Things that Go Bump in the Night

Chapter 50: Part 3: Knowledge is Power

John looked like he was going to speak again, reaching toward me in a hesitant gesture of comfort, but I stopped him once again.

"Werewolves are only my enemy. They took everything from me." I started again, my hands fisting. "My family, education, freedom, dignity, innocence...my sanity." I paused, taking a deep breath as I organized my thoughts. "But werewolves have not only been enemies to you, have they? They were your family? Your friends?"

John regarded me in silence, confirming my rhetorical question with a slight nod.

"I judged your life, and I had no right to do so." I admitted, looking down at my hands. "Because when my mother left this world, all I had was my father...but that's all you were left with too...a father."

It was silent for a long time after I finished speaking. My apology sat between us under the dim fluorescent light of the basement laboratory. Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could almost feel John examining my words, thinking through them with care.

"Why don't we go upstairs and have some tea, eh?" John finally asked. I looked up at him to find a small smile on his face, one that expressed tiredness but also acceptance. The cold pensive look erased from his expression as he regarded me with an expectant brow.

I was forgiven.

Heaving a deep breath, I felt the weight of the last few days leave me.

"Yes, I can't leave the bunnies in the Northwest quadrant unsupervised for long."

***********************

"Hey Juniper, can you help me move these samples?" John asked as he rummaged through a closet under the stairs into the basement lab. I looked up from the numbers I had been inputting into a chart for him with a distasteful look.

It had been a day or two since I had apologized and for the most part things had gone back to normal. However, John seem obsessed, more than ever, to include me in his studies. Apparently, he was seeking to remedy my lack of education. While at first it seemed like a wonderful idea, I soon found that John refused to only foster my love of mathematics and physics.

Any subject seemed to be fair game.

I had just barely finished plating the last batch of samples he had brought me onto a nutrient agar. I had started the data entry as a welcome reprieve from the chores of microbiology. He had even talked about plans to start drawing and Spanish lessons tomorrow.

"Am I going to have to process them as well? Where are you even getting these samples?" I questioned him with a hint of annoyance. John stopped his rummaging and looked over his shoulder at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Is that a barely hidden complaint that I am detecting my dear pupil?" He queried, having the nerve to sound amused. I sighed in derision and crossed my arms over my chest.

"I thought I made my choice in science preferences clear." I grumbled, irritatingly making John laugh.

"You need to open your mind Juniper." John commented, coming over the sit across the table from me. He had the gall to rest his chin on his hand and cheeky.

"I just don't see how doing your busy work and learning how to doodle is going to teach me anything I actually ant to know." I grumbled. John smiled and leaned back to regard me better.

"Juniper, knowledge is not a segmented affair. It is a continuum. Some bit of knowledge can be applied to every field. The assessment of one science as less than another is an archaic way of thinking. My years of study and research have required understanding of many forms of knowledge. Without biology we cannot understand how cells behave, without genetics you cannot understand how these traits are passed down, without mathematics you cannot comprehend the magnitude of genetic impact and without art or language you cannot make other people understand what you have learned. Do not block yourself into an intellectual closet because a handful of students offended you in your school days."