James’ fingers frantically typed away at his keyboard, racing against the clock. He knew he wouldn’t make it, but turning in a late paper was better than not turning one in at all. His eyes darted down the pages one last time before he decided that this was as good as time would allow him. Printing his paper as quickly as he could, he hurriedly packed his things and rushed off. Professor Andrews office was halfway across campus, but in the amount of time it took James to get there you would have thought it was the building next door. Moments later, James arrived outside the office door, panting. He took a quick moment to collect himself, and then gave the door a sharp knock.

“Come in”, he heard faintly through the door. When he opened it, James saw professor Andrews sitting at his desk, reading a stapled pile of papers. “Hello James,” he said, hardly bothering to glance up. “Something I can help you with?”

“Here’s my paper, sir,” James said, holding out his slightly wrinkled pages. Andrews stopped reading and looked up at James.

“James, the paper was due last night at midnight. I thought I made that perfectly clear.”

“Yes you did,” said James. “But I had a lot of personal matters to take care of. I’m sorry sir, but I’ve been really busy outside of school.”

“This isn’t the first time you’ve said that to me, James,” Andrews replied. “I’ve been lenient with you on the past in these types of situations, but I heavily stressed the due date of this paper with your class. I can’t give you anymore free passes.”

“But sir, if I could just explain my-“

“I’m sorry James, I cannot accept your paper”. There was a long pause. James lowered his hand and turned to leave the classroom.

“I understand,” he said, and closed the door behind him.

The sun was beginning to set. Checking his watch, James was startled at the realization of how late it had gotten. He had to stop by the pharmacy on his way home before it closed. James packed up his things and began walking down to his car. On his way, he saw groups of friends walking together, laughing. James smiled at them enviously. It wasn’t that he didn’t have friends, he just didn’t have time to have fun with them, and whenever he did go out, he ended up feeling guilty at the end of the day. James reached his car at the far end of the parking lot and drove off.

The pharmacy was thankfully still open by the time he arrived. James approached the front desk and a tall man in a white coat came to greet him.

“Hi James,” the man said smiling. “You look tired, long day?”

“You could say that,” he replied. “I just need a refill today.” James reached into his bag and pulled out a small pill bottle, with a label that read ‘Interferon beta-1a’.

“Sure thing,” the man said, taking the bottle from James’. “Just give me a moment.” The man quickly returned with the bottle, which was now inside a small paper bag. “You have a good night now,” the man said once James had thanked him. “And tell your mother I said hello!”

The sun had completely set by the time James pulled into his driveway. He parked the car and grabbed the paper bag from next to him in the front seat. As he opened the door his saw his mother, sitting in her favorite chair where she always was. When she saw him she smiled broadly.

“How was your day?” she asked eagerly.

“It was fine,” replied James. “Everything went well.” He walked over to the kitchen cabinet and filled up a glass of water. With this, he took a pill from the paper bag and handed both to his mother. “Here you go, mom,” he said.

“Thank you, dear,” she said as she swallowed the pill and drank most of the water at once.

“Do you need anything else?” James asked.

“No, I’ve had a pretty good day today, not much pain.” James took off his backpack and set it on the table.

“I’m going to try to get some homework done, just let me know if you need anything,” he said. She smiled back at him.

“Of course,” she said shortly. James smiled back, then pulled out his books and a sheet of paper, and began to write.