When Piper and Leo arrived the introductions were made. Leo had orbed them onto the front porch so they could enter the manor without suspicion. Just before they entered the house, Piper smeared some dirt on Leo's shirt.
"This way," Piper explained, "you can check with the Elders without suspicion. You'll just have to say you need to change your shirt. You can orb out from the bedroom."
"Good thinking," said Leo. "I shouldn't be up there long. It should be easy to discern if they are your cousins or not."
Together they entered the manor. Phoebe, Paige, and Cole were still in the living room chatting with their guests when Piper and Leo came in. Paige made the introductions and for a moment granny just stared at Piper.
"Yep, you is a Halleewell all right," granny finally announced. "You gots the same eyes as yer grandma. No mistaken them Halleewell eyes, that's fer shore."
"She did the same thing to me," Phoebe whispered to Piper.
"This is Leo, my husband," said Piper.
"Pleased to meet you all," said Leo. "If you'll excuse me for a moment I need to go upstairs and change my shirt. I seem to have gotten some dirt on it."
"Take yer time, young fella'," said Cletus. "We gots time to git acquainted."
Leo went upstairs as the rest of them stayed in the living room chatting.
"So, Paige says you're our cousins from Arkansas," said Piper.
"Shore 'nough," said granny. "When our ancestors come over here most of 'em moved into New England area. After a while, some of 'em done migrated down Virginny way. Y'all might say they was wonderers. They finally settled in Arkansas where we's from."
"They've been telling us some fascinating stories about the family history," said Phoebe. "It seems there's a whole branch of the family we never even knew about."
"So, Daisy Mae," began Piper.
"Call me granny," said granny. "Everbody does."
"Granny's the oldest person in Myrtle Creek," said Angus Todd. "Been doctorin' most folk fer nigh onto sixty year now."
"You're a doctor?" questioned Piper.
"Best one fer forty mile," said granny. "Old family recipes been fixin' peoples ails fer many a year."
"Okay, granny," Piper continued hesitantly, "you say you came for a visit. Any particular reason you came at this particular time? Some kind of special circumstance or something?"
"Well," said Cletus, looking nervously at Piper, "we's figured y'all might be able to give us a hand, being kin and all. It taint exactly a visit we come fer."
"Really?" questioned Cole. "You hadn't said anything before now."
"We's awaiting 'till they's all here together," said granny. "That's why the truck is packed up the way it is. We gots all our worldly belongings on that truck. Y'all being the only kin we got we weren't shore where else to turn."
"So why are you here?" questioned Phoebe.
"Gov'ment done took the farm," said Angus Todd. "They said that pa owed them ten years back taxes. Said we had to pay up or git out. Pa didn't have the money fer the taxes so we packed up and come here."
"Here?" questioned Piper. "Are you saying you want to move in with us?"
"Only 'till we kin get back on our feet," said Cletus. "We reckoned we'd git jobs here and all. But we be needing a place to stay 'till then. We's hopin' that since y'all was kin you'd be willing to put us up fer a spell."
"That's out of the question," said Piper. "First of all, we don't have the room here."
"This here's a big house," said granny. "Bigger than any house in Myrtle Creek. Shorely they's room fer us here. We won't be no bother."
"There are only three bedrooms," said Phoebe. "There's no way all of us are going to fit into those bedrooms."
"Besides," said Piper, "we sometimes have, well, uninvited guests drop by. And it can be very difficult to get them to leave. We can't put you in the middle of that. It wouldn't be fair."
"We don't mind," said granny. "We's kin. Mayhaps we kin help y'all with these unwanted guests."
"I don't think so," said Cole. "Well, that is, most of them are government people. You remember we told you I was a lawyer? Some of these visitors come by here because of some of the cases I handle. It wouldn't be fair to put you through that especially after what happened with your farm and all."
"Well, cain't say I'm eager to meet no more gov'ment men," said Cletus. "That farm was in our family fer six generations."
"What about getting it back?" Paige questioned. "You did say all you had to do was pay the back taxes on it."
"Them taxes is near twenty five thousand dollars," said Cletus. "I ain't gonna have that kind of money."
"No I don't suppose so," said Piper. "What about a hotel room or something?"
"Well," said Cletus pulling a wad of bills out of his pocket, "we still gots a hunnerd and twelve dollars. I reckon that should be enough fer a while."
"Yeah," said Paige, "like maybe one day."
"Sorry I took so long," said Leo coming down the stairs. "How's everyone doing?"
"We have a problem," said Piper. "It seems Cletus lost his farm and they have no place to stay."
"They could stay here," said Leo. "We could set up some sleeping bags in the arboretum. It would be like camping out or something."
"I reckon that would be okay," said Cletus. "We done a heap of camping in the mountains."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," said Piper. "What if we have some uninvited guests?"
"I really think we should try to accommodate them," said Leo in a very deliberate voice.
"Would you excuse us a minute?" Piper asked Cletus and the others. "Maybe we can work something out."
"Okay, Leo, what's going on?" Piper asked him when they had all gathered in the kitchen. "You seemed pretty set on having them stay here."
"Not me," said Leo. "The Elders. They were very mysterious about everything. But they did say we had to do everything we could to help them. Apparently they are some distant cousins of yours. They wouldn't say why but they stressed very strongly that we had to do everything we could to help them."
"Why would they be so interested in a bunch of hicks?" questioned Paige.
"Like I said," said Leo, "they were very mysterious about it. I pressed them for some answers but all they would say was that it was very important that they be protected. From what, the Elders wouldn't say."
"And we're just supposed to interrupt our lives because the Elders say so?" questioned Piper. "With no explanation whatsoever?"
"Piper, the Elders always have good reasons for what they do," said Leo. "I'm sure they'll tell us what's going on when the time is right."
"Cole," said Phoebe, "can you think of any reason why demons might be interested in Cletus and his family?"
"Not from what I've seen so far," said Cole. "They seem less important than most mortals. They certainly don't seem to be a threat of any kind."
"Well," said Piper, "I suppose we could put them up in the arboretum for the night like Leo suggested. If they are related I guess we do have some obligation to help them. But Leo I want some answers and soon. We can't keep them here indefinitely especially with the possibility of demon attacks. We have to figure out something to do with them."
"I'll do what I can," said Leo. "Thanks for understanding."
"I didn't say I understood," said Piper. "And I'm not going to wait long for some answers. In the meantime, Cole can you check into what social services might be available to them?"
"I'll check," said Cole, "but I'm pretty sure they won't want to use them. Cletus is a proud man and he doesn't trust the government."
"Well, let's get some bedding for them," said Piper. "We seem to have a logistics problem on our hands. Let's see if we can get them settled with a minimum of fuss."