Page 3 of Wishes and Research

I wasn’t sure what the social rules on etiquette were anymore, so I just mentally tuned them all out and smiled as I started eating.

They didn’t seem to need my input anyway, so I wasn’t surprised when they started up again.

They nodded.

They sighed.

They said weird stuff.

“I didn’t think that part was true but look at the bug guy here.” One of the now familiar-sounding voices seemed shocked that I was confused, but I had a feeling we weren’t on the same page about anything. “He doesn’t know.”

A wave of nods went around the room again, but I stayed focused on my food because it was delicious.

“We need to come up with a test or a list for him to work through.” Somehow the voice made it sound like they were moving in a more scientific direction. Part of me wanted to say that was good but it just made me nervous.

I wasn’t used to being the bug under the microscope.

“They like lists. Lorne said so.” And we were back to being weird without any scientific basis.

Lorne was also starting to make me nervous because the strange people around me seemed to think he was normal too.

“But he almost killed Alick’s Daddy, so maybe we should be careful with what he says?” There was finally a voice of reason but my hopes didn’t last long. “But that man is cranky, so maybe Lorne had a point? He’s kinda holding a grudge.”

Were they talking about killing in a metaphorical sense?

Please let it be in a metaphorical sense.

“Good point.” My excitable friend, old man number one, who still wasn’t making any sense, looked back down at me. “What do you think about lists?”

Oh.

I needed a distraction.

“I like lists.” More. I needed something more. “Could you find me a couple to pick from?”

His eyes went wide, and for a second, I started to think I should be planning how to panic, but then he smiled. “That’s a great idea. We’ll find several for you to pick from.”

I’d bought myself some time, but it wasn’t helping me to get more information.

“You know, he might be the tail kind, or oh, one of those horse people.”

Did they race?

Were there ranches in the area?

Neither of those felt right based on the mountainous region we were in but everyone around me started nodding like it was brilliant.

Maybe English was their third language?

Fourth?

Some of the confusion might be translation errors.

Really smart people sometimes did odd things. My own intelligence was just slightly above average but it was possible they were from some kind of genius compound?

Was there a think tank nearby?

“Did we finish figuring out what the horse people did?” The strange question coming from the back of the diner didn’t give me confidence in the genius hypothesis.

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