They usually avoided him.
If he sat on the bench, humans awaiting the bus would saunter or stand stiffly nearby. Someone might rest one buttock on the far end, at most.
This human sat squarely in the middle, however. The farther end, away from the Stooka, remained empty and available.
"Hello," the Stooka said.
"Hello," she returned, looking up and squinting against the sun.
Stivra's surprise drained away. She was small, after all. The little ones, the young ones: they saw Stookas entering and leaving buildings, going about Stooka-on-Earth business, and heard the usual phrases being uttered: "Hands across the sky!" "Let's talk trade and help us both!" They accepted Stookas as part of Things As Usual. Children possess such flexibility universally. They adapt to change most quickly.
The Stooka resumed avoiding distressing thoughts.
He was avoiding thinking about the millewettra of his long-time companion, Ghedwe, who remained behind on the Stooka home world, Tevverina.
Pictures appeared in Stivra's mind of lovely Ghedwe as she used to be. On the outside she must still remain the same. On the inside she would have changed. No one knew how much. Not even her. In the Stooka nervous system, concentrated in several ganglial sites and extended by means of hollows through the entire skeleton, nerve cells realize a potential for migration at birthing time. In addition to genetic contributions from the male and female--in this case, from Stivra and the mother, Ghedwe--the mother contributes to the newborn certain nerve cells. Brain cells. Thinking matter. Sometimes a part of her personality goes into the newborn. Usually, a part of her memory.
There, he thought to himself. I've failed completely in not thinking about it.
The girl turned something in her mouth.
"I've got a loose tooth," she said, noticing his gaze.
"A loose tooth?" Stivra said, astonished.
"It's going to fall out." She grinned proudly.
"That happens often?" He'd never heard that humans loose skeletal parts. Unthinkable among Stooka. The bone ridges for chewing, like other parts of the skeleton, include nerve channels, and so hold a part of the extended grey matter of the Stooka.
"Often? Oh, I guess," she said, kicking her legs. Her feet reached within a few inches of the pavement.
"Doesn't it hurt?" Stivra said. He imagined a bone falling from his head. He shuddered.
"Nah," she said. "My mom says it's a part of growing up."
)
