The Opportunist

The Opportunist

Witnesses standing along the perimeter of the small regional airport said the commuter jet didn’t appear to land unusually hard compared to other planes that had touched down just before. At the debriefing, the pilots claimed to have inspected the tires during their pre-check and found nothing wrong. No matter the reason, two tires on the right main landing gear burst on impact with the runway.

An ear-splitting squealing sound made by metal scraping concrete was followed by the right wing separating from the fuselage and cartwheeling off to the side. The gaping hole exposed a row of stunned passengers securely buckled into their seats.

The small airport used portable stairs to board passengers from the ramp. Immediately after the jet ground to a halt, people waiting to board their flights, as well as ground crew rushed to help. One of those people running toward the plane was Julia Barns. While others saw people in need, Jewels saw an opportunity.

People in polite society might call Julia an opportunist. Everyone else referred to her as a con-artist. She didn’t care what people called her, just as long as she got what she wanted. At the top of her list of wants was money. Of course, there is nothing wrong with a nice car and a lavish apartment with a killer view, but money is her number one priority.

Julia, or Jewels, as she prefers to be called, has been obsessed with acquiring wealth from the time she was very young. When her grandparents came to visit, they would ask for a hug. Her reply was always, “For a penny, I will.” Everyone thought it was cute. They got their hugs, and she got her pennies.

The tooth-fairy was her first attempt at scamming someone. If one tooth equals one dollar, it’s only reasonable that multiple teeth equal multiple dollars. It shouldn’t matter where the teeth came from. Teeth are teeth, right? She offered her schoolmates twenty-five cents for each tooth they gave her in hopes she’d make a large profit. Julia was crushed to learn the mythical creature was actually her parents, and they didn’t pay for other kid’s teeth. It was a tough lesson to learn but learn it she did. Young Julia may be back to square one, but she remained undaunted in her quest for easy cash.

Twelve-year-old Julia received a book of magic tricks for her birthday. Practicing sleight of hand and card tricks took up all of her spare time. Once again, her classmates became her target and Three-Card Monte was her favorite game.

“Double your money! Simply place your bet and pick the right card and I’ll pay fifty cents for every quarter you bet if you’re correct.”

Many students went without food, losing their lunch money to Julia. Word spread throughout the school as student after student tried and failed to best Julia. Once the faculty began receiving complaints from parents about their children going hungry because they lost their lunch money, Julia’s game was shut down.

Once again, the young entrepreneur was back to square one. Her next attempt at parting her classmates from their money was in high school. School girls gossip a lot. Julia became the proverbial fly on the wall. She stayed quiet for much of the day. Instead of joining in on conversations around her, she would remain silent and listen, taking notes whenever possible.

 Knowledge is power, someone once said. If a classmate wanted to know what another said about them, be it a derogatory remark or if a boy wanted a date but was too shy to ask, Julia would be happy to provide the answers for a fee. She wasn’t the most popular girl in school, but she was the most sought after.

After graduation, Julia needed a new hustle. Her little town didn’t offer much opportunity for an up-and-coming impresario. It was time to spread her wings and move to the big city. Expanding her horizons was the reason she was at the airport when the incoming plane crashed. Julia’s first impulse, help those in need, was quickly replaced by Jewel’s desire to devise a way to profit from the tragedy.

Her plan materialized in a matter of seconds. She recalled a news story about a city bus crash. People were entering the bus through the back door and exiting through the front door, claiming to be injured. Unfortunately for the scammers, the bus was equipped with cameras that captured everything. Jewels knew planes weren’t video equipped. As she ran to the fuselage, she messed up her hair and partially untucked her blouse. Given the surrounding chaos, it was simple for her to climb into the plane, take an empty seat, and wait.

Federal Aviation Administration officials and airline personnel struggled to come up with a logical resolution. According to company records, the stricken plane departed with eighty-one passengers and crew. No matter how many times they counted, the number of people involved in the crash at the site was eighty-two. Someone made a mistake, but it wasn’t clear where it was made.

 What made things worse, if that was possible, was the media wanted answers. Neither the company nor the FAA could announce that eighty-one or eighty-two people survived the crash. The best they could announce was that there were no fatalities. Both parties decided it was better to pay out the insurance claims for one extra person than announce that records keeping errors had been made.

Jewels walked with a cane for several weeks and sported a neck collar as well. The physical therapists were amazed at her rapid recovery. She attributed it to their skill and caring. She ditched the cane and brace the day the insurance settlement was deposited in her account.

Jewels sat in her beach chair sipping a pina colada, watching the waves gently roll onto the sand. She had been in this tropical paradise now for three weeks, and it was putting a dent in her insurance funds. Once again, she found herself back at square one. It was time to find a new source of income. Such is the life of an opportunist.