i would die 4 u

"All I really need is to know that you believe."

Jacob walked home from work. If you had passed by him, maybe you would have found him rude for meandering down the middle of the sidewalk. Maybe you would have found him odd for wearing his trench coat on a dry June day. The truth was Jacob barely knew that he was walking and where he was headed. He just walked in a daze, fortunately towards home.

He didn't snap out of his daze until the box he was carrying slipped from his loose grip and landed with a thud on the sidewalk. As he stooped to pick up the box, he saw a man on a bench beside the bus stop staring at him. The man offered Jacob a seat beside him on the bench which Jacob gladly accepted.

Without much prompting, Jacob somberly relayed the details of his day to the stranger. He had been laid off today from the company he had spent the past decade working for. He had started ( the company when it was still a fledgling local business. Now it was a global corporation, and he was expendable.

The stranger had listened patiently and sympathetically, but now rose and stood in front of Jacob. He said nothing about Jacob's day, but simply asked if Jacob knew how to change a tire. Despite his confusion at this strange response, Jacob said yes and followed the stranger towards a car parked a few blocks away.

As Jacob came closer, he realized the car was really a limo. He looked at the stranger fully for the first time and realized by his uniform that he must be a driver. And that the man had a splint on his right index finger, which evidently had prevented him from changing the tire himself.

Jacob worked quickly and had the tire changed in less than 20 minutes. As the stranger thanked Jacob, the rear left door slowly opened. The driver quickly introduced Jacob to his boss and explained how Jacob had just volunteered to help as he walked by. The boss was grateful, and offered Jacob a ride to his house. Exhausted by emotion and the tire change, Jacob gratefully accepted the ride.

In that ten minute trip, the two had quite a conversation about business. The boss was thoroughly impressed at Jacob's knowledge of marketing, public relations, and the dynamics of starting a business. The boss gave him a business card and insisted that Jacob come by his office the next day.

Jacob got out of the car at his house, again thanked the driver and boss for the ride, and turned to walk up the driveway. He paused to look down at the business card. His hands went numb and his jaw dropped open. He was again drawn back to reality by the sound of the box hitting the pavement. He left the box there and sat down beside it. The card belonged to Nathan Barkley, the CEO of a Fortune 100 corporation.