chunky, past middle-aged woman sat at a desk with a polished surface, with nothing but a telephone and a small note pad and pencil sitting on the desk in front of her. She smiled and said, “You must be Miguel Elian.”
He nodded and responded, “Yes - I am a bit early.”
“The headmaster will be with you shortly,” she said. She gestured for him to have a seat. The chairs looked extremely uncomfortable, as if they had been placed there as a punishment in itself, for troubled students. He noticed the framed certificate and letters on the walls. He saw the thread-worn carpet. He was thinking of how he would have hated it here, when the inner office door opened. A jovial looking man with pink cheeks and a balding head emerged with a smile on his face. “Come in - come in,” he said enthusiastically. Miguel got up and walked into the office closing the door behind him. He smiled, thinking of how easy this would be.
"I see from your records that you graduated two years ago," the headmaster said. "I also see that you were an outstanding student!"
"That is precisely why I am here! I went to work after I left this school, but now I have belatedly decided to go to the University. I would like to go to the United States to study! I was hoping that a counselor might assist me with the applications!"
"Have you thought about where you would like to go? What interests you as far as a field of study?" Damn - why doesn't he just send me to the counselor, Miguel thought. He took a deep breath before he answered.
"I have an interest in the field of chemistry. I think I would like to work in a research lab. There are many good programs in American universities for that. I was hoping that the counselor here would help me make my choices, and then assist me with the applications."
"Of course we can help! Helping a student to succeed is our main task! Let's see if Mr Valdez can see you now while you are already here. You can give him your thoughts and then he perhaps can give you brochures on the universities that he would suggest. Then you can set up an appointment for a later date to make your final decisions. How does that sound?" Miguel thanked him profusely as the headmaster picked up the telephone.
The hastily arranged immediate appointment was scheduled, and Miguel took off across campus after thanking the headmaster and promising to visit again when he came back to the school campus to see Mr. Valdez again. He opened the door to the office of the counselor precisely seven minutes after leaving the headmaster. Mr. Valdez greeted him with courtesy, certainly not knowing that Miguel knew exactly how much money he had received for this deception. "Thank you for seeing me on such a short notice! I would like your assistance in applying to Universities in the United States. I have decided that I am interested in a school that is known for excellence in the field of chemical engineering, assuming my grades and school records will allow that."
"Certainly Miguel, I will be more than glad to be of assistance to such an excellent student. Shall we start?" Miguel smiled and nodded yes. Mr. Valdez already was holding a folder with a label that showed it contained Miguel's forged records. He pretended to skim through the papers in the file. "Excellent - excellent" - he mumbled for Miguel's benefit. "I always suggest that students apply to more than one school. Each year the criteria for acceptance may change for each school especially for the more prestigious programs. I would suggest that you apply to the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania. They are both superior schools and they are very happy to have foreign students that excel. They both have excellent programs in your chosen field. Let me give you a school catalogue for each of them."
"Thank you Mr. Valdez, I would love to have the catalogues, but I have done research and I agree with your choices of universities for me. Can we begin the applications today?"
"You sound like a young man who knows what he wants! Of course we can, Miguel!" He got up from his desk and turned to the bookshelf behind him where he pulled out two catalogues and handed them to Miguel. Then he walked a few steps to his file cabinet in order to get the applications for the schools. Sitting back down and looking again at Miguel's records he pretended that he didn't remember where they came from. "I see you have already taken the college entrance exams, and that you have done extremely well. That is wonderful for you! It should make the application process that much easier. I have the forms here that I need to complete and send to the schools, and I will be happy to get the results of your exams sent to the schools as well. Here are the forms that you need to fill out. After you complete them and write your essays, perhaps you would like to meet with me again. I can go over your work before you mail the applications."
"Thank you," Miguel responded. "Thank you for your offer! I will dedicate my time to completing the paperwork and contact you when it is done. I am excited about moving on with this next stage of my life!" Miguel pushed his chair back as he stood to leave. Mr. Valdez also stood and both of them moved toward the door. They shook hands, and Miguel left closing the door behind him.
He felt good about the developments of the day. He glanced around at the students roaming the campus as he walked toward the gate. He thought about his own education. These pampered kids would never have made it through his school in Libya, his father's demands, and certainly not the education he received deep in the caves of Afghanistan.
Feeling very good about how the meetings had gone, he closed the gate behind him and walked happily onto the street. He decided to take a leisurely walk back to his apartment so he could begin to get familiar with this area of the city. He carried the University catalogues and the applications in the leather case that his father had given him. With his strict self discipline he knew that he would be completing the applications within the next few days, but a few hours off to clear his head and get some exercise would be good for him.
As he walked back towards his apartment he noticed a well manicured park on his left. The grass was green, and colorful flowers and small bushes bordered the sidewalks in the park. He decided to detour and take a short walk in the park. After all it was such a beautiful day! He observed as the children were laughing and playing in a sandy area with their parents closely watching. Some of them were climbing up a ladder and sliding down screaming in glee most of the way down until they landed in the sand. Some children sat on benches at tables eating snacks while their parents sat beside them. There were benches along the walkway. Most of them were unoccupied, but some were occupied by tattered and dirty people laid out across the bench taking a nap. Other benches had more than one person sitting in conversation with one another. Some benches had a solitary person reading a newspaper or just staring into the space in front of him. Suddenly he noticed an empty bench and impulsively decided to stop, sit, and experience the park as if he had been there many times. He watched the children and he watched the business people walking through the park on their way to somewhere else. Even though he found this enjoyable, he knew that he had indulged himself enough and it was time to continue on his way.
When he got back to the apartment he fixed himself a small lunch before opening his leather case. He examined the applications. They were long and detailed with several essays to write - as he had expected. He had already begun to write these essays on the airplane guessing what the subject of them would be. He could tweak them as necessary, but at least a lot of the work already had been done. When he completed the applications, both schools would allow him to upload them and make an online payment for the application fee, but he would wait until after he spoke again to Mr. Valdez.
Time enough for that tomorrow, he thought as he put the applications back in the folder. It was getting late in the afternoon and he wanted to enjoy himself this evening. It would be a good time to check out the nightclub down the street! For now he straightened up the place, putting the rest of his clothes in the closet, the new dishes in the kitchen cabinet, and the dry food in the pantry cabinet. When his work was done, he took a shower, and decided to have a nice dinner in a small restaurant that he had seen earlier on his walk back to the apartment.
After dinner he leisurely walked home to check for any email from his father, but nothing had arrived yet. Instead he wrote his father about the airplane trip, meeting Roberto, the apartment, and lastly about the meetings at the school. He closed the laptop and set it on the small desk in the corner of the living room. He changed his clothes into more casual attire, checked his appearance in the small bathroom mirror, and finally walked out the door locking it behind