"Possibly," admitted Ben. "Except for having you in it, I have absolutely no idea what I want to do with my life after high school graduation."
And that was pretty much true on Ben's part. Like many high school students, particularly those not in their Senior year, it wasn't something that had really come up. Sure there were favorite subjects and things that he naturally did well in, but it wasn't as though anything had come up that had really affected what he intended to strive for. There were of course random ideas that came from time to time, but never anything serious and there were of course good reasons why Ben didn't seriously consider them for very long.
"I see," Kenya said slowly, "never really thought of anything?"
The two of them quietly walked along from the parking lot in front of the dorm building toward the Administration Building. Kenya took the lead as she was familiar with the layout of the college, which made sense as she was a college student. Ben followed quietly as the though over his girlfriend's question.
"Never anything serious," Ben admitted weakly, "most of the stuff that I've thought over has been rather limited and not being very serious. More like musing over things in a moment."
"Care to share some of these things?" Kenya asked curiously and perhaps even playfully, "you never know... they might be good ideas that you might like doing..."
"I don't mind... though I'm not sure it'd be something that I'd truly stick with," Ben answered, "there have been some times when I've thought on helping my mom... Samantha... with some of her work with regard to welcoming new people to Moon Lake... as it can give her some help... particularly when the new family moving in has kids. Adults may not welcome the idea of becoming weres... but more often than not, kids seem more open to it."
Here he was thinking of the night he had went with Samantha to formally meet the Anderson family. He had been there, and Nate did identify with him and accept the idea, though Nate was also a werewolf fan and likely would have been fairly open to the idea even if he hadn't gone along. Ben had actually gone along because he had befriended Nate and recognized that Nate was a werewolf fan. In that specific case, it made the options for the Andersons fairly easy to accept with regard to Moon Lake's laws, though they had rapidly ended up in the midst of things that Ben had noticed coming back to frustrate Samantha Twist heavily. Yvette Smith's actions of forcing herself on William Anderson, outside of Moon Lake's MAD policy, created all sorts of headaches in terms of dealing with the rogue vixen.
Ben knew the basic history of the MAD policy that Moon Lake used. Shortly after the town elders founded Moon Lake, they instituted a policy that any and every normal that moved there had to become a were-beast of some kind in order to keep their secret from the rest of the country. The change was to be set up as voluntary with regard to the species, but every member of the family was to become a were-beast. And at the time, it made some sense to the founders, as while America wasn't as rabidly paranoid over were-beasts mindlessly slaughtering normals, there were strong religious movements that the founders feared COULD lead to that sort of behavior. Ben in fact remembered a story from a Moon Lake history class that in the 1900 Presidential Election, William Jennings Bryan visited Moon Lake briefly as part of his efforts to win support. His speech, however, was so filled with semi-religious references that the people of Moon Lake spent the rest of that election year campaigning across Washington State to build support for William McKinley. Bryan lost and the people of Moon Lake felt their secret was safe because of it.
And while the founders would agree that "wild" and "rogue" actions were to be frowned on, hence, Statue 1-A, they had agreed to policies that would force the transformation on people for a measure of secrecy. By the Great Depression, though, as things went bad economically and as the college was built, largely thanks to New Deal and CCC help, the opinion that every family member had to become a were began to get criticism in Moon Lake and those who worked at the college but didn't live in Moon Lake also brought about needs to reform the original policy. Secrecy and the MAD policy did remain, but had changed. Only one member of a family would need to change and various waivers were created for those who might live in a neighboring town but worked in Moon Lake or came to the college. Statue 1-A was also further redefined as the reforms would mean that Moon Lake would begin to have a growing normal population as well.
And that was the world that Ben had grown up in and he world that he had seen Samantha try to manage even though it gave her headaches with rogues like Yvette Smith violating 1-A and the occasional accident as had happened with one of Moon Lake's new werecheetahs and discovery of a new were-species living in Moon Lake.
"Public service isn't a bad job... and from things my Uncle and Aunt have told me... your mom... Samantha has done a rather good job for Moon Lake," Kenya commented as they continued walking.
"Yeah, but it's stressful," Ben answered, "When things are going smoothly, there's no trouble... but when there is some crisis... or confusion... there are times when I think she'll be pulling her hair out trying to get control over the situation. I really don't think I'd want to be dealing with that sort of thing... not to mention that it's still an elected position, which means if I don't win the election... I wouldn't get the position."
Kenya slowly nodded, "Understandable..."
"And while some of my other mom's skills... may have worn off from time to time... and I'd like to think I'm a rather understanding guy," Ben continued, "I'm not really interested in dealing with people that aren't right in the head or simply in need of getting things off their chest. It'd be something that could inspire stress when trying to find ways to help them and keep things straight... Not something I really want to do."
Kenya stroked her chin and nodded. She could understand what Ben was getting at, and she had no intention of doing anything that might force him into deciding to rush into a career or anything. Though, she had found in her experience that at least having an idea on what to do might help. She had her own business ideas that she hoped to look into, but since her Aunt and Uncle weren't rolling in cash to give her, she couldn't just start a business from scratch. Her idea of interning with Tachibana Enterprises would at least be a resume builder, and if things truly worked out in that regard, Ben might not need to work if he didn't want to, but that assumed her own personal plans and ideas went perfectly. So, inspiring at least some future planning was a good idea, and for the moment, Ben did have time to put together a plan. Now, while she wasn't about to force Ben into anything or demand that he get a high paying job or do something he didn't want to do, she hoped that at least thinking a bit on the future would help him.
"Knowing what you don't want to do is okay," Kenya assured him, "Is there anything that you do enjoy that might translate into something going forward?"
"Well..." Ben said slowly, "on some level... I have enjoyed some of the gardening and lawn care work that I've done the summer for my moms, as it can be relaxing in its own way. And at times... things can look quite good... but... lawn care... landscaping... that isn't much of a long term career and from the companies that run the service... it usually isn't something they keep older people around for. They get summer help and once winter rolls in... or school starts... the company largely folds up for the season."
They continued to walk along quietly.
"I've enjoyed the town's history, and Samantha has told me plenty about things have changed over time," Ben continued, "such has how the city has worked with the laws relating to keeping Moon Lake's secret and keeping the normal population from knowing about were-beasts and so on. It's interesting to read up on to see on how things grow and changed over time... but I've never thought of myself as a historian or anything like that."
"Well...you are young now, so some of the landscaping work could be something to do while thinking things over," Kenya offered, "and if you want something more stable... you've done a good job with your "mothers'" garden... maybe you could work with my Aunt as more of a consultant for how to care for the flowers and so on. It'd be something you could do full time and even help people design their garden for a landscaper or for the person buying the flowers."
"But I don't know the names of all the flowers people buy... or at least not the specific names," Ben commented.
"If need be, that's something you could learn," Kenya commented, "and you did say you had something of a green thumb... and you did obviously know how to care for the roses you planted. You could put that with a study of science... primarily biology, ecology, and so on... It'd allow you to share your skills with others. It may not be a high paying job... but to some degree... a beautiful garden can be worth more than any money earned."
"You wouldn't mind?" Ben asked.
"Of course not," Kenya smiled, "it's something for you to think about and be happy with. I wouldn't force you into anything you wouldn't want to do."
"Thanks," Ben spoke, returning the smile.