Page 177 - The Love Hypothesis

“We could, like, sleep in on Sunday mornings. Instead of having to

check on our mice at six a.m.”
“Yeah.” Anh sighed wistfully. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was
running in the background, but neither of them was paying attention. “We

could buy real ketchup instead of stealing packets from Burger King. And
order that wireless vacuum cleaner I saw on TV.”

Olive giggled drunkenly and turned to her side, making the bed squeak.
“Seriously? A vacuum cleaner?”

“A wireless one. It’s the shit, Ol.”
“That is . . .”

“What?”
“Just . . .” Olive giggled some more. “It’s the most random thing.”
“Shut up.” Anh smiled but didn’t open her eyes. “I have severe dust

allergies. You know what, though?”
“Are you going to hit me with a Trivial Pursuit vacuum cleaner fact?”

The corners of Anh’s eyes crinkled. “Nah,” she said, “I don’t have any.
Wait—I think that maybe the first female corporate CEO worked for a

vacuum cleaner company.”
“No way. That is actually cool.”

“But maybe I’m making it up.” Anh shrugged. “Anyway, what I meant
to say is . . . I think I still want it?”
“The vacuum cleaner?” Olive yawned without bothering to cover her

mouth.
“No. An academic job. And everything that comes with it. The lab, the

grad students, the outrageous teaching load, the race for the NIH grants, the
disproportionately low salary. The whole shebang. Jeremy says that

Malcolm has it right. That industry jobs are where it’s at. But I think I want
to stay and become a professor. It’ll be miserable, for sure, but it’s the only

way to create a good environment for women like us, Ol. Give some
competition to all these entitled white men.” She grinned, beautiful and
fierce. “Jeremy can go into industry and make a ton of blood money that I’ll

invest in wireless vacuum cleaners.”