Jeremy's mother stopped pacing for a moment. "You don't think it could have been us, could it?"

"Hm?" Gregory McIlroy didn't bother looking up from his newspaper. "What's the matter?"

"Jeremy's not going to college. That's what's the matter Greg!"

Jeremy's dad glanced up at his wife from his usual spot at the kitchen table, reluctant to get into this argument yet again. "There's still time." He flipped the page. "He's young. Better he figures himself out now than makes decisions he'll only regret later."

"And what do you think this all is, if not a decision he'll regret?" She jammed her paws into her hips. "He'll regret never being able to justify to an ivy league school why he has this inexplicable gap in his résumé!"

Gregory finally lowered the paper, peering over the rim of his glasses at his anxious spouse. "Vicki, we've been over this. First, no law says he has to get into an ivy league school. Second, it's perfectly explicable. He didn't feel he was ready." He sipped what remained from his morning coffee. "It actually shows a remarkable amount of maturity in my opinion."

"Well... with his mind there ought to be a law!" She threw her exasperated paws in the air. "Greg, be honest with me. Did we do something wrong with him?"

"For the last time, no we didn't! He's a fine young man!"

"Then somebody else was a bad influence on him." She paced the length of the kitchen island a few more times. "What about Rufus?"

Gregory arched an eyebrow. "His cousin? What about him?"

She saw where this was headed. Her husband was always oddly defensive of that slacker. "I know we're not the sort of family who sit around judging each other, but don't you think he could have been a factor? All those cookouts, those trips to the beach. He must have learned that it's okay to sit around doing nothing with his life from somewhere!"

The astronomer otter took off his glasses, rubbing his forehead. "Fine. So Rufus from San Marcato singlehandedly overrode eighteen years of our parenting. With cookouts."

She emerged from behind the corner. "Greg..." she lowered her voice, "tell me he wasn't the one Jer Jer bought weed from."

"Vicki! For the love of... he's a kid! He experiments! Just because we caught him that one time doesn't mean he's some sort of degenerate addict!"

She nodded forcefully, arms akimbo. "So. You admit it."

"Admit what?"

"That your brother raised a degenerate."

She stomped out of the kitchen before he could get another word in.

Gregory sighed. Despite the words that were said, he knew it all came from a place of parental love. She only wanted the best for Jeremy. They both did.

But they also both remembered what it was like to be young people pressured down paths that they never would have chosen for themselves. It all worked out for them in the end, but part of being a parent is giving your children better opportunities than you had.

Jeremy was a smart kid. Even smarter than she gave him credit for. And the one opportunity he and Vicki never had was... space. If Jeremy wanted space, it was up to him to figure out how to use it. Whatever choices he made, though, they would always be there to support him. He hoped the little mop top knew that.

He sighed again, replaced his spectacles on his muzzle and picked up his phone, scrolling to Rufus's contact information.

The argument reminded Gregory that his stash was running low.

---

Character adopt from Asher