"Now then Benjamin Twist, our daughter has said much about you, but we would like to hear you tell us about yourself if you don't mind," requested Kenya's father Adeola Adaeze, from his end of their Skype connection back in New York City.
"Okay," agreed Ben, as he sat in the chair in front of the family computer that his girlfriend just vacated. "Well, I'm 16, a high school junior, but Kenya says I have 'an old world soul'. I can say that as weres, while the age difference isn't much of an issue, it wasn't the fact that your daughter is an older woman that first attracted me to her, but that she's more mature and wiser than a lot of my contemporaries. I've just reached a point in my life where some of the things other 16 year old weres do just doesn't interest me as much as it used to because I'm looking for more in life."
"Like?" wondered Kenya's mother Bolade, as her daughter Kendra stayed standing behind them, transfixed on the image of her older sister's new boyfriend.
"There is only so much gossip, idle chitchat, and hanging out a guy can take before he starts wanting his life to have more meaning," said Ben, not wanting to admit that while he still greatly enjoyed sex, he was also getting tired of the mindless werewolf orgies that every pack meeting seemed to end with.
"I see, and our daughter fulfills your new needs how, exactly?" asked her mother.
"Well, for one thing, Kenya is quite intelligent. Why, just today, she took me on a tour of Moon Lake College to show me 'her world', as she put it; because I showed her around my world of Moon Lake last night, and I found out some things about my past while thinking about my future too." And they say no one expects the Spanish Inquisition, thought Ben, as he felt himself being questioned.
"Are those not things a young man of your age should already know?" asked her father.
"To a point, yes," agreed Ben. "But while the future has been on my mind, quite a lot lately as a matter of fact, I didn't really have a clear idea of what I wanted to do with my life before today."
"I see. And what is it you want to do with your life, professionally?" asked Adeola.
"I want to be an artist, like my biological mom was," said Ben proudly, as he took out his cellphone from the lanyard around his neck and keyed up the images of his drawings in its memory. "I showed these to a career counselor at the college today," he said, holding up the phone closer to the webcam mounted on top of the monitor. "Please let me know when you need me to switch to the next picture. But the counselor said I not only had talent, but a real potential future too."
It took a couple of minutes before Ben guided the distant Adaezes through his whole cellphone portfolio.
Then he showed them the pictures of the 2 drawings his mother did. "These works of my biological mother are hanging proudly on display at the college. She and my natural father were both taken way before their time, but you can see where I inherit my artistic talent from, and hope someday I'm as successful as she was."
"And how would you support yourself, let alone our daughter, before you became successful, if at all?" her father demanded to know.
"Any way I had to, as long as it was legal and honorable," Ben answered him. "Art would only be my major. I haven't decided upon a minor yet, but that would be my primary source of income in the beginning. When or if the art becomes the greater source of income, then I'd adjust my life, or our lives with her blessing, accordingly."
"I see. A moment please," requested Kenya's father, before reaching out and putting his hand over the microphone.
Unfortunately, this also obscured the webcam too, so no one in Moon Lake could see what was going on either.
When the hand was removed, the New York Adaezes were still sitting where they were, wearing their traditional, African attire like they had been since the start of the Skype conversation.
Ben couldn't help noticing that Kenya's aunt and uncle with him were dressed much more modern. Why, he didn't want to hazard a guess, but Ben hoped it wasn't because of any argument between the two brothers.
Then Adeola Adaeze asked Ben what his intentions were toward Kenya.
"I love her," Ben said directly to the monitor image. "Every second with her is precious to me. Every second without her a noticeable absence I long to correct and someday, after I turn 18 and can legally ask her; I hope Kenya will do me the extreme honor of sharing the rest of her life with me as my wife."
Staring at the monitor image, Ben could not see the Adaezes behind him, as aunt and uncle started hugging their niece with everyone smiling and doing their best to keep from crying.
In New York, Kenya's mother and father turned and nodded to each other before facing the webcam again. "You pay our daughter and our family a great honor Benjamin Twist," said Bolade.
"When the time comes, you have our blessing to marry Kenya," said her father, as both Adeola and her mother smiled and bowed their heads to him.
Meanwhile Kendra, who had remained silent before now, finally spoke. "He's dreamy big sister. Does he have a brother?"
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For those curious, Adeola means "crown of high estate", while Bolade means "honor arrives", according to 20,000 names.com—tmw.