45)

I headed out to see most of my family giving me some curious looks.

Except for the boy, the younger one, who was taking advantage of the situation to add more twigs to the fire. At least he was sticking to ones small enough to fit in the grill, little things that would burn up fast.

“Give ‘em a moment. Then let me get them talking before you start start with the questions.”

That got me an eye roll and a belligerent head tilt from the teens, you can guess which, and a nod from the kid, the older one.

I guess I have to start thinking of him as the man. Charles was the youngest of his generation, of the boys at least, but now we got seven, no ten with mine, in the next one.

Adora was the first to slink out, heading out with a spring in her steps as she took the steps down from the patio and drifted over to stand next to me while looking out toward the river.

“I saw a movie once when the female lead said the best way to know a man was to check out the bathroom he uses, so I made the excuse to find a place to change to give it a try.”

She turned to look at me. “The door to your...collection was open and the Gatling gun was right in the middle of the room, very visible from the hallway...”

Hmpf. “So did you learn anything? From my bathroom.”

She crossed her arms and smiled. “You keep it very clean.”

I grinned back at her. “I saw that movie too, and didn’t want to leave anything for someone to read into. Plus you gotta keep the bathroom clean, once you let it get messy, it too easy to justify letting it get a little worse, since it’s only going to make cleaning it up eventually just a little more work.’

She stared at me a moment before rubbing her finger between her eyes. “That is so...man thinking.”

Again, Hmpf. “Oh please. I grew up with a sister, laziness is universal.”

I was saved from the conversation turning into a debate as the neighbors came out of the house, the kid looking halfway eager and half looking like she was walking to her death, or at least to getting chewed out by my loved ones from the way she was looking at the kids and Charles.

I started to try to encourage her by telling her we don’t bite, but I decided that might get me smacked by the lady next to me, or at least earn me a stern look. Maybe save that joke for another visit.

Instead I headed over to the picnic table and had a seat on the far side from the kiddo. Her, Darius and her mom took the other side.

I got up long enough to bring over one of the patio chairs for the sheriff and held it for her as she sat down with a little grin on her face as I slid the seat in underneath her as she sat down.

Good for me. I’d only seen it done it movies and still pulled it off.

As I took my seat again, the granddaughters squeezed in on either side, While Charles held up a finger for a moment, and then headed over to the grill to push down the burning twigs, flip over the meat and collected Aran to set him down on the end of the picnic bench on my side, and then collected another patio chair for himself.

After sitting down, at what he had made the head of the table, he placed his hands flat on the pale green queen sized bed sheet covered picnic table and opened the first session of Lycanthropy 101.

“Please, tell us what we need to know.”

I looked to the girl and gestured for her to begin. After looking to her mom, live in adopted uncle and whatever Adora was to her, and getting their look of support, she began.

“Well, I guess I got to start were we start. If both your mom and dad are werewolves, you’re are born a werewolf, but not always, sometimes you still get born just human, and you are always human even if you get bit, and if you get married to another human, your kids and their kids will always be born human, but sometimes if they get bit, they will be werewolves to...”

She sort of drifted off a second as she went over what she had said so far.

“Oh, and if only just your mom or just your dad are werewolves, you’re might be a werewolf from birth, or it’s just like if you were born human with two werewolf parent.”

“And not everyone who gets bit becomes a werewolf, some people just can’t and sometimes it just doesn’t happen the first time. And it’s not always the same with everyone, some people are strong and can change a lot. and heal up fast, and don’t sleep much...”

She gave her mom a guilty look. He mom tried to look stern as she finish the sentence for her daughter. “...and end up sneaking out of the house, hours before anyone else wakes up.”

The girl squirmed in her seat. She had been wearing a nightie when I found her so it sounded like she had headed out to play pretty early in the day. When I found her, she must have been trapped for hours.

That made me clench my hand on the edge of the table hard enough for the wood to start to get crushed a little, earning me a concerned look from the mom. I let out a puff of breath as I calmed myself down and interlocked my fingers on both hands and nodded at the girl. “Go on.”

The girl looked back and forth to take in the looks from me and the girls urging her on, and relaxed at she saw Aran giving her a warm smile.

Boy is going to be a lady killer if we can get him to start talking by the time he hits his teens.

She looked down shyly at her hands resting together on the table top. “And then there's the moon...”