Of Confirming Conversations

On a spaulding ferry to San Francisco, I was flipping through some flash cards for general chemistry. The cover of the flashcard was set off to the collapsible tray in front of my seat which had marked in bold blue letters “MCAT”. Suddenly an old voice above my seat asks, “Are you studying for the MCATs?”

- I suppose that I couldn’t have “geek” written all over me anymore at that moment. Black framed glasses, pig tails, loads of flash cards in my hands, and a graphing calculator by my side. -

I look up somewhat startled to see a grandpa figure wearing a yellow t-shirt, khaki pants and a little golden dog on a leash that has evidently gone sniffing my toes. “Yes, I am! I’m actually on my way to class right now!”

“For medical school?” “Yup! ” My first affirmation.
“That’s amazing! Test me on a flashcard!”
“… What is the Pauli Exclusion Principle?”
“Ooooh, is that me being excluded?”
“No two electrons can have the same four quantum numbers!”
He winks at me and says, “You’ll do fine.”

After this moment, he goes on to try to set up his grandson with me. “Well! I’m Don. What’s your name?”
“Oh, my name is Joyce–!”
“Tony! Tony come here! Look at this young lady! She’s on her way to medical school!”

His grandson – about the same age range – looks at me as though it’s happened so many times in the past. “Oh really? That’s nice pa. That’s nice.”
“This is Joyce, Joyce this is my grandson Tony!”

Both of us smile at each other as though we both agreed to humor his grandpa. I shortly went back to studying my flashcards, and Tony rushed his grandfather away from the scene.

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