I think I've provided adequate history for now. This is Tish's story, after all. So, back to the phone call. Tish was in luck that day, since Lor was at my place that day, that saved her from having to tell her unbelievable story a second time. I guess when you have the bad luck of attracting a giant worm from hell into your apartment, you're entitled to a little good luck eventually. We were in the middle of a game of pool in my den when the phone rang. I was in the middle of lining up my shot when it rang so I asked Lor to get it. She picked up the phone on the counter of my minibar and answered it.
"Hello" Lor said. "Oh hey Tish! I haven't heard from you in a while. How have you been?"
"Is it Tish?" I asked after I missed my shot. I walked over next to Lor.
"Yeah, I'm here at Tino's place, we were just playing some pool." Lor said. "Yeah, hold on I'll put it on speaker phone."
"I'm a fairy princess!" screamed Nell as she spun around holding my pool cue.
Lor picked up Nell from her first grade class earlier that day and stopped by because she knew I was taking the day off. She didn't have to worry about Thompson since he was at work at the time. Nell was growing up in good health considering her dysfunctional home life. She's a little mischievous, but I like having her around.
"Is Nell there?" Tish asked.
"Yeah, do you want to talk to her too?" asked Lor.
"Not right now. I have a serious matter to discuss with you and Tino. Could you get her out of the room for now?"
"What's the big deal? You never minded her listening before."
"It just...I don't want to frighten her."
"What do you mean frighten? Did you have that bad of a date?"
"I'm not joking Lor. Could you just do this?"
"Come on Nell. Let's go play with some of Tino's video games."
"Give her my Game-Thingie®, I don't want her messing up my PS3." I said.
"Okay, she's gone. Now, what's up Tish?" said Lor.
"Alright. Im just going to say it straight out. A giant worm from hell that appeared in my apartment told me I have go to back to Bahia Bay."
"Huh?" muttered Lor.
"Tish, if this is some kind of desperate plea for attention, you have my interest." I said.
"You may not believe me right now, but I'll be there on Friday and I'll convince you in person. Oh yeah, one more thing. You guys have to find Carver and get him there by Friday." Tish said.
"What? But we haven't spoken a word in eight years!" Lor said.
" I know, but you have to do it. Don't worry, I'll explain when I get there."
"I don't get you Tish! You call us less and less frequently as time goes on, like it's some kind of chore. Then you call and start barking orders at us like we were 12 years old again. That act was cute back then, but you should know better now! You think you're better than us or something?" Lor was understandably mad. She was still upset that Tish had left and she was waiting for an opportunity like this to vent her anger.
"I'm sorry Lor. I know you think I abandoned you. And... maybe you're right, but ... I'm going to make it up to you. I'm going to make it up to all of you." Tish said, then hung up abruptly.
Lor kept her gaze fixed on the phone, accompanied by a sour look on her face. Something about that look struck me as particularly odd and I could hardly believe I hadn't noticed before. Lor's face was strangely bright and pretty for someone who lived such a tumultuous life. When she made a sour face like that, she seemed to be a totally different person. After a moment, she looked back to me as Lor again.
"What do you think, Tino?" she asked.
"She sounded pretty serious." I said. "I guess she'll be here soon. We don't have any reason to believe it's a joke."
"And the worm from hell?"
"Could she really have meant it, you mean? I don't think so. I'm sure she just wanted our undivided attention."
"And what about Carver? She really expects us to find him and bring him here?"
"It's something we should have done by now anyway. Don't you think it's about time we got in touch with him?"
"You defend Tish too much. She's making some pretty unreasonable demands here."
"C'mon, don't you think we should trust her for now?"
"If this is one of her stupid psychological experiments, I swear I'm going to kill her."
"That's a bit strong isn't it?"
"I'm totally serious, Tino."