Daddy?
he asked.
What do you want to be in your future career?
Huh?
I said.
What,
he persisted.
Do you want to be in your future career someday?
Hmmm…
I said.
Maybe I’ll be a quant trader.
I don’t know what that is.
he said.
A quant trader,
I said.
deals in a complicated form of stock trading in which very sophisticated mathematical algorithms are built to quantitatively analyze the market and find investing opportunities. Thus, the phrase ‘quant.’ Does that make sense?
No.
he said.
It doesn’t. But I don’t think you’d be very good at it.
Why?
I asked.
Because.
he said.
You said you have to be good at mathematics, and I have to admit that you’re not very good at mathematics.
Not cool.
I said.
Sorry,
he said.
It just seems like you’re sort of not that good with mathematics.
Okay.
I said.
For the sake of discussion, let me think of another future career…maybe I’ll think about becoming a best-selling Swedish author. Like Stieg Larsson, who wrote the Millennium trilogy.
Well,
he said.
are you even Swedish? Do you even have Swedish blood?
I’m not sure.
I said.
But I’m married to someone who does.
What does it even mean,
he asked.
to have Swedish blood in your blood? I thought you just had Tillamook in your blood.
I suppose that’s true,
I conceded.
I spent a childhood in Tillamook.
Oh.
he said.
So what’s different about Swedish blood than Tillamook blood?
Well,
I said.
We should probably review chromosomes and DNA again to really understand what makes people unique. Do you remember what DNA stands for?
INTERMISSION.
short discussion about genetics and practicing pronunciation for deoxyribonucleic acid
So,
I concluded.
The bottom line is that I have very strong and powerful blood. And another career I might consider is becoming a detective.
Oh.
he said.
I think you should be a spy instead.
Why?
I asked.
Well.
he said.
Then you could spy on people.
But who would I spy on?
I asked.
He laughed.
Lots of people! Like…your family.
Oh.
I said.
But I already do that.
Well…
he said.
You could go to downtown Portland and spy on people there.
Like who?
Like…
he thought.
…like robbers. You could spy on robbers, and then when they were doing robberies, you could call the police.
That’s actually pretty good thinking.
I said.
But who would pay me? If I do it as a career, then I should probably get paid.
He shrugged.
It’s a start. Wish me luck.
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