Kit scratched his head. “Search me. Guess it’s my good looks and charm.”
Margo actually laughed. When she relaxed, his granddaughter was a remarkably pretty girl, with no trace of that Irish alleycat glare. He sighed, feeling old before he was ready for it.
”What’s wrong?” Margo asked.
”Nothing,” Kit said, forcing a smile. “Let’s set up your study schedule.”
Brian returned from helping the other scout and they got down to business. He assigned Margo a language lab, where she was to spend four hours every other day learning the first of the languages on her list. The next four hours of her library days (after lunch, which Kit agreed to have delivered to her from the Neo Edo so she wouldn’t need to leave the library) were to be devoted to detailed historical studies.
”Let’s start her with American history, since that’s what she’s likeliest to absorb readily,” Brian suggested “Then we’ll put her on European history, working backwards from the twentieth century. We’ll tackle Africa, Asia, South America, India, and the Middle East a little later in the program, after she’s settled down into the study routine and is capable of absorbing cultural detail significantly different from her own.”
Kit and Brian agreed she’d be better off leaving the library during the evenings to eat dinner and do homework, and to alternate library days with continued weapons training. With any luck, the physical exercise would leave her tired enough to sleep after homework sessions.
By the time they were done setting up her schedule, Margo was visibly horrified and trying hard not to show it. She gave him a brave smile as they left the library. “One thing’s for sure, life’ll never be the same around you. Latin, Chinese, and French, oh my…”