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“Yes, I will,” Lucas promised.
“Do I have to talk?” he asked.
“Not if you don’t want to, but I have to tell you, the alpacas, especially Dixie, are real friendly and they love attention,” Lucas answered. “She would probably love for you to play chase with her.”
“How do I do that?” Theron asked. “I haven’t researched that game.”
Lucas removed his hand and took a step toward the barn. “You chase after her, and then she whips around and chases you. After a couple of times around the corral, she will flop down and want you to pet her. That’s the game that she and Mia play all the time. They make a sweet little noise when they are happy, and Dixie listens as well as Buttercup and Tex. But if you don’t want to play, you can just spend some time in the stall with Buttercup.”
Theron pulled his fidget toy from his pocket and started playing with it. “I will try. I researched cowboys, and you are one? I think the man in the barn might be one, too.”
“No, but I’m not surprised,” Lucas said with a smile. “You are really good at researching and learning new things.”
“I love to learn,” Theron said with a sigh, “but that makes me kind of a weirdo, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t think of you as a weirdo at all,” Lucas assured him. “You are an awesome person that I’m glad to get to know, but I don’t want you to be uncomfortable around my folks. Should I call your mom to go with us?” Lucas asked.
Theron shook his head and put the toy back in his pocket. He started back to the barn, one slow step at a time.
When they arrived at the doors, he took a deep breath and put his hand in Lucas’s. “I can do this if you will hold my hand.”
Lucas took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I believe in you. Just remember, these two people already like you.”
“Yes, but according to my reading, it’s not unusual for kids like me to have difficulty in social situations,” Theron said. “Buttercup helps me, and so does Tex. How do you know those people in the barn like me?”
“And you help Buttercup.” Lucas led him into the barn and toward where he could hear his mother’s and father’s voices. “She would be very lonely if you didn’t come see her and talk to Winnie, too. And the way I know about those people is because they are my mom and dad. They must already like you because they told me that they wanted to meet you. They love kids.”
“Do they even like kids who are different?” Theron asked.
“Yes, they do. I was a different little kid when they adopted me,” Lucas said.
“Really?” Theron cocked his head to one side.
“Really. They had already adopted Jesse, but then my brother Cody and I needed a home, and they took us in, too, and made us all a family,” Lucas explained as they walked toward the back of the barn. “I was kind of shy, but they helped me and loved me so much that I got over it.”
“I’m glad to know that,” Theron said. “That makes me feel like there is hope for me.”
“Always, son,” Lucas said, “there is always hope.”
As if he had settled something in his mind, Theron let go of Lucas’s hand. “Winnie is almost as good a listener as Buttercup is. Sometimes, I just talk to both of them at the same time since their stalls are so close together. Today I will tell them that I met more people than just you and Mama.”
Lucas remembered the first day that he had gone to school. If it hadn’t been for Cody and Jesse, he would have hidden in the back of the bus until the day ended.Socially challengedwere the words he heard his teacher tell his mother when she came for parent-teacher conference that year. He didn’t know what that meant and wasn’t as smart as Theron, so for years, he worried about whether it meant he had a horrible disease that would kill him.
Finally, he looked it up and agreed with what the teacher had said, and like Theron, he worked hard to overcome it. Having to stay in a bunkhouse with other guys—complete strangers at first—was his first test, and it took him weeks to be even semi-comfortable. He still had trouble opening up to people he had just met, and he liked his “alone time.”
So, what’s different about Vada and Theron?asked the voice in his head.
“I understand them both,” he muttered and then wondered if he’d said that out loud.
Sonny came into the barn from the corral and leaned on his cane while Pearl closed the door and hurried over to drag a lawn chair across the floor and set it beside him. Sonny eased down into it and said, “Well, hello, son.”
“How are you feeling today, Dad?” Lucas asked.
“Better, and I see you brought someone with you,” Sonny answered.
Theron slipped his hand back into Lucas’s. “Hello, I am Theron. I am here to get better at being social. Buttercup is helping me.”
“I’m glad,” Sonny said.
