It was getting late. If they didn’t leave soon, they wouldn’t make it to the book store before it closed. She wanted to make sure she bought the books today, before the book lists were issued tomorrow and then she’d be stuck in the sea of students impatiently waiting in line as a single cashier would attempt to ring each student up. ‘That would be such a waste of time. What would have been the point of me emailing 10 different upper classmen to find out which books we needed, if I wait around until tomorrow when everybody else finds out. Then I’ll probably get stuck with used books, that have someone else’s highlighter and drool marks. Gross!’

“Daddy, we really need to get going. The book store closes at two on Sundays, and I’d really like to get first dibs on the books, so that I don’t end up with used copies that probably have bits and pieces of someone’s cadaver on them from last year.” She put on her best pouty face, hoping it would win over her father as it sometimes did.

“Okay Elizabeth. Please don’t make that face. It is unbecoming of a sophisticated young woman to try to employ such tactics. We’ll go now, but when we come back, I’ll continue to assemble this bookcase, as you’ll need to have a place to store these books that you’re so eager to buy.” Melvin slowly stood from where he was sitting, as Bette eagerly grabbed her keys, plopped them in his palm, and proceeded to exit the front door of the apartment while checking the time on her phone.

As they followed the GPS directions to the campus bookstore, Melvin took a deep breath. Bette knew what was coming.

“I hope your eagerness to buy these books before your classmates, is a reflection of your desire to stay ahead of them in all aspects. If you expect to attain the best residency, especially one that will allow you to come home to the East Coast for your specialty training, you’re going to have to be at the top of your class. UPenn, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and all of the other academic medical centers are going to have their picks from the top students. Whether you’re included in that pool of talent will be solely up to you,” Melvin droned on.