Early one morning, businessman Jimmy LeBeau stepped out of his white, one-story home. “Today is the day,” exclaimed Jimmy. He had worked hard all year for this day. All the late hours, annoying customers, and missed lunches would all payoff today.

CFO. He mouthed the letters to himself on the bus ride to work. He loved the sound of every one of them as passed his lips.

As he walked into his office, he was complimented by all his fellow salesmen, except for Sam. Jimmy had know all his co-workers very well, but he had never so much as talked to Sam all of the three years he worked at Global Hyper Corp. None of the employees did because, like Jimmy, they couldn’t figure out an appropriate conversation with a blind man.

Sam was the stocky, middle-aged janitor who had been with company for his whole life. He had always looked so sad to Jimmy; He was sitting alone in the break room, while he sipping his morning coffee. Jimmy checked his watch. 10:50. He had ten minutes the CEO, Mr. Johnson, would announce his promotion. He casually strolled into the break room and sat next to Sam.

“Hi, my name is-”

“I know who you are,” said Sam, “you’re Jimmy LeBeau, the soon to be sales manager . If you didn’t notice, rumors spread fast around here.”

“But how-”

“I know it’s you because of your voice. I may be blind, boy, but I can see in my own way. Believe me, you can tell alot about a person from just their voice. What they eat, what mood they’re in, or just about anything you’d ever want to know,” explained Sam. Suddenly, Sam burst out into a terrible coughing fit. Jimmy, after making sure Sam was okay, asked him the one question that was now on his mind.

“What do I “look” like to you?” Jimmy wondered.

“Well,” Sam said, clearing his throat, “You remind me of Mr.Johnson when he was like you. The company was starting to go under and the working conditions were awful. When he worked as a salesman, he always, like you, talked about changing this company to being about the worker. He was a hard worker and did whatever he could to get to the top. However, when he got there, the power went to his head. He ignored his own philosophies of equal rights and began demoting good salesman, firing other types of staff and faculty, and lowering employee wages to increase his own pay check. That’s how I became the janitor, ya’ know. Johnson demoted me after I protested him slashing my salary, and a few years later, I began losing my vision.”

Jimmy looked at the old custodian with a face that spoke only one word: fear. Would he become that man? Would he abandon his own ideas in exchange for new selfish ones? Jimmy looked away, trying to hide his shame.

“Like I said, mostly,” Sam continued, reassuringly, “ There is one thing that separates you from Johnson.” Jimmy’s head immediately perked up and stared at the blind man with absolute concentration. “Your words are true. You will be the one to right the wrongs done by this company, not Johnson. No, he has lost his way, but you, Jimmy, can still make this a better place for the working man-” Sam was interrupted by the alarm on Jimmy’s watch cut him off.

“Sorry, I gotta go,” said Jimmy, standing up. As he began to walk out the door, Jimmy stopped abruptly as Sam began to cough, hack, and wheeze again. Jimmy turned around to go help him, but as he took a single step out, Sam gestured to him he was fine.

“Are you okay,” asked Jimmy, “do you need me to call a doctor.”

“No, I’ll be fine,” he replied in between coughs, “just promise me one thing, Jimmy, before you go, please.

“Sure, what?” Jimmy asked.

“Promise I’ll be right about you being different. Promise me you won’t do what Johnson did. Can you promise me that, Jim?”

Jimmy stood silently in the doorway before replying simply, “Yeah, Sam, I promise. I guess I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah,” Sam said, tapping his ears “see you around.” Jimmy, smiling, took one last look at the old man before quickly making his way to the conference room to receive his promotion.

One week after his promotion, Jimmy had learned his newest friend, Sam, had died of pneumonia the night before. The funeral was quick and short, a sad moment for Jimmy. He hated saying goodbye to friends, especially one as special as Sam was.

Jimmy returned to his job as if to distract himself from his new found sadness. Five minutes later, his secretary brought in an envelope from Mr. Johnson himself. The envelope included two documents that both needed his signature to approve it legally and a set of instructions. Jimmy read over the instructions which stated that he must sign one of the documents and place the other in the shredder. The document Jimmy chose would be completely up to him and would be put into action immediately.

Jimmy, with pen in hand, looked carefully over the two documents. The document on the left granted Jimmy a larger salary, free transport, and anything his heart desired.; However, the funds for such offer had to be deducted from the salaries of the salesmen, cleaning staff, accountants, and all those who worked below him. The document to his right did the exact opposite. The wages of the rest of the company would increase at the expense of Mr. Johnson’s and his own paycheck.

Jimmy thought of all the things his new benefits could grant him. He could retire early, go on that vacation to Hawaii he always wanted, or even, eventually, buy the Global Hyper Corp. for himself. Jimmy snatched up the document to his left and put his pen on the dotted line.

However, as he was about to sign the document, Sam’s promise echoed through his head. Promise me I’ll be right about you being different. Can you promise me that? Jimmy took another look at the document before placing it in his shredder. Jimmy then turned his office chair to the other document and immediately signed while saying, “Yeah, Sam, I promise.”