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."
"Thanks. I guess so."
She shifted to System English and said with motherly concern, "You seem doubtful, Thorby. Aren't things going well?"
"Oh, things are all right" He suddenly blurted the truth. "Margaret, I'm never going to understand these people!"
She said gently, "I've felt the same way at the beginning of every field study and this one has been the most puzzling. What is bothering you?"
"Uh . . . I don't know. I never know. Well, take Fritz -- he's my elder brother. He's helped me a lot -- then I miss something that he expects me to understand and he blasts my ears off. Once he hit me. I hit back and I thought he was going to explode."
"Peck rights," said Margaret.
"What?"
"Never mind. It isn't scientifically parallel; humans aren't chickens. What happened?"
"Well, just as quickly he went absolutely cold, told me he would forget it, wipe it out, because of my ignorance."
"Noblesse oblige."
"Huh?"
"Sorry. My mind is a junk yard. And did he?"
"Completely. He was sweet as sugar. I don't know why he got sore . . . and I don't know why he quit being sore when I hit him." He spread his hands. "It's not natural."
"No, it isn't. But few things are. Mmm . . . Thorby, I might be able to help. It's possible that I know how Fritz works better than he knows. Because I'm not one of the 'People.'"
"I don't understand
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