“I’m not sure we’ve got anyone in the area who’s got the right mix of education and exposure.” Braun wasn’t discounting the idea, but he had valid points. “Talking to the wrong person will just fuck him up worse and this isn’t a situation he can explain to a full human.”
Well.
Braun cracked a smile. “Present company notwithstanding.”
“Thank you.” I thought I’d done fairly well considering the circumstances. “But yes, we’ll need to think about how to handle the situation.”
Who else might have the training?
“What about that online community that Emeric talked about? I don’t approve of social media for children, but would it be a good starting point for you?” If he gave me the information I could do it. It wasn’t like I’d be surprised at talking to people who weren’t human. “Are there other groups who might be able to help? None of my neighbors have the right skills but most people around here don’t seem to be human.”
There had to be more down-to-earth locals than the people on my street.
Braun started to speak but then he went still and thought about it for a moment. “Maybe. The Bigfoot community on the other side of the forest all seem to be ridiculously overeducated. If anyone is a psychologist, it’s one of them.”
Bigfoot?
How had I missed one of them at the grocery store?
I really needed to pay more attention when I went out in public.
“What kind of education do they have?” Yes, I needed to stick with the important facts. “Do you do much socializing with them?”
Somehow Braun looked both guilty and frustrated by that question. “No.”
What had he done?
“I was polite.” His immediate response made me question his definition of that word. “We just don’t do much with them because the women are…bossy…and nosy…and keep trying to fix me up.”
Oh.
“I can see how that might be stressful.” Did he not date? Were they trying to fix him up with the wrong person? Women? “But they’re generally well-educated?”
Yes.
We weren’t going to get off track.
“Yeah, they basically run the online college system that’s mostly used by different nonhuman groups.” Braun frowned as the kids raced around the house to the backyard again. “They look guilty of something. Um. College. Yeah, they’re really into education for such outdoorsy people.”
Was that rude?
Speciesist?
Deciding to come back to that, I nodded. “I agree about the guilty thing, but having to hide from regular humans might have given your neighbors more time for individual pursuits?”
That had him going still again. “I hadn’t thought about it like that.”
Well, he hadn’t been negative about my push to keep Emeric focused on school, so I knew we could work on his view of higher education.
“They’ll be a good starting point, though.” Braun was good about staying on track as well. “I just don’t know if we need to wait until Emeric tells us more about what’s going on, though.”
That was a very good question.
“I’m going to say we touch base with the local Bigfoot community but hold off on actually bringing in someone for him to talk to until we have a clearer starting point.” We just didn’t know enough at this point and he didn’t seem eager to talk about it.
He’d talk about everything else, though.
“Alpha Braun. Alpha Braun.” Emeric came to a skidding halt with the group of kids following quickly behind him. “Your mother has fruit for us. Can I go?”
