Shadows fell across Strangerville as the afternoon dragged onwards.
Carlotta glanced up from helping Lucy with a school project at the sound of someone approaching. Knitting her eyebrows together in confusion, she spotted three women walking up to her porch with broad, too-happy smiles. Their eyes were wide, too, like they were in a permanent state of shock. Two of them were fair-skinned blondes, dressed in a style that Carlotta had come to associate with the Strangerville residents. The third had black hair tied in a bun, dressed in camo pants and an olive-green t-shirt with a set of dog-tags around her neck.
"Uh, can I… help you?" she asked. Lucy set down her things and ran into the house.
"Welcome to Strangerville!" one of the blondes said, her head snapping to one side as she moved her limbs in a sudden and stiff way.
"Thanks, I guess…?" None of the women seemed to hear her.
"Welcome to Strangerville!" the black-haired woman stated, moving like the first blonde.
Okay, what the hell?!
Suddenly, the black-haired woman blinked and her twisted grin disappeared as she stopped moving erratically. The blondes did the same and Carlotta felt a sense of dread pricking at the back of her neck.
"Oh, hello," the woman in the military sighed, smiling in a genuine way. "I'm Jess. You've already met my daughter and my husband—Christie and Dylan."
"Yeah, I did."
"I'm Leslie and this is Meredith," the blonde who'd first greeted Carlotta stated.
"I brought you some fruitcake!" Meredith chirped happily, holding out the plate. "Can we come in?"
Part of Carlotta wanted to scream 'no' and slam the door in their faces, but she couldn't—not in good conscience. Besides, her mother had always insisted they be neighborly, even to those who were clearly mentally ill like these three ladies were and for some reason, that was the only good thing Bianca D'Angelo had taught her youngest child. So Carlotta stepped aside and let them into the house.
"So, Carlotta, what do you do?" Leslie asked, sitting down on the couch. Lucy glanced at her mother.
"I work as a gardener. Not much else to say about it, but I've always had a green thumb and this place could use some green."
"How lovely!" Meredith gasped, clapping her hands. "I hired a gardener myself not too long ago, but he left. I miss having plants around the house."
"Plenty of weird-looking ones around town. Never seen 'em before, either. You know what they are?"
"Oh, you sound like Erwin Pries. Don't worry about it, dear. I've lived here longer than you girls have been alive and it's always been like this!"
"Meredith is Ted Roswell's wife," Leslie butted in. "He's the mayor of Strangerville."
"Good to know."
"Since you're new in town, you probably don't know this but there's a lab in the crater," Jess spoke up, making a face at the taste of the fruitcake Meredith had brought. "Stay away from it. Civilians aren't allowed inside."
"Noted. Thanks, Jess."
"No problem. God knows Erwin Pries never listens, not matter how many times I tell him the same thing."
"What's up with him, anyway?"
"He's one of those crackpot conspiracy theorists who think something's wrong around here," chuckled Meredith. "The lead crackpot, actually. He's been arrested at the lab for trespassing more times than I can count."
"I think he's a weird pervert," Leslie added. "He sells all kinds of weird stuff at that curio stand of his, like little electronic bugs so you can listen in on conversations and things like that. And just the other day he asked me if I was from Sixam. I told him I didn't know what it was and he just looked at me like I was the crazy one. Honestly!"
Carlotta pressed her lips together. Erwin had struck her as more of a clumsy geek than a crackpot pervert. But then again, she'd only met him just the once and these women had known him much longer than she had.
"I'd stay away from him and all his lunatic conspiracy-theorist buddies," Leslie continued.
"I'll… make a note of that. Thanks."
All three visitors suddenly shot upright and became like they had when they'd come to the D'Angelo house—stiff and jerky with unnaturally wide grins and eyes. Carlotta opened the door and they headed outside, their farewells mixed with unsettling words that Carlotta couldn't quite make out. She felt more uneasy with their new home and she was beginning to realize just why the house had been so cheap. The feeling was not lessened when she spotted Erwin across the street wearing a colander on his head that was covered in lights.
Dammit… can't trust anybody, can I?
His eye met hers and he gave a dorky smile and a little wave. Remembering what Leslie had said about the bugs, she narrowed her eyes and went back inside, slamming the door behind her.
"Viable sample has turned inviable before proper testing could be done. New sample needs to be collected."
Erwin clicked off the tape recorder and sighed as he glared at the cutting he'd taken from one of the bizarre plants that grew all over town. He'd wanted to test it, but unfortunately his black thumb had killed it just like he seemed to kill every other plant he came into contact with. Out of frustration, he knocked the small pot into the garbage and grabbed his bag to go collect another.
Outside, it was a beautiful sunny day. People were out going about their business, including the government agents who had seemed to appear out of nowhere as of late. Over at the Sigworth house, he could see Christie playing on her monkey bars with another little girl he didn't recognize. The girl had long dark brown hair braided over her shoulder with messy bangs that hung in her eyes slightly. She wore bright pink glasses and a pink polka-dot shirt with a purple skirt, pink sneakers on her feet and swaying as she traveled from one end of the monkey bars to the other.
He stopped by Carlotta's house, where a near-perfect specimen of the odd plant was growing, and knelt by the thing. He didn't really know much about gardening (perhaps another reason he'd never had a viable sample last long enough to test) and he wasn't even sure this was actually a plant. But the plant wasn't really the reason he stopped by. No, he wanted to talk to Carlotta again, maybe make her more comfortable with him. She'd been avoiding him since the day the Strangerville Welcoming Committee stopped by her house and undoubtedly 'warned' her of his eccentricity.
