Ryan is well into his third year of dental school, and whilst he's enjoying the stability of his military scholarship, he's also enjoying the fact that contact with his lieutenant is rare. There's an exchange of e-mail's every six months to schedule his fitness test, a signature is required on a form from time to time, and there are occasional GPA updates. Otherwise, his lieutenant leaves him to his studies, and Ryan remains a low maintenance recruit.
It was surprising, then, a few months ago when Ryan received a rare phone call from his lieutenant, inviting him to a dinner honoring scholarship students. He was told that he didn't need to do anything besides show up and eat some steak, and that at some point in the evening he'd be presented with a cheque, in recognition of his hard work. Not one to refuse a free dinner (or pass up on a cheque, for that matter) Ryan agreed to be there and expected that he'd see some of his class mates there too.
He arrived in his suit and tie at what he thought was a general military dinner. As it turned out, he'd been invited to the MAES annual dinner for high achieving students. MAES standing for Mexican American's in Engineering & Science. As he ate his steak and mashed potatoes (painfully aware that, along with just a handful of others, he was definitely not a Mexican American) he listened as Latino students were awarded scholarship's, and prizes rewarding their undergraduate achievements. Two hundred dollars here, eight hundred dollars there, obviously with the goal of encouraging further education.
Completely confused, the only clue that he was indeed in the right place was the fact that he was seated at the same table as his lieutenant. He didn't want to mention the elephant in the room, but what was he doing there? As the dessert course was being served, a Navy officer was introduced at the podium and it was announced that he had a cheque to present to one of their Dental students. Ryan stood up, and made his way to the podium, thousands of eyes, in the enormous conference centre, on him.
"I am honored to present Ryan, who has a scholarship with the Navy, this cheque for $206,974.24. Congratulations Ryan!"
Massive applause erupted as Ryan's eyeball's all but exploded from his head. He approached the podium, eyebrows knitted together, bewildered confusion on his face as he accepted the very oversized novelty cheque, and shook hand after hand, unable to say anything but desperate to ask "Is this a joke?" As he returned to his seat hands reached out to shake his, murmur's of 'congratulations' and 'that's awesome' swept through the room. The most Ryan could muster was a quiet, "I guess."
Sitting down at his table, the lieutenant leaned over towards him with a smile, "Pretty exciting, huh?"
Ryan stared at him in disbelief. "Is this thing real?!"
Of course, it wasn't, as the lieutenant went on to explain. What they really should of said when they called him was "you're invited to a dinner where we'll present you with a fake cheque."Apparently it's a symbol of the military's investment in it's scholarship students. Pretty big symbol. Too bad you can't take that to the bank.
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