

“you don’t seem to be understanding, Mr. Clover”

“well, no shit Sherlock,” Champ retaliated. “ you’ve made absolute sure of that fact, want a medal now?”

“there’s no need to be rude, Mr Clover. We will get your package, we just need more time” the man affirmed.

“I do not have more time” did this man not realize how important his time was to him? “ where do you propose you will check now” champ asked a bit calmly.

“ For starters, the vicinity is the best bet, and if we still don’t find it, then…

“Then what! Are you telling me there’s a chance I won’t recover my package?” 

“I didn’t say that. I was just trying to touch base with you so you know what to expect”

“And my expectation should include the possibility of the package missing forever?”

“Mr. Clover, you are putting words in my mouth. I did assure you that the parcel isn’t definitely missing, didn’t i? We still have to work out a few things before anything can be concluded”

“ So my package isn’t missing. But you also can’t find it in the location it was supposed to be in. Tell me Mr-

“Pascal.”

“ Sure, Mr. Pascal, what and when do you conclude something as missing.” 

“When all our alternatives are exhausted and there’s no other clue.” Mr Pascal responded. “ we prefer to be very thorough 

“I see.” Champ nodded. “ And how many other clues have you gotten so far, what alternatives are there.”

“well for now, we have none” the man said then quickly added “ but we will make sure to leave no stones unturned.” He finished proudly.

At this point, Champ didn’t know which was more laughable. The fact that this man was trying to insult his intelligence or the fact that he thought he was succeeding. He however decided to stay calm and let the man do his job, he was the professional here apparently. That thought almost made Champ laugh out loud.

“ Very well then, I’ll leave it to you.” He conceded.

Mr. Pascal nodded eagerly, “ that being said, we can part ways as soon as I receive the incentive.” He smiled knowingly. “ I’m sure you know what I mean, Mr clover”

He did not just say that, champ thought. But decided to play dumb for the sake of clarity.

“ I will need some sort of encouragement, “the man continued seemingly unaware of the growing rage inside his client. “ you know, something to speed up the process.”

“Ah of course,” Champ feigned interest. “forgive my slow wittedness, by this you mean money, yes?”

Mr. Pascal’s beady eyes lit up as he glanced at Champ through his rimmed glasses. “ Ah, but Mr. Clover, you give yourself too little credit. You have just the right wit and a perceptive mind too” he flattered.

Champ ignored his patronizing tone and said, “ By speeding up the process, you mean…” leaving the half finished sentence to the man

“Just to make sure all stones remain turned” the man confirmed.

Champ could scarcely believe what he was hearing. After he had already paid him and his team a hefty sum to work with in advance, the final pay was to be made after they had successfully found his package. Nothing more, nothing less. 

“Does this incentive have anything to do with you finding my package in time?”

The man chuckled humorously, “ like I said, it will speed up the process”

“Meaning that without it, the process will be stalled or most probably halted?” champ questioned.

“ Not exactly, but you know the saying, a little goes a long way”

“No, I do not know that saying. I already paid you in advance for your services, so you will do my work before I complete the payment.”

“Hold on, Mr Clover.” It was the man’s turn to be perplexed. “ that was not entirely our agreement.”

“Excuse me?” champ retorted.

“ You are excused, sir but that was not the agreement.” He clearly wasn’t smiling anymore.

“ We agreed that for every progress, there would be a reward. “

Champ scoffed loudly. “ Progress? You call this a progress? You don’t even have a plan and you want encouragement, please be serious Mr, Pascal” 

“ I did assure you that we would touch every single clue and we will find it”

“You assured me of a lot of things Pascal, but here we are. Get used to disappointments, I already have.” Champ reclined back in his chair. The harsh torrents had reduced drastically to light patters and Champ felt relieved. He could leave soon now that the real reason he was stuck there had finally subsided.

Pascal stared aghast as if he had just been slapped but he decided to regain his composure. It was clear that their misunderstandings went on for miles. He was determined to leave there with his money. He needed that money and Clover had promised it to him.

“Our progress is slow but sure, Mr Clover.”

“Its obvious your definition of progress differs from mine, Mr Pascal. My definition is completing the job assigned to you or at least coming close to it, you and your team have done neither, so there will be no ‘encouragement’ on my part.” 

“But you weren’t clear from the beginning that was what you meant, you should have been more clear!” Mr Pascal responded a bit exasperated.

“Why do I get the feeling, Mr Pascal that my ‘clarity’ would have affected the way you took on this job. And that we would have been hearing a different story from now, you’d probably have found my package already. But because you felt like you’d still get something, you came to me with this high end bullshit called other alternatives.”

Champ continued, now standing. His time had been wasted enough, “ if you want to be paid, work for it Mr Pascal. It is clear that we had our confusions through out this meeting. But it is what it is. Have a good day, I’ll be seeing you” he retrieved his jacket and walked briskly out of the store. Karla had some serious explaining to do.

Flummoxed, Mr Pascal stared dumbfounded after his client and wandered how on earth they both could be speaking the same language yet not understanding each other. He was pissed to say the least, but there was nothing he could do except do his job.