"David, if not for medical school, you would have been a barber." I teased him immediately I saw him.
David stopped abruptly, looked up at me, and rolled up his eyes with a hiss. "You're not serious James, watch out, I'll be the first consultant among us," David said, pointing his clipper at me.
I laughed at him one more time and tapped him on his shoulder before proceeding into the room. It was not the first time I teased David and constantly, David refuted me by his aspirations and dreams. I dropped my bag on my bunk and changed my shirt before proceeding back to the porch where David barbed our colleague.
"When you're done, help me cut my hair too," I said to David.
"After making jest of me right?" David retorted.
"Alright, don't be angry. You'll be among the first consultants among us, what else?" I chuckled.
"I'll do a rubbish style on your head as your punishment." David teased back and we both laughed.
I sat on the plastic chair shortly after David was done with our other colleague. David was my roommate while I was in the hostel and I enjoyed free haircuts from him even though he billed others a token. "I am not sure I want to undergo the rigorous training of residency." I sighed. "I just want a future without much stress, I don't know how but I'm not cut out for a life of stress," I said further.
"Nothing comes easy but I'll do my best to achieve my dreams," David said.
I kept quiet for a while, appreciating David's optimism while many thoughts flooded my head despite the buzzing sound made by the clipper. I was motivated by David's resolution and though we were on a similar path, I felt our destinations differed.
David showed extreme dedication and commitment to his studies and this motivated me as his friend to equally commit myself to my studies. But, our endgames were different and while David prioritized his studies, I diversified my attention to other engagements such as school politics. Nonetheless, David and I retained our friendship and he always encouraged me in my studies. My wake-up call to devote more attention to my studies was when I had a class repeat in 400 Level of medical school. David and most of my friends progressed to the next class while I had to restrategize and ensure I got back on track.
David soon graduated from medical school while I followed suit after a year. We had both become doctors but while David yet again focused on clinical practice, I made a turn to become an administrator in the medical field. David's progress report in his clinical practice has been overwhelming and relatively fast while I have gradually climbed the ladder of relevance as a medical administrator, hopeful that someday, my daydream of being one of the policy influencers in Nigeria would be actualized.