Somebody Else's Space Program
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Chapter Five "Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command . . ."
Ross went home exactly once after his aunt and uncle signed the apprenticeship contract. His aunt kept looking out the windows, as if one of Them had followed him home, and the fact he would associate with them meant he was no kin of theirs, so she might as well take the money and say good riddance to the changeling.
Uncle Bert was more understanding. "No one is forcing you to leave us, do you understand? Your aunt has these Ideas -- " Ross knew all about his aunt's Ideas. So did half of the parish. "-- but I know they don't do anything to children. Do you still want to go through with it?"
"Yes. I've already started technical training I can't get if I stay home, not for years. And normal school here is such a waste." Ross craned his head around the doorframe, making sure his aunt wasn't just outside listening. "I think she'll be happier when I'm gone. I've been getting on her nerves lately."
"That's the short definition of teenager, yes. Otherwise, we would love you so much, we'd never let you go, and you would never grow up."
That got a grin out of Ross. "I see she got her new curtains."
Uncle Bert rolled his eyes. "Yes, she did. And she made me get a new suit for services." He looked around the doorframe himself. "She gave half of the money to the church before she would spend a penny of it. _That_ was a waste."
"No. It eased her mind, that she wasn't selling me to the hruss." Ross finished packing the last box. It was amazing how little of his life was in this room - packing up the workshop had been a major chore earlier, but he'd had help from the garage -- people his aunt wouldn't have let into the house.
"She knows better. She feels bad that she couldn't be as warm to you as your mother was. She's... not an easy person to be."
Ross had expected his uncle to say "not an easy person to live with" and he was ready to agree. But "not an easy person to be" was a new concept. "How can you not be..."
Uncle Bert raised his hand. "Don't worry about it. With luck, you'll never learn. But that's one reason God gave us partners -- so we don't have to carry the burden of being ourselves all alone."
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Medlen showed Ross the room in the complex that was going to be his for a while. "Were there any problems?"
"No... my uncle said something strange to me... it was an odd conversation altogether, come to think of it. Any time my uncle starts talking about God, it's just weird. I think if the preacher heard him, he'd be banned from the congregation."
"What did he say?"
"He started talking about people needing 'partners' . . ."
Medlen smiled, gently, "Your uncle is a wise man."
"I guess." Ross put the last of his books on the bookshelf. It still looked bare. "He meant to say 'wife', didn't he?"
"The hruss don't have a separate word for husband or wife. They translate their word as 'partner'."
Ross laughed. "That means if I use the word wrong, I could be saying that I have a husband."
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