My name is Stella Richards, and I have a mother, Jane Richards, who’s obsessed with haggling. She haggles when shopping at the supermarket, haggles when paying my tuition, and basically haggles over anything that costs money. Until my brother Kevin Richards was kidnapped, and the kidnapper Paul Watson called demanding a ransom of five hundred thousand dollars. Jane, as usual, calmly started haggling with Paul: “Five hundred thousand is too expensive! How about thirty-eight thousand?” I tried to reason with Jane: “This is a matter of life and death—stop haggling!” But she scolded me: “Stella, you have no sense of frugality!” She went back and forth with Paul for three hours, and incredibly, Paul actually agreed. Watching Jane’s smug satisfaction, I stopped trying to persuade her. Later, Kevin was indeed released by Paul. Except when he came back, his body had been dismembered. ***** “What did you say? You kidnapped my son?” The sudden phone call made Jane gasp in shock, and she asked again in disbelief. Paul’s voice on the other end was ice-cold: “Your son is in our hands now. If you can’t come up with five hundred thousand dollars in ransom within forty-eight hours, you can start planning his funeral!” Jane gasped again when she heard “five hundred thousand dollars”: “Five hundred thousand? Why don’t you just rob a bank! Where am I supposed to get five hundred thousand dollars?” Paul said impatiently: “I don’t care how you get it—sell your car, sell your house, whatever. Just get the money to me within forty-eight hours!” After saying this, he seemed to kick Kevin hard. Kevin’s tearful cries for help came through the phone: “Mom, you have to save me! They really have knives!” Before he could finish, Kevin’s mouth was covered. Paul continued coldly: “You heard that, right? Your son is in our hands. No ransom and…” Before he could finish, Jane suddenly interrupted: “Five hundred thousand in ransom is too expensive!” Paul was stunned: “What did you say?” Jane said matter-of-factly: “I said five hundred thousand is too expensive. I want to haggle!” My vision went dark—I knew Jane’s haggling habit was kicking in again. She’s just someone who loves to haggle. She haggles when shopping at the supermarket, haggles when paying mine and Kevin’s tuition, and now that Kevin’s been kidnapped, she’s still thinking about haggling! Paul probably thought this request was absolutely ridiculous and hung up directly. But Jane looked dissatisfied: “Cheap bastard! It’s just haggling, and he hangs up on me!” I couldn’t help but try to reason with her: “Mom, Kevin’s been kidnapped, and you’re still haggling with the kidnapper. Aren’t you afraid he’ll hurt Kevin?” Jane said dismissively: “That’s all just to scare people. Kidnappers only care about money—they wouldn’t dare actually kill anyone! Besides, he’s asking for five hundred thousand right off the bat. Where would our family get that kind of money? Should we really sell the house for him? In his dreams. I’m going to haggle, and I want to see just how shameless this kidnapper is!” Her words made my vision blur. I knew Jane too well—she’s stubborn, won’t listen to reason, and haggling is a lifelong habit she’s stuck to.
I still remember the scene when Jane suddenly tried to haggle with my teacher Amber Jansen while paying my school fees. At the time, Amber told Jane that the total fees came to two hundred and thirty-four dollars. Jane stared at Amber for a few seconds, then suddenly spoke up: “Can’t you make it any cheaper?” Amber’s reaction was just like the kidnapper’s earlier—completely bewildered: “What did you say?” Jane said bluntly: “I said can’t you make it cheaper? Two hundred and thirty-four dollars is too much. I’ll give you two hundred dollars instead.” After saying this, she rummaged through her purse, pulled out two hundred dollars, and handed it directly to Amber. But Amber got flustered: “This is tuition! How can you haggle with me over this? Every payment has to be recorded!” Jane’s face darkened: “Recording it is your business. I’m only short thirty-four dollars. Why are you making such a fuss?” I was still young at the time, but I’d already noticed that quite a few parents around us who’d overheard Jane and Amber’s conversation were whispering among themselves and looking our way. Feeling embarrassed, I quickly tugged at Jane: “Mom, just stop haggling and give her the rest of the money.” But Jane suddenly started shrieking: “What? All you know is how to waste money—you have no sense of thrift! Do you know how much I could buy with thirty-four dollars? And you want to just hand it over to her? Are you stupid? Are you in cahoots with Amber?” As she spoke, she pointed at my nose and scolded: “You’re just Amber’s accomplice, aren’t you!” That day, Jane spent over an hour pointing at me and Amber, berating us both. No matter how much Amber tried to reason with her, she wouldn’t budge. In the end, Amber had no choice but to reluctantly pay the thirty-four dollars out of her own pocket. On the way home, Jane said to me triumphantly: “See that? That’s my unbeatable haggling skills!” But she didn’t care that from then on, I was ostracized by teachers and classmates alike—she only cared about how satisfying her haggling victory had been. Similar incidents happened many more times after that. Haggling seemed to become Jane’s instinct—whenever money was involved, she had to haggle. But I never expected that even when Kevin was kidnapped, she’d still think about haggling! Although Kevin was usually a good-for-nothing who showed me no respect, he was still my brother—a living, breathing human being. Thinking of Kevin’s agonized screams before Paul hung up, I decided to try reasoning with Jane one more time: “Mom, I’m begging you, please listen to me. Kevin’s life is in the kidnappers’ hands right now—we can only do what they demand. Selling the house isn’t ideal, but no matter what, Kevin’s life is more important than anything else!”
