Disclaimer, the usual.

After a wonderful dinner, and a lot of servings of various pies, dorothy, Zeb, and aunt Melinda found themselves in the living room. Dorothy was sitting on the couch with her pets on her lap. She was a bit tired, but she tried her best not to nod off right then and there.

"So, Auntie Melinda, why don't you regale us with another story of your guy's childhood?" Zeb suggested.

"Oh, well, where to begin, Dorothy, did your aunt ever tell you about the time your parents managed to get cavities?" Melinda asked.

"No." Dorothy replied shaking her head.

"Oh, that was a good day, for us anyways, since we all found it hilarious." Melinda said.

"What happened?" dorothy asked.

"Well, your father, decided to buy a large bag of various candies, and I mean large, it was a winter morning, and a huge snowstorm had closed the school, so your mother as far as I'm aware, decided to go to your father's place and they ate the entire bag." Melinda said.

"That makes me have a stomach ache just thinking about doing that." Zeb said.

"yes, well, none of us made very bright decisions back then." Melinda said.

"So, I've often heard." Dorothy said.

"Anyways, your mother and father were sick with stomach aches for the next two days, and on the third day both of them had six cavities, and you want to know the odd thing?" Melinda said.

"What?" Both dorothy and Zeb asked.

"They had them all, on the exact same teeth, in the exact same places, at least according to the dentist, as we were all seated outside the office waiting for them to come out, they were both in a rather sour mood after getting those fillings." Melinda said.

"wow." Was all dorothy could manage to say.

"they must have been rather sour after getting all those fillings." Zeb said.

"Oh, they were, normally the only times either of Dorothy's parents were in a grouchy mood was after a trip to the dentist or after a trip to the doctors to get yearly vaccinations, oh your mother always hated those." Melinda said.

"when my parents were still alive, did they ever send you Christmas cards?" Dorothy asked.

"Just one, it's one of your mother, holding you as a baby in her arms, I think she wrote a note on the back of it." Melinda said.

"I'm sure she did, because auntie Em has one, The Teaks have one, Jon has one." Dorothy said.

"Jon?" Melinda asked.

"Jon foreman?" Dorothy asked.

"Oh, wow, that's a name I haven't heard in a long time, I think the last time I saw him was…you know, I can't remember." Melinda replied.

"well he owns Ms. Kepelsen's orchard now." Dorothy said.

"oh, there are some funny stories with that orchard, several times your father, and his brother would go there, she let us have all the apples we could eat." Melinda said.

"and they would eat apples until they got sick." Dorothy said.

"you've heard it?" Melinda asked.

"a few times." Dorothy said.

"Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of stories you don't know, for example, my husband, he used to play practical jokes on Emily all the time, but seeing as they are brother and sister, that's to be expected." Melinda said.

"I guess, I've always been an only child." Dorothy said.

"same here, my mother died before I can physically remember, as far as I'm aware it's always just been my father and I here at the ranch with uncle bill and auntie Melinda." Zeb said.

"You were less than a few weeks old when she passed away from complications, luckily your father was already living here at the ranch with us." Melinda said.

"my father keeps telling me that when I'm old enough he'll tell me that story, how long do you think he'll make me wait?" Zeb asked.

"till you're old enough to own your own ranch I assume." Melinda said.

"Can't you tell me?" Zeb asked.

"your father would never let me live it down, he'd bug me about it till one of us drops dead, so, no, not worth it." Melinda said.

"what can you tell me about uncle bill?" Dorothy asked.

"Well, don't tell your aunt I said this, but, bill has always been jealous of her." Melinda said.

"jealous?" dorothy asked.

"yes, though the two are similar in many ways, including their work styles, though I'm not sure who adopted it first." Melinda said.

"Auntie Em is great with power tools." Dorothy said.

"bill is as well." Melinda said.

"Oh." Dorothy said.

"Emily had always been the favorite, even though her parents said that they couldn't choose between them, everyone in town knew that Emily was the favorite of the two, I think that's why bill used to pull pranks on her." Melinda said.

"I see." Dorothy said.

"there's also the fact that Emily and henry had triplets, when we've been trying for years to have at least one kid." Melinda said.

"I can see where that would be a problem." Dorothy said.

"if we had all been a few years younger, and still living in town, I feel like Emily would give her brother a right earful on it." Melinda said.

"do you have any stories regarding Mr. Teak?" dorothy asked.

"do you mean the Mr. Teak you know? Or his father?" Melinda asked.

"At this point asking about one seems to impart information on the other, so I guess it really doesn't matter." Dorothy said yawning.

"Well, that old gargoyle, Mr. teak's Father, the senior teak as everyone referred to him as, I don't think I ever saw that man smile, not once." Melinda said.

"you know, that's all I keep hearing about him." Dorothy said.

"Well, one day, we were all in the park, all of us, and his father was building a bench for the park, however we all thought it was a good idea at the time to play a game of kickball in the same general area." Melinda said.

"And I assume it wasn't