March 17

Right after I blew out my candles, though, mom took my brother into my grandparents' formal dining room with their slices of birthday cake.
"You know, son," I heard mom say between bites of cake, "I still think you should go to college. I mean, it can't hurt."



"Mom, I'm preparing to be an astronaut, not a doctor."
"Still, I think you'd benefit from it. Your test scores were extremely high, in three subjects. You could get advanced placement in all of them and not spend as much time in school to get your degree as others."



"Mom, I don't want to sit all day in a classroom."



"You won't have to. The class schedules are flexible. You can attend as little as one class a day, for two hours. Then you can spend the rest of the time pursuing your own interests. Besides, I read the brochure, there's a lot more to college than classes. It's a tremendous opportunity for you. I wish it had been available when I was coming up."



I returned to Hidden Springs to receive my diploma from Alpine Community School. As valedictorian, I had to give the commencement address.



The rest of the family came along, but meant the world to have Satis and Imsety there. You have no idea how much that meant to me.



Whee!



Well, over lunch after graduation at the local bistro, I found out why my sister Satis returned to town. Turns out she's enrolled in the Sims University medical school!
"Did you tell mom yet?" I asked her.
"No. I haven't even seen her yet. She doesn't know I'm here."
"Where's Sety?"
"I'm trying to talk him into coming too."
Sigh. I knew what that was like. I swear, if I didn't know any better, I'd think Sety and AJ were related by blood.





Anyway, this is why Satis is in medical school. Her highest scores on her SUAT were in science and medicine. And I found out something else too. Her biological aunt is the famous doctor to the stars, Laila Al Fahad, who lived in Hidden Springs and used to be the royal physician. Laila Al Fahad is Fatima Amin's sister.

"I only found that out a couple weeks ago," Satis told me.
Wow.
I'm having no problem imagining my sister as a doctor.