Page 5 of Thalen

I scoffed. “That’s not weird. It’s just so cool; they’re all jealous!”

He giggled some more. “They all say it's just weird and spooky. I’ve even heard grown ups say it. And that’s okay. We can be weird together, right?” He looked at me hopefully.

“Well, if you’re weird, I guess I must be too and didn’t know it, so, yeah!”

I held up my hand for a high five, and he gave me one after only a split second hesitation.

“I’m really hungry now, so can we go get the pizza now? And really, I like pepperoni, ham, mushroom, and all the stuff except pineapple, anchovies, or peppers on it,” he said.

“You got it.”

I held my hand out to him. “My son is hungry, so my first task as a dad is to get us on the bus so we can eat all the pizza!”

He took my hand, giggling some more.

I felt like a million bucks all the way to the bus stop. Being a dad was awesome. Now I just needed to get the stuff he needed and stop at the Mylos and Dragonii centre to find out if I was right and the social worker was mistaken, and if so, what to do about it. Sure, we could wait months for the adoption to be finalized, but why should we? It would definitely be better to not have him settle in here too much before being uprooted once more. If I got mate matched, surely they could expedite his background check and all that so we could get going sooner rather than later. Besides, weren’t all the Mylos and Dragonii vetted before being added to the matching database? I was pretty sure they were.

“Hey,” I said as we sat down on the bus. “Do you know anything about New Haven, the colony world we share with the Dragonii?”

His eyes lit up. “The dragon men planet!”

“That’s the one!”

3

EVAN

The school bus by our house went to a completely different school than Jason's current one, which made sense, as the children’s home he’d lived at was a thirty minute drive away if traffic was good. I ended up calling his school to explain the situation and ordering an Uber to take us both there.

“We’re going to stop at the office first, buddy,” I explained to him as we got out. “I don’t work here, and I’m not a kid going to school here either, so I’m one of the visitors they make stop at the office first.”

“Okay,” he said. “Can I go with you or do I have to go to class?”

I thought about it for a hot minute as I juggled the paperwork Ms. Baines had provided me in one hand and his booster seat in the other, while contemplating the door before us. Jason opened it, holding it so I could get inside.

“It’s okay if you set that in the hallway outside the door. I’ve seen moms do that and leave strollers there if they have to talk to the principal.”

I nodded, setting it down quite happily. I’d gone for a high backed one with a higher online safety rating instead of one of the much smaller hard plastic backless ones that looked more like something a kid would use in a restaurant if too short to reach the table. Which was great and all, except when you had to carry it around.

“Come on,” I said to him, opening the office door. “You live in a different neighborhood, so they’ll probably want you to change schools.”

He smiled. “Really?”

“You like that idea, huh?”

“Yeah. Billy Glasner is really mean, and he always pinches me and spits on me when Mrs. Phillips isn’t looking, and she never really does anything to him about it.”

“He the one that says you’ve got a ghost eye?” I asked.

He nodded. “He started it, and now the teachers whisper, calling me Ghost Eye Boy when talking about me when they think I can’t hear.”

The secretary swallowed when she saw Jason.

“Are you his new social worker?” she asked.

“Oh, so you know Jason already,” I smiled.

“Ye-es,” she replied slowly. “He’s been in here a few times.”