Unfortunately, it appeared she wasn't home. Her car—a beat-up old blue pickup truck—was gone, signaling that she wouldn't be back for quite a while. He sighed and continued trying to get a viable sample.
"You spend a lot of time near here," a little voice said. He fell backward and looked up to see the little girl he didn't recognize standing over him.
"Uh… yeah. Sorry. I, um, like to try and run tests on these plants, but I have the opposite of a green thumb, if you know what I mean." He stood up and dusted off his hands.
"I do. I'm not good at gardening either, but my mom is. It's her job."
Wait…
"I'm sorry, but who's your mother?"
"You know who she is. I see you staring at her a lot when she's outside. Her name's Carlotta?" The little girl fixed him with a stare that could only belong to someone related to Carlotta D'Angelo and his throat tightened.
"Yeah. I do know who she is. I didn't know she had a daughter."
"I don't spend a lot of time at home. I prefer going to the park or hanging out with Christie." She held out her hand, staring up at him with the same dark brown eyes as Carlotta. "I'm Lucy D'Angelo."
"Erwin Pries." He shook her hand and she gasped.
"You're the crackpot guy!" He winced; no matter how many times he heard someone call him that, it never got any easier.
"I prefer eccentric. You, um… you heard about me, probably from Leslie and Meredith."
"Mm-hmm. You don't seem bad, though. A little weird is good."
"Exactly."
"I gotta go. Christie and I are gonna go play video games at her house. Bye, Mr. Pries!"
She ran off and he smiled a little. Well, at least one person didn't buy into the rumors, even if it was a kid. He headed back to his trailer, only to find that the sample wasn't in his bag. He must've dropped it when Lucy startled him back at the plant. Out of exasperation he groaned; he couldn't go back now. Lucy would think he was stalking the house. His solution was to wait for it to get later and just try to run the curio shop for now. Maybe things would get better…?
He was sitting alone at the counter for a long time. The three nights in a row he'd stayed up to investigate started to catch up with him a little and his eyes drooped. Maybe… maybe it wouldn't hurt to take a little nap while he waited for someone, anyone, to stop by. He leaned back in his chair and started to doze…
SLAM!
He shot upright, falling back slightly and trying to right himself as he straightened his glasses to get a look at the person who'd interrupted his nap. It was Carlotta, and she had one of the bizarre fruits in her hand and an angry look on her face. Well, maybe not angry, but more like she was on the road to kick the ass of someone who'd pissed her off to no end.
"C-Carlotta!"
"Listen, Pries, what the hell is up with this fruit?" She held it up. "I know you've got some and I want to know how you got it."
"It… it's just something I got last time I tried to sneak into the lab. There were a bunch in crates outside and I took them to run tests." He gave her a confused expression. "Wait, how did you get one?"
"One of the purple plants. Thing popped open and spat this out."
"The pods?"
"It ain't a pod anymore."
"What?!"
She led him back to her house and his eyes widened even more when he saw the purple plant. He started sputtering in shock, as if trying to express how monumental this was.
"How did this happen?"
"I've been takin' care of it for the past few days."
"You're a gardener! Of course!" He grinned broadly. "Carlotta, help me get a cutting of this thing."
"I… don't think…"
"I've been trying to run tests on them for ages in a controlled setting, but I have a black thumb and can't keep them alive for more than a day at most. But with you I can finally figure out what these things are!"
"Pries—"
"You're amazing, seriously amazing! Now, if only we could talk to the soldiers down at—"
"Pries!" He stopped, noticing her expression. "I don't think the plants are going to help us know what's going on. And I sure as hell don't want to get mixed up with your whacko nonsense."
"No. No no, listen! This could be our key to getting more information out of the scientists and military folk." His voice had dropped to a lower register so the agents couldn't hear him. "I can't get them to talk to me. I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not the most… socially savvy."
"Understatement."
"Right. But with you, we could get something out of them. You know people, right?"
"A little. At the very least I can read social cues."
"Great. So let's head down to the bar and ask around."
"Sure, whatever. I need a drink, anyway."
"Jess, we need to talk."
She turned around as Dylan stood there anxiously.
"What about?"
"You've… you've been acting weird for a while. Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine. I've just been stressed up at the base."
"No, this isn't just stress, Jess. I've never seen you act like this before and you've been under more stress than this."
Jess bit her lip.
"Look, I don't know what's going on, either. And I don't know what you're talking about so just drop it."
"Jess."
"I said drop it."
"Fine. I'll drop it."
For now…
Jess headed out of the house, slamming the door behind her as she left. Dylan sighed and turned to see Christie and Lucy staring at him.
"You girls heard that, huh?"
"Kinda hard not to," replied Christie. "Is everything okay, Dad?"
"Everything's fine. Your mom just needed to blow off some steam. You know how she gets."
Christie raised an eyebrow.
"Lucy. You must've heard parents argue before."
"Not really. I've never met my dad. Mom had me when she was sixteen."
"Oh…" A sick feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.
"But I've seen worse arguments." Christie smiled comfortingly at her friend.
"Well, if you need anything, you can always come over here."
"Thanks, Mr. Sigworth."
"Let's go watch a movie!" Christie insisted, grabbing Lucy's hand. The two girls vanished into Christie's room and Dylan was left alone.
Poor kid…
Whatever's messing with Jess, it's definitely up at the base. But what is it?
Great. Now he was starting to think like Erwin Pries… but maybe Erwin knew something. He spent enough time researching Strangerville and the lab. He must've come across something.
Dylan would ask in the morning. For now, he needed to get some sleep.