Page 32 of Expecting The Unexpected
Spencer felt horrible when he saw the hurt in Throg’s eyes. Damn it, he always did say shit without thinking first when he was nervous, scared or trying to find a way not to say something without actually lying, and right now he was going through all three at once.
Hron held up his hand, before Spencer could apologize. He sighed, “Spencer... Throg, we can talk about this later. Right now, my birth father is about to come out of his skin, unless he gets out what he has to say.” He then gave Spencer a pointed look. “We will be discussing this directly after that.”
Nodding, Spencer muttered, “Yes, sir.”
“I’ve already contacted Petree, Peth and the others. They should be here shortly.
No sooner had Hron spoken, when the door opened. The gem walked in, and Petree and the others were walking in behind them, and funnily enough, so were Nug and Jory, neither Nakaka looked at all happy.
“Hron, I need to tell you...”
Hron stopped Petree before he could finish. “Not right now, little one. My papa has something he says we all need to hear first. We can talk after I’m finished here.”
“Okay.” Petree said, giving Nug and Jory a stern look, “But, just so you know, it’s something you’re going to need to hear.”
Spencer tried not to look at Throg, but it wasn’t easy. Sitting in the same room, smelling his mate, and knowing that he might have a chance to have his mate, had Spencer feeling anxious and nervous and a bit fearful, if he was honest with himself. How? How was he supposed to get his mate to see that he had no intention of holding him back from doing his duty? How could he get Throg to see that he could have it all, if he would just give Spencer a chance?
Throg had said he wasn’t influenced by what had happened to Spencer. He said, the rape and abuse Spencer had gone through, didn’t have anything to do with his refusal to accept Spencer into his life. What if that wasn’t true? What if Throg had just said that, so the others wouldn’t judge how he really felt?
“Okay, papa, why don’t you tell us why you called us all together?” Hron said.
Spencer pulled himself out of his thoughts, and did his best to focus on the meeting.
“Norval, myself, and Throg were talking, and Norval made a comment that got me to thinking,” Krerr stated, looking at everyone around the table.
“Okay,” Hron said, with a slight nod.
“We were talking about the attack on our people two hundred years ago. Norval made the comment that we might not have won the battle, but we had won the war... then he rethought it a bit later, and said maybe we hadn’t won the war... I won’t go into why it was said, but it really got the wheels rolling in my mind. What if Norval was right? What if the war never ended, but was held back for some reason,” Krerr said.
Hron looked thoughtfully at his birth father. “But papa, the humans involved in the war died a long time ago.”
“The humans that actually attacked... yes, but not the shifters, and not the children of the humans slain that day. If you recall, they were let go.” Krerr said, then sat forward. “Think about it, Hron. If someone had killed you father... your mother... hell, even an older sibling, what would you do? How would that make you feel?”
“I agree the shifters would be alive, but the humans’ children? It’s been two hundred years, papa. They would be long dead, as would their children after them,” Hron gently argued.
Nodding, Krerr said, “But not their teachings.”
Doctor Oleander nodded. “That makes sense, Krerr. I never even thought about that when we were talking, but it could be true.”
Hron sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I don’t see how. We’re talking two hundred years ago. That would mean the people continuing on with the war would be the great, great, great... hell, maybe another great grandchild. Who would hold onto hate that long?”
“White supremacists began in the seventeenth century, the KKK began in eighteen sixty-five, neo Nazi’s began after World War Two, and all of them, and so many more, are still alive today. Hate has been studied for centuries. Some feel it is something taught to children by others. Some believe it is learned. What most agree on is that it isn’t inherited at birth.”
“Uh, Doc, isn’t that the same thing?” Groth asked in confusion.
“Teaching is lessons, but learning is gaining that knowledge,” Jory whispered.
Doctor Oleander smiled wide, “Exactly, Jory.”
“But, in order to learn something, you’d have to be taught it... right?” Mason asked, sounding as confused as Groth and the others looked.
Sighing heavily, Oleander said, “Let me see if I can clarify it. A child can learn by someone other than a teacher, but a teacher can’t teach without the person there to learn.”
The confusion cleared up quickly, and Hron asked, “So you’re saying, if my papa is right about a war, it’s because the kids taught their kids who taught their kids and so on, until these people learned to hate us, even though they never met us?”
“Exactly.” Doctor Oleander said, sitting back in his seat.
Elijah softly said, “It doesn’t matter that the people never met you Hron. Actually, that might be something that hurts the Nakaka in the long run.”