SKIN SIGNIFIES A HELL OF A LOT LESS than what's draped over it. His eyes told me a lot too. Granted, his hair was like a Brillo Pad and his eyebrows were thick and unmanaged. But that's management more than anything racial. Many traits combine to indicate, is the point.

He shouldn't have worn that scarf. I pictured him running from someone after hurling a rock through the air. Running straight into my office.

Granted, it is a rather shanty and dilapidated office. It's at the periphery of the more dangerous suburbs. But we like to consider ourselves leaning in the right direction and therefore pulling that other dimension toward the good.

The bells on the door jingled a welcome as he stared at me and walked straight for the chair. I motioned to it as he was sitting down. I held my tie and sat down as well. Before speaking, I flicked the mouse and the computer woke up. The entry blanks stared at me.

"So," I said and folded me hands on my desk.

"I have come for insurance," he said. Of course, why else?

"Certainly. Is this for yourself, or for a family member?"

"This is for myself."

"Okay," I said and unfolded my hands and bounced the fingertips on the keyboard. They rattled noisily. "What, or why, is it that you want, or need, insurance?" I said and then looked up to him.

He hadn't dropped his eyes from me. "So that if anything may happen to me my family will be taken care of."

"Of course. A perfect reason." After all, it was our advertised slogan. I looked away and bit my lip, thinking. "Well then, the next step is to just assess your basic qualifications and see which package best fits your lifestyle ..." I looked up at him. "I'll just start the questions."

"What is your name?" I asked and he told me. Many people had that type of name. It wasn't, to my knowledge, on any state-released lists.

"And your occupation?" He said teacher and it wasn't our policy to see proof of employment. It is something I'm considering.

"Okay, and these questions are about lifestyle," I said and he was mid-20s, had a daughter and a wife. He played futbol, he said, and studied religion, of course. He didn't drink or smoke and had become a vegetarian, as was becoming the custom.

I scrolled and typed and processed and he answered my questions stoically and the process went according to procedure. Everything he said was in alignment with our protocols and he was an ideal candidate. According to the paradigm of our company, he was young and virile and would pay in a heavy sum before any age-related ailments afflicted him. This is good policy. I insured the man and we shook hands and he did not smile.

He left and I walked him to the door. Then put my hand on the glass and watched him proceed down the block. Entrepreneurs succeed through many ways. The best qualities are innovation and hard work. This is what I wanted. The other path to money and success, of course, is through an exploitation of some loophole so far overlooked in the rules of a society.

It was out of my hands. I turned from the window and hey, it was a good day, the sky was cloudless and bright and I had sold a textbook successful policy. I sat down at the computer and began to work again.


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