Chapter Three
“Come on, it’ll be fun.”
Bethany crossed her arms as she watched her oldest brother and his wife exchange looks. Honestly, she thought the request was a mere formality. Family was family after all. But Jeffrey and Cecily looked like deer caught in headlights.
“What?” she demanded.
“Nothing,” they chorused in unison.
“Do you not want me to visit you while I’m in San Francisco in November?” When she saw that the American College of Emergency Physicians were having their annual conference in the Bay Area, she thought it was the perfect opportunity to drop in on her brother and sister-in-law, spend some time with them, have some fun being a tourist, and do some professional development all at the same time. Multi-tasking was definitely The Bethany Way.
“Of course not,” Jeffrey interjected quickly. “We’d love to see you, of course. It’s just that November could be a busy month for us.”
Bethany frowned. “Are you on deadline? Are you writing a new movie? Or do you have a trial, CeeCee? I’m not unreasonable. We can just meet for dinner. I don’t expect you to entertain me the whole time, you know. I’ll be at the conference most of the time I’m there, and I’m a big girl. I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Okay we can make that work.” CeeCee grabbed her phone. “I’m adding it to the calendar now. We can touch base in October to nail down an exact time and place.”
“Maybe I could crash with you while I’m there. May help save money.”
Bethany relished the look of fear in Jeffrey and Cecily’s eyes as they absorbed her words. It was nice to know she hadn’t lost her touch. As the baby of the family, she sometimes had to go the extra mile to get noticed and not get lost in the shuffle.
“Only kidding, guys. It’s much easier to stay at the hotel than commute. If and when I cash in my IOUs, I wanna make them count.”
“I shudder to think. If she asks for a kidney, you’re up. You’re most likely to be a match,” Cecily muttered, turning her head to her husband.
As Jeffrey sputtered in protest, Bethany decided it was time to make her exit. “No kidneys. I swear I don’t know why you two are so obsessed with the idea I’d ever want one. Anyway, talk soon.” She blew them a kiss and logged off.
After looking around the room to make sure she was alone and wasn’t being spied on (she was well aware she was alone in her apartment, but some habits were hard to break) she opened up the Spreadsheet of Doom.
The file that had haunted her for almost fifteen years, since the day she started at a charter private high school, college at Columbia, then to Johns Hopkins for medical school. She winced every time she opened the SOD and every fifth of the month when she made her student loan payments but Bethany was not to be deterred. She and the SOD had gone a few rounds over the years and she was determined to prevail. With grim determination, she navigated through the twenty spreadsheets, plugged in the new numbers, and let Excel work its magic.
As much as Bethany hated to admit it, whenever she thought about the amount of debt she’d taken on to get to this point in her life, she felt a slight pang in her heart. But she had wanted to be a doctor since she was five years old, and nothing was going to get in the way of her achieving her dream. And despite her complaints about the workload, the hours, and toll it took on her physically, mentally, and emotionally, there was nothing else she’d rather do. She’d been born to be a doctor.
The reality was, though, that dreams didn’t come free. Part of her was convinced that she’d signed a deal with the devil when she’d finalized those student loan papers for Columbia and Johns Hopkins. If she had, she’d make damn sure the devil would come to regret it. But that wasn’t the point. The important thing was that her parents had worked themselves to the bones to help support her and her siblings. Bethany couldn’t even fathom the hours and the sacrifices they had made—especially for her. She could still remember the night her freshman year of high school she’d wandered down to the kitchen for a late-night snack and saw her Ma and Ba at the table, poring over the bills, and her mother putting her face in her hands.
“How are we going to pay for Bethany’s tuition next semester? We’re still paying off Becca’s orthodontist bills and for the new roof. It’ll break her heart if we tell her she has to go back to the local public school.”
She’d stood frozen on the stairs, not even daring to breathe for fear of being discovered. How selfish she’d been to not even think about the strain on the family by going to a private fancy high school. She was a heartbeat away from telling her parents that if they didn’t do it, she was going to go re-enroll at P.S. 162 herself when her father spoke.
“We can cut some corners, maybe I can work some overtime,” he offered.
Pam shook her head. “That’s nowhere near enough to make a difference.” They looked at each other again and to Bethany’s horror, she saw tears in her mother’s eyes. Her heart was breaking into a thousand pieces.
“I can’t believe I’m letting my daughter down,” Pam whispered.
Martin shook his head. “No. You and I are going to make an appointment and see Ray Bai. He can help and tell us how to get a loan. We can remortgage the house or get a second loan. Either way, Bethany will be okay and she never has to know.”
Bethany tiptoed back up to her bedroom but try as she might, she couldn’t fall asleep and spent the rest of the night tossing and turning. But that was the night she’d vowed to herself that she would make her parents proud and pay them back for their enormous sacrifice. She was going to work hard and make sure they didn’t regret what they had done for her.
Hence the SOD. Not only was Bethany working on a way to pay off her student loans in a timely manner and hopefully ahead of schedule, but she was also working on a plan to pay off the mortgage on her parents’ house. Maybe even send them on an all-expenses-paid vacation in Hawaii in a few years.
“One step at a time,” she muttered to herself. As she started plugging in her expenses from last month, she couldn’t help but cringe. Damn heatwave had sent her electricity bill through the roof. Then there was her friend Holly’s bachelorette and wedding shower, Phoebe’s birthday, and she’d splurged on takeout more than she’d like to admit. It was time to get back on track. She wasn’t at the point where she needed to consider living strictly on instant ramen and PBJ sandwiches, but if that was what was needed, so be it. So much for that weekend at the beach she was looking into. But it was fine. Her parents were worth it.
The Bethany Way meant Bethany gave no quarter to others, but the rules also applied to her. Most especially to her. It was time to suck it up and get the job done. She had a goal to meet, and The Bethany Way meant until that goal was accomplished, she was going to do whatever it took to wrestle it into submission.
Which was where the Raskin Fellowship came into play. There was a $50,000 cash prize for the winner to donate to any medical non-profit providing care for underserved and at-risk communities. Obviously, that was going to her own ER. Whitford Nash Memorial relied heavily on state funding and for years they’ve been forced to do more and more with less. The ER had always been on the chopping block with each successive round of budget cuts because politicians in Albany kept being so stingy, but always managed to hang on. If, no, when she won, she’d be saving not only her job, but also the jobs of all the other doctors, nurses, techs, and support staff. Not only that, she’d help ensure that Whitford Nash Memorial remained open to serve the community. Five other hospitals in the area had already closed their ERs so her hospital was the only option for miles for some residents. Seniors, low-income folks, and many others who may not have the means to travel far for the care they needed.
But wonderful as that money would be for the hospital, what mattered more to Bethany was the extra twenty thousand personally awarded to the winning recipient. That 20k would go a long way toward making a serious dent into the SOD. Her way to pay her parents back and show that they hadn’t made a mistake in believing and investing in her. That all their hard work and sacrifices had been worth it. Bethany pictured herself presenting her parents with a check, letting them know their retirement was secure and all provided for, and they could finally take that all-expense paid trip to visit family in Taiwan. Or wherever they wanted to go. The pride on her parents’ faces would be worth everything. She could hardly wait.
She almost pitied anyone else who was applying. They were toast. She was determined to demolish the competition. The Fellowship was hers. Opening the email again so she could reread the instructions to make sure she didn’t miss anything the first time around, Bethany laced her fingers together and cracked her knuckles.
Time for her to do what she did best. Hunker down, focus, and attack the goal in front of her until she emerged victorious. If there was ever a time she needed go full Bethany and channel every ounce of The Bethany Way, it was now. Game on.