Early Decision Read Online Free Page B

hands. Feeling him clock her ringless fingers, she counted on them to make her case. “I provide three things to your family,” she began.
    â€œFirst, I serve as a buffer between you and your daughter during this difficult time. I will monitor the deadlines, the forms, the teacher recommendations, the submissions. I’ll make sure nothing gets missed. That will spare you the nagging and the asking and the keeping piles on your dining room table from now till Christmas.
    â€œSecond, I’ll be an advocate for your daughter through an immensely stressful process. She will have my e-mail and my cell-phone number, and she can contact me at any time, about anything. So can you, or her mother, incidentally. So if your wife is freaking out on a Friday night, she calls me.”
    Mr. Blanchard huffed a laugh. Anne was winning him.
    â€œFinally, the essays. Here’s the thing. Your daughter has had an excellent education, probably the best in the city.” She paused so he could agree with this. “Right? She has been taught to write book reports, lab reports, history papers . . . I bet even sonnets. But now she has to write a five-hundred-word essay that will be the most important piece of writing in her life to date. It has to be concise but inviting, bold but modest, confident but not arrogant. It has to be clever and original and authentic. Now, has she ever been taught to write a personal essay? I bet not. Why should she know how to do that? It’s a skill that will serve her well for the rest of her life, but she hasn’t learned it. And that’s what I do. I’ll put her through draft after draft until she’s got a set of essays that represent her best foot forward. Then we’ll send in the applications and see what happens. I don’t have any truck with admissions offices. I don’t call them, I don’t know them. I don’t care where your daughter ends up, as long as she is happy there. But I do guarantee that no matter what, your daughter will feel that she has given it her very best shot.”
    Mr. Blanchard pursed his lips. His mouth’s strawberry fullness embarrassed her and made her wonder how long he’d been married, what he’d been like at her age. He sat back and propped both hands behind his head, spreading his elbows wide. “Very compelling,” he finally declared. “Quite a racket you’ve got going there.”
    Anne waited.
    â€œI assume my wife has worked out the details of your fee?”
    She had not. “I charge five thousand dollars a student, all-inclusive. No limit to the number of applications. Half payable before we begin working and the balance upon submission of the final application. That’s it.”
    â€œOh,” he said, seemingly relieved. “What does that work out to by the hour, I wonder?”
    â€œCounting or not counting the hours on the phone with moms?”
    He let his head hang back in an openmouthed laugh. “You’re a pro, I can tell. Where do you live?”
    â€œLincoln Park. Not far from the zoo.”
    â€œOh?”
    â€œYes, but I don’t work out of my apartment. I prefer to meet students at home or elsewhere.”
    â€œFine. We’re Gold Coast—Delaware. Margaret will work all of that out with you. And, Anne, listen.”
    â€œYes?”
    â€œDid my wife talk with you about Duke?”
    â€œNo. She did mention that—”
    â€œSadie’s got quite a boost there.” He seemed to almost blush. He pulled his arms back down before him on the desk and folded in to demonstrate his humility. “Yes. I’ve been fortunate to serve as a trustee for, oh, going on about five years now. We’re strong supporters of the university’s current capital campaign. So all these applications—well, I don’t really see the point in making too many. Let’s just do what we have to do. Sadie will go to Duke. But I want her to