The Alice Tully Hall at the Juilliard School of Music, Manhattan, New York City.
10:53 (New York Time)
Friday, May 14, 1999 ‘C’
The Alice Tully Hall, Juilliard School of Music
West 65th Street, Manhattan, New York City
U.S.A.
The spectators watching the graduation ceremony at the Alice Tully Hall of the Juilliard School of Music warmly applauded as Nancy, whose turn had come, received her diploma from Doctor Joseph Polisi, the president of the school. On his part, Polisi enthusiastically shook her hand while handing her her rolled diploma.
‘’Congratulations, Miss Dows! This must be the first time that we have the honor to graduate a student who already won a Grammy Award as Best New Artist of the year.’’
‘’Actually, Doctor Polisi, I could not have won that award without my band members. They deserve as much credit as me for that award.’’
‘’Very true and also very modest on your part, Miss Dows. I wish you and your band a great professional career in music.’’
‘’Thank you, sir!’’ replied Nancy before walking off the stage with her diploma, leaving her place to Sarah Weissman, who was next in line to receive her diploma. She was met at the bottom of the stage’s stairs by Ingrid, who hugged her for long seconds.
‘’Nancy, if you knew how proud I am of you.’’
‘’Thanks, Mom! This is a truly happy day for me in my life. I am also happy that I could graduate along with my band members. We have great hopes for our band, now that we have our diplomas and have gained lots of recognition thanks to our Grammy Awards performance last March. In fact, the sales and revenues for our two albums have increased tremendously following the Grammy Awards Show.’’
‘’I know! Will you girls stay in New York after this graduation?’’
‘’Why not? First off, New York is THE place, along with Los Angeles, for a musical band. Second, the girls and I love this city: it has so much life and energy in it.’’
‘’That it does! Look, I just spoke with the parents of Sarah, Erika and Carmen and we all agreed to go eat together as a group at a good restaurant. Then, we will all go to your apartment to continue celebrating. What do you say to that?’’
‘’That it is a great idea, Mom. Aah, here is Sarah. Lucy will be next.’’
Ingrid also greeted with a hug her other daughter Lucy and the three other girls forming the ‘D.C. Five’ band with Nancy. With the parents of the three other girls also congregating with their small group, they then decided on which restaurant they wanted to eat at before loading up in four cars and rolling away from the Juilliard School of Music. Nancy let out a sigh as the school’s building disappeared from her sight.
‘’I will miss that place: we had some fun times in there. Right Lucy?’’
‘’You can say that again, Sis.’’ replied her sister by adoption. ‘’Uh, what was that big news you told us that you had for us yesterday, Mom?’’
‘’I have decided to retire definitely from the military at the end of June and will then switch to purely civilian life.’’
‘’WHAT?’’ shouted in unison Nancy and Lucy, both surprised and shocked. Ingrid smiled while continuing to drive her convertible Pontiac FIREBIRD TRANS AM.
‘’You heard me well, girls: I am taking off my uniform for good this June.’’
‘’But why?’’ asked Lucy.
‘’Simple: I am tired of war and of killing. Now that all of the main enemies of the United States have been defanged, I will now be able to retire while knowing that the United States will be safe even without me.’’
‘’And what will you do then, Mom?’’ asked Nancy. ‘’You are not going to quit flying as well?’’
‘’QUIT FLYING? HELL NO! Actually, I intend to do more flying than ever.’’
‘’You’re not going to become an airline pilot, I hope, Mom? They are a dime a dozen, while you are unique.’’
‘’Thanks for the compliment, Lucy. No, I have something a bit more exciting in mind than becoming a simple airline pilot. After all, I have a doctorate in aerospace engineering and I don’t want to waste my talents by leaving that domain. What I intend to do is to become a civilian test pilot and head designer for an aircraft manufacturer who is impatient to hire me.’’
‘’Wait! Are you talking about the Hiller Corporation, the one which made billions selling your Aircar and Airbike designs?’’
‘’The one exactly.’’
‘’But they are based in California. What will you do with our house in Arlington?’’
‘’It depends. I could give it to you, Lucy and Leo…or I could sell it. It actually is getting a bit old since I bought it some 44 years ago, although I always maintained it well. You could even follow me to California with your band and start your professional career in Los Angeles.’’
‘’Wow!’’ said Nancy, sitting back in her passenger seat. ‘’That’s a lot to think about, Mom.’’
‘’I know, but life is what we make of it, Nancy.’’