Sadie ran mock interview questions at me for three evenings straight, frowning over a list she’d made herself.

Maisie built me a paper crown with HOSPITAL BOSS printed on it in marker. Caleb’s only question was whether the new job came with enough money for a whale-shaped lamp he had seen and never forgotten.

I got the position after a formal interview with three administrators. And my first purchase was not the lamp.

It was four white ceramic plates — plain, heavy ones, the kind that feel permanent in your hand, the kind that will survive being an ordinary family’s ordinary dishes for years.

Maisie inspected them and could not hide her disappointment.

“These aren’t very fancy,” she said, “for such an important promotion.”