Despite my earnest attempts to reason with her, Jane angrily told me to shut up. She said, “I’m your mother, and I have more experience than you. Do you think you know better than me how to handle this kind of situation? The experts all say we live in a society governed by law—who would dare act so recklessly?” I replied, “Yes, we live under the rule of law, but the kidnappers still took Kevin.” Jane glared at me fiercely: “Enough! Keep your mouth shut! You’re a spoiled girl who’s never even learned to bargain in your entire life, and you dare criticize me! I’ll show you in a moment whether I can negotiate with these kidnappers!” With that, she immediately called Paul back. The phone was answered instantly: “Have you made up your mind?” Jane curled her lip: “Made up my mind about what? I’m here to negotiate!” Paul on the other end seemed to curse: “Are you out of your mind? We have your son, and you still dare to bargain with me? I could kill him right now—believe it or not!” Jane remained expressionless: “You don’t need to threaten me. I’m not easily intimidated. I’ve dealt with people like you before, and I always succeed in getting the price down.” Paul laughed angrily: “Fine, go ahead and negotiate. I’d like to see how low you can go!” Paul’s anger didn’t affect Jane in the slightest. She even said somewhat smugly: “See? I told you there’s nothing that can’t be negotiated! As long as I’m paying money, I have the right to bargain! “Look, you’re so young to be out here kidnapping people—you probably don’t know how tough things are these days! You open your mouth asking for five hundred thousand dollars—do you think we run a bank? Where would we get that kind of money for you! “If you ask me, you’re just too greedy. Didn’t you research our family’s situation before kidnapping Kevin? We’re just an ordinary family—how could we possibly come up with five hundred thousand dollars just like that?” Paul was practically spitting blood with rage on the other end, probably unable to comprehend Jane’s logic: “Cut the crap! Of course I did my research! You have a house, don’t you? Won’t you even sell your house to save your own son?” Jane frowned: “Of course we have a house, but where would we live if we sold it? You’re being ridiculous—this could be solved by simply lowering the ransom, but you insist on making me sell the house! Let me tell you, selling the house is out of the question. We need to keep money to buy Kevin a new house when he gets married. If we sell now, we’d have to rent and save up all over again. “Please be understanding, won’t you? I work so hard—my face is covered with wrinkles from all the worry. How about this—I’ve calculated it, and five hundred thousand is an unlucky number. I’ll give you thirty-eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight dollars instead. Doesn’t that sound much better?” Paul shrieked in fury: “I’ve kidnapped your son, and you only want to give me thirty-eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight dollars to buy back his life?” Jane persisted: “That’s my final offer. We can be friends, can’t we!” I listened from the side, terrified. In the end, Jane actually went back and forth with Paul for a full three hours. Both of them were parched, and Jane was about to take a sip of water to continue negotiating when Paul’s voice came through hoarse: “Fine. That price.” Jane was overjoyed: “You said it! Quick, send me the account number—I’ll transfer the money right now!” Paul rattled off a string of numbers, and Jane immediately signaled to me to transfer money to that account. Paul suddenly added ominously: “Your bargaining skills are really something. I’ll be sending you a gift later—I hope you like it.” Jane completely missed the chill in his words and said happily: “Wonderful! Now hurry up and send my son back home—I’m still waiting to have dinner with him!” With that, they hung up. Paul said Kevin would be home before eight o’clock tonight. That evening, the moment Jane opened the door, she completely broke down.
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