Julia laughed. “I wouldn’t doubt it! It’s the first time in ages since he came to the school, and they treat him like a celebrity.”
Richard Black went to NYU more than two decades ago. His son even attended the school, though it wasn’t publicized until he showed up and made a speech during his son’s graduation ceremony. This was information a lot of people knew since his own son’s achievements in the school rivaled his own, so he was another bright alumni.
“It’s sad, though,” Julia said, sighing. “I checked online after I heard about the visit from the chat. His eldest son, the one that attended NYU? He passed away some time ago, nearly two years.”
“Really?” I muttered, frowning in sympathy. “It couldn’t have been eight years since he finished his MBA, right?”
Julia nodded. “Yeah. It was a plane crash. He has a second son, though. He didn’t attend NYU, I couldn’t find which school he attended, but just this morning I heard there was the talk of his other son coming with him. He might even get to talk himself. Of course, none of this is confirmed, it’s just rumors I heard and I don’t know where they started from.”
I knew what it was like. Even though this was college, and the campus was a lot bigger than my high school was, gossip still had a way of getting around, across the different classes and departments. Especially over something so high profile as this.
“Ugh, I really can't wait for it to be tomorrow already,” Julia grumbled. “I mean, how am I supposed to concentrate in class when something this exciting is happening tomorrow? A really big name is going to be at our school tomorrow!”
I smiled. “Calm down. There’s nothing we can do but suffer through today, right? I do doubt there’d be classes tomorrow, so we’ll make it for the talk. They’re letting anyone who wants to attend, right?”
Julia nodded. “As far as I know, yes. Any class year, any department, as long as you want to be present, there’ll be room. Honestly, I don’t know where they’re going to take this whole thing if it’ll be inside or outside, but the school has to be running around to make the preparations perfect for tomorrow.”
We kept chatting through class, and in the end, the professor arrived half an hour late. It wasn’t entirely unusual. Each class had a three-hour allocation, but the lecturer usually wouldn’t take more than an hour and a half. Though there was the rare occasion that it went over the time limit, but that was rare. The professor didn’t say or clear up anything, just stated that he’d been doing something important and apologized for the delay before starting.
Everyone knew it had to have something to do with the guest tomorrow.
Even though it was class time, people were still excited. The professor continued with his lecture, even as the occasional murmur and passed note happened right in front of his eyes. He was usually strict, but he said nothing and acted like it wasn’t all happen
ing right in front of him.
The lecturers must also all be incredibly excited over this, not to mention the school’s higher-ups.
At the end of my lessons for the day, I wondered how I’d been able to keep up my concentration at all. I had notes written down for my two classes, but I couldn’t remember a thing of what we were taught by the time I got home.
I was in high spirits, though, and Mom noticed.
“Did something nice happen at school?” she asked, curious.
I took the baby from her arms and settled him in mine, then gave him a little tickle just to hear him laugh. Then, I turned to Mom with a large grin.
“You’d never guess who’s going to show up at school tomorrow,” I said.
She smiled indulgently. “Who?”
“We have a guest speaker tomorrow!” I gushed. “It’s so exciting! And he’s this really important guy! Ah, I almost wish you could go and see, but I’m not sure if they’ll be open to outsiders, or if it’s only for the school’s students and staff.”
“Who is this person that has such an influence to get even you excited to go to school?” Mom laughed.
We sat down on the couch, and Mom picked one of the baby’s toys on the table, handing it over to him before refocusing back on me.
“His name is Richard Black,” I said. “I don’t know if you know him, but he used to be at the school. Only, he didn’t start off as a student. He was the school’s janitor.”
“Oh?” her eyebrows shot up. “He must have worked hard if he’s such a big name now.”
I chuckled. “Oh, Mom, you have absolutely no idea. He didn’t just ‘work hard,’ he made it to the top. He started as a cleaner at the college, and he got a scholarship based on his dedication to learning. He used the opportunity well. It was more than two, but less than three decades ago, I can't remember the exact date, but in just that time he became one of the richest men in the country.”
That wasn’t a small achievement at all. America was a big country, and finding people that were well off wasn’t hard. But to climb so high as to be known as one of the richest men in America, it was no small feat. He built a company from scratch that had gone international years ago and had smaller branch companies all over the globe, all of which were doing extremely well.
“I can see why you’re excited over this speaker,” Mom said after a while, eyes widened in surprise. “Now I do wish I could join you. I’m sure your dad wouldn’t mind tagging along either.”
Dad had a fledgling company of his own. He used to work at a firm, but for medical reasons that needed him to take it a little easier on the day to day, he quit to start his own business. We’d had some really bad luck. Dad had quit around the time I was mistakenly diagnosed with cancer, and while that ended up false in the end, the past couple years had put a lot of strain on the family financially, but everything had stabilized already.
He would probably still be interested in hearing a story like Mr. Black’s.