My mother tells me stories about my grandmother sometimes. I only knew her for a little while since she died when I was seven, but she sounded like a character. Some of the stories are funny, and some are sad because she was very neurotic. (it explains my mother somewhat, although she won't talk to you if you imply she's anything like her mother.) One of the latter stories is about how she couldn't deal with money. My mom remembers her hiding from the paper-boy because my grandfather forgot to leave the paper money before work one morning.

When I hear a car in the driveway, and looked out the window, my grandmother's tactic seemed very inviting. Sadly, since I'm more stable than my late grandmother, I behaved like a big girl and let the agents in, as much as I didn't want to; nothing I'd looked up the week before suggested that a restraining order was a realistic option.

I was past the point of politeness, however. "Come on, spit it out. What is it that you're concerned with now? Are their spacemen living in my well? Is the neighbor a werewolf? Are we all in danger of being attacked by ALF? What?!" I ranted.

Amazingly, agent Mulder smiled. At least his lips moved slightly, so I thought it might be a smile. " We're not here because of an investigation."

I gawked at him. "So what, this is a social call, then?"

To be continued

"No." Agent Scully said smoothly. "It's a business call."

I sat at the kitchen table. I didn't offer them seats since I didn't care if they stood or not.

"I'm not sure I understand." Then I corrected myself. "No, I'm SURE I don't understand."

"You've passed the test." Agent Mulder said with something like a grin. I think I liked him better expressionless.

"What agent Mulder means is that we find it difficult to recruit to our division. "Scully told me.

"So?" I still didn't know what they were getting at. The last test I'd taken was a practicum on how to safely and humanely restrain a person who is out of control. Even if it became necessary to restrain either agent, it wasn't practical, since you're not supposed to attempt to restrain an adult on your own. I had a feeling that that wasn't the test he meant, though.

Agent Scully gave agent Mulder a pointed look. "Since this was Mulder's idea, I think that I'll let him explain things."

Oh great, this ought to be good.

Agent Mulder looked at me and said, " As Scully mentioned, it's difficult to recruit people to work with our division. The problem with the paranormal is there are only three responses to it: unwavering acceptance, skepticism, or most desirably, a willingness to weigh the evidence of each thing before coming to a conclusion."

Scully muttered something under her breath about Mulder that I couldn't quite hear.

I gave them a blank look. "I'm sorry you can't just find someone at a temp agency, but I don't see what it has to do with pestering me."

"For such a small area of the country, New England is rift with strange occurrences, many of which can only be chalked up to the paranormal." Agent Scully said in a strangely reluctant tone.

"And?"

"And we've been looking for someone to help us out. A regional person on retainer to assist with cases in the area." Mulder said.

Finally, it clicked. "Wait. Do you mean me?"

"Yes, if you're willing." Agent Scully said.

"All of this....this...stuff was to test me?!" My voice rose along with my temper.

"We had to figure out if you were able to suitably deal with extreme possibilities, and you are. Most people would have either worshipped us or done something violent long before now." Agent Mulder said. "You're exactly the type of person we want to work with us."

It was mind-blowing. None of it had been real, they were just testing me. Un-fricking-real. "Why me? Did you throw a dart a the phone book or what?"

"No. We picked you because of something you wrote." Agent Scully said.

Something I wrote? I wrote all the time, so it didn't narrow it down much. "Which thing I wrote?" I asked slowly.

"A research paper entitled ' Ghosts Among The Living.' It was very well thought out and presented a balance view on the subject." Mulder said.

I stared at him. "You picked me because of something I wrote eight years ago in my Freshman English class? How did you even get that? That's not something I put on the Internet."

Agent Mulder shrugged. "People send us things they think will be of interest. Probably your professor."

I wondered if it was too late to take action against her. Probably, she'd left at the end of that year. " I...I...I..." I gave up and stared at my hands.

Neither of them said anything for a moment, then agent Scully broke the silence. "So, will you take the position? It's not very time-intensive, but it does come with a generous stipend."

Before my brain had time to catch up, my mouth opened and said, "Sure. I'd love to." Now why did I say that?? Both agents were thrilled and said they hoped we'd be working together soon. They were alone in that sentiment.