Brad's Status Page #5

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- Maybe a little bit more than a little.

- Yeah, yeah.

What if Troy lorded

his success over me,

or hoarded it away?

It sounds like your father

might be mentally ill,

in need of some help.

What if, in the end,

Troy's wins made me feel

even more the failure?

What if I became envious of my own son?

The thought horrified me.

Lose yourself in nature

And find peace

Troubles will come

Troubles will release

Lose yourself

In nature and find peace

Then again...

musicians rarely make money.

Even with a Harvard education,

Troy could easily end up

a struggling artist.

Troubles will come

Troubles will release

Lose yourself in nature and find peace

Chickens and children know it all...

Or maybe he'll take after Melanie...

perfectly satisfied

with practically nothing.

We may reach great heights

But ever will we fall

Chickens and children know it all

Lose yourself in nature and find peace

Lose yourself in nature

And find peace

Hey, if you're just gonna be a musician,

do you even need to go to college?

What?

It's a fair question.

- "Just" a musician?

- Yeah.

I'm just saying,

do you need a Harvard diploma

if you're gonna play music in a band?

Isn't that what you want to do?

I don't know what I want to do, Dad.

Okay, well, you better start thinking

about it, 'cause, uh,

this isn't cheap, Troy,

and you're assuming a lot

if you think that I can pay for all this

without taking out loans,

or you taking out loans,

or trying to get scholarships

or financial aid.

What the f*** just happened?

I'm thinking out loud, okay?

I don't expect you to pay for everything.

I mean, are you not gonna

be able to pay for everything?

We'll see. I don't want

you to worry about this yet.

Clearly.

Hey, it might not be a big issue.

Maybe one of your grandparents will die.

- Hey.

- Hey.

How you doing?

Good. How are you?

This is my dad, Brad.

Hey, Dad-Brad. I'm Ananya.

Hey. So, you guys were friends

at Country Day?

We were in orchestra together.

- Yeah, Ananya's a really amazing musician.

- Really?

Uh-huh.

And now you go to Harvard.

Yeah. I'm a junior.

That's... Wow.

Are you liking it?

Yeah, it's great.

I mean, it gets really cold,

but I love my classes.

Really great people.

Yeah, no complaints.

Uh, I made a reservation

at a restaurant around the corner.

So, should we go?

Yeah.

Cool.

Let's do it.

Mm.

It's good to see faces from home.

It's so cool you got that

meeting with Jerome Backaly.

How'd you manage that?

Oh, my dad's friends

with a professor here.

Oh, yeah?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Who?

His name's Craig Fisher.

Oh... What?

What?

You made a face.

I did?

Yeah, you definitely made a face.

It's okay, you can say whatever you want.

We're not close or anything.

We were friends a long time ago.

Well, I took his class last year,

and... he's kind of the worst.

Should I not have said that?

No, say it. What?

He's just...

he's condescending, and...

I don't know, he's pretty sexist.

He's got this air of someone who thinks

that they know everything

just because he's on TV

and has got contacts at the White House.

But, how do you really feel?

Honestly, by the end of his class,

I wanted to quit my major, so...

Mm.

Uh, aren't you a music major?

No, government.

My, uh, dad majored in government.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah, communications and government.

This was at Tufts.

So, what do you do now?

I have a nonprofit I started

a few years ago.

- Really?

- Yeah, yeah.

We, uh, help other nonprofits

use social media

to get the word out about what they do.

You know, find donors, members.

So, is it, like, crowdsourcing or...

Um, a little bit of that.

Basically, we're a consultant.

Sounds boring, but...

Cool. No, no, no.

It doesn't sound boring.

It sounds amazing.

Oh. Well, thanks.

Yeah. Um, actually, I'm...

I'm writing my thesis on NGOs.

Maybe I could talk to you at some point?

Of course. Whatever you need.

Cool.

Thank you.

So, tell us about your thesis.

Really?

Yeah.

You want to know?

Yeah.

Okay, well, um, uh,

it's not fully formed yet,

uh, but I want to write about the history

of white missionary women.

Like, you know, the wives

who went to India

and Sri Lanka to, you know,

like, "convert the heathens," but, really,

they laid down a lot of groundwork

for social reform...

I remember this.

This feeling.

This girl, with all her idealism,

her sense of purpose,

her hope.

...as it relates

to women's rights,

and how one of the sad legacies

of colonialism

is that they really had no part...

I remember these nights.

These conversations.

The plans to change the world.

A longing to connect.

One time, I told him that my dream job

was to work at Amnesty International,

- and he was, like, devastated.

- Mm.

Mm.

So you're lucky...

you're lucky that your dad's so cool.

- Yeah.

- Oh.

Hey!

Hey!

This is my friend, Maya.

Hey, how are you?

Hey. I told her to stop by.

- I hope that's okay.

- Thank you.

So, uh, you go to Harvard, too?

Yes, I do.

Yeah, uh, Maya's in orchestra with me.

- She plays the violin.

- Oh.

And, uh, what instrument do you play?

I play the flute. Yeah.

- The flute? Oh, wow.

- Yeah.

I just don't feel like it's my job

to be the ambassador

to all these Chinese students.

I mean, of course I want

to help them assimilate, but...

First of all, I'm f***ing Korean. Okay?

And second of all,

I don't even speak Mandarin...

Her friend Maya

was equally captivating,

equally compelling.

I suddenly felt a deep grief...

for all the women I would never love...

and all the lives I would never live.

I imagined running away with them both

and starting again.

And what that might look like.

Really great, right?

Yes. It was pretty funny.

You were there, you...

I know.

Thank you guys so much for dinner.

Yes, thank you.

Yeah. Well, thanks for taking the time.

I know Troy appreciates it.

Yeah, Troy's very grateful. Thank you.

Uh, well, we're meeting a few people

at The Druid for drinks,

if you guys want to come.

Oh, yeah? Where's that?

Uh, just across the street.

Oh. You, um...

Yeah, you know what,

Troy's got a bunch of meetings tomorrow,

so, we should probably get some sleep.

Not even for one drink?

Nah.

Oh, I'm not 21,

so, I probably can't even get in.

Oh, that's right. Sh*t.

Yeah. But you guys have fun, all right?

And we'll see you tomorrow night

for the concert.

We will?

Uh, well, no, you can't,

'cause you got dinner with your friend.

But, uh, I'm gonna go.

Oh, right.

Aw.

Craig Fisher.

Oh.

Have fun with that.

- Yeah. Yeah.

- Yeah.

Okay, well, uh...

- Okay, bye.

- Bye, hon.

- I'll see you tomorrow.

- Bye. Cool.

- Bye. Was nice meeting you.

- Yeah, great to meet you.

- Thanks for dinner.

- All right.

- Yeah, of course. All right.

- Bye. Thank you.

- Thank you so much.

- Bye-bye.

Good night.

Enjoy school.

- Thank you.

- Okay.

Kind of seemed like you wanted to go.

Oh, no. No.

I was just, uh, just being polite.

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