Scaring Stable Bill

"Are you alright?"

"Hmm"

"Hello?"

"Yeah"

"You aren't listening"

"No"

"You are always preoccupied"

"Yeah"

"You look all stressed all the time"

"I am"

"You think too much of work"

"I know"

"Not much reading going on"

"No"

"Not even random blogging"

"Yeah"

"You don't tell me any blogosphere gossip"

"Oh thats because I haven't spoken to SB in a while. And anyway, don't read too many blogs nowadays"

"Which is good under normal circumstances. But I am all concerned"

"Why?"

"This is all very unlike you"

"Yeah"

"So what's wrong?"

"Nothing"

"Painful people at work?"

"Some. But not a big deal"

"Then what is wrong?"

"I told you. Nothing"

"Things are alright?"

"I guess"

"Dude"

"What?"

"You need to talk more"

"I need to talk more? Right"

"Yeah. You never say anything nowadays"

"Okay"

"Enough. What's going on?"

"I told you na. Nothing"

"This is about your job, isn't it?"

"Maybe"

"Are you going to lose your job?"

"Maybe"

"You serious?"

"Yeah. Who knows in this economy?"

"So what will you do?"

"Will get redundancy"

"That's not too much na"

"This is not America. We are slightly socialist here"

"That's nice. How many months?"

"More than a few"

"Good. Then you have time to find a job"

"Yeah. If I want to"

"If you want to? We need to pay rent"

"I thought about it. Its not such a big deal"

"What does that mean?"

"We can move to Cambridge"

"But then you will have to commute"

"Only if I have a job"

"Oh"

"When did you say your funding was until?"

"Uh. 2012"

"Good"

"Good? I thought you didn't like the fact that funding got extended"

"Who said? I like it that you have a stable job"

"I have a stable job?"

"It is very important in one income households. Stable job is a must"

"But I get paid very little"

"Oh, we will manage. If we are in Cambridge, its not a big deal. No major expenses"

"How long will we be in Cambridge?"

"Until you move out, I guess"

"Why would I move out?"

"I don't know. After 2012, maybe for another post-doc"

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Your life. Your career. All that jazz"

"I will figure out something"

"You will figure out when?"

"Dunno. Maybe I will go back to school"

"To study what?"

"History or something. Will have to think about it"

"What will you do studying history?"

"Why can't I study history?"

"That's not what I asked. What will you do after that?"

"You tell me. You are the one with the phd"

"Wait, you want to do a phd now?"

"No way. Too much effort. I will just take random classes I think"

"Who will pay for these random classes?"

"Don't worry. We will do all household budget and all. It will be alright"

"Enough alright?"

"You think this is a joke?"

"I am beginning to think it isn't"

"Good"

"What good? This is the scariest thing that ever happened to me"

"And it hasn't even started yet"

"Go away"