3 Case 003: Welcome home

About 10 minutes later, we arrived at my house. It was a 2-story skinny style house, the 13th in a row making up this block. I retrofitted the first floor into an office, complete with reception area and filing room. The top floor, meanwhile, was dedicated to living space. It had two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a tiny kitchen.

"So what do you think of your new home?"

"It sure beats sleeping in a cave," he replied.

"Did they not do compliments back in prehistoric times?"

"They did, but what's so special about a home?"

"Well, it's more about being able to afford one than the home itself."

"Ah, a status symbol. We had those, but they were usually in the form of precious metals fashioned into jewelry," he remarked while pointing to his silver piercings.

"Speaking of clothing, you should get changed now that we're here."

"Oh good idea, I have a guest coming later here later anyway."

"Wait, who? You just got back, who did you meet?"

"Oh, it was a journalist I think."

"Well why on earth did you agree to talk to them then?"

"She offered to pay me."

"Why didn't you say so? I'm so glad you aren't just freeloading off me. Such a responsible brother you are. Now quick, go get changed. I'll straighten things up down here," I said before vacuuming the carpet and throwing away the empty beer cans on the coffee table.

A woman knocked on our front door ten minutes later. She wore a blue sundress that matched the color of her eyes, and a fur belt which matched her hair nicely. My one complaint is she could have coordinated her shoes better, but otherwise the outfit was fabulous.

"Are you the journalist?"

"Yes, Christina with the Cinderville Occultist," she said while presenting her business card.

"Are you Billy Schaefer?"

"Hehehe, no I'm Bobby. We are twins, so we got mistaken for each other a lot before he disappeared."

"Sounds like you missed him a great deal."

"Oh, you wouldn't believe the half of it."

We made small talk for another 50 or so minutes until my brother finally came back downstairs. He was dressed in a matching silkies/crop top combo and also shaved his beard, which gave him a much more youthful appearance.

"Hello, you must be Billy Schaefer."

"Yes, I take it you are the lady Jethro said would drop by?"

"Ah, so that is where you heard of our publication."

"He recommended calling y'all first, since you'd pay the best for a story like this."

"Well, we don't get scoops like these often. Now, my editor was hoping to make this a series if possible. We're going to call it 'tales from the land before time,' and it will focus more on the time you spent away than how you came back. I have a contract here if you'd like to take a look."

"Oh, give it to my brother. I spent so long learning to speak the language of man that I forgot some english, reading especially. Should I change back, by the way? I didn't know if you'd need picture or anything.��

"No, that's fine. We payed Jethro for some taken at the Halloween party, and we have an artist on contract that'll do the rest."

"So where do you want me to begin?"

"We'd like you to start with your first day there, of course. Afterwards, though, you can feel free to jump around and skip to whatever stories you think important or fun to read."

"Hrmm, well the first few days there I did nothing but hide in a tree hollow and eat bugs... I know, I'll that one," Billy said while leaning back in his chair, a look of reminiscence spread across his face.