excerpt
“Yes, Father,” says Hermes, “but I have something else I need to
tell you and Mother. I need to go to Canada to study for a while. This
is going to allow me to accept a good position they offered me at the
university.”
His parents froze. Then his mother raised her voice in fear:
“You need to go to Canada? What are you going to do there alone?
Who is going to take care of you? Who is going to clean your clothes?
Who is going to cook for you?”
She saw her son as a little boy still and wondered how he could
survive without relatives around to help him.
George was silent, and after a while, he uttered a few more
questions:
“Why don’t you forget about going abroad and get a different
job, someplace else? What happens if you don’t go?”
Demetre interrupted, “Yes, he could find a job in one of the
government agencies, or he could become a civil servant or have a
position in a bank, things like that. But if he goes abroad for a while,
after he returns, he is guaranteed a professorship at the same university
he graduated from. It’s a much better job, much more respected.”
George still wanted to find other reasons to make Hermes give
up the idea of the foreign country, something that didn’t sit well in
his mind.
“What about the expense for such a trip? How are we going to
find the money to pay for this?”
Demetre stepped in again, “Your son needs to go away for a while
to specialize in a field study. Then, when he returns, he will become a
professor at the university. It is a very good job, a very powerful one. But
without going abroad to do his special studies, he can’t qualify for the
position. But don’t worry, we will not have to pay anything for it, not a
penny; the government has given him a scholarship for this.”
George still insisted, “Couldn’t you be able to find a good job
without the trip?”
Hermes now felt that he had to say something: “Mother,
Father, thank you for your input, but it is for my future…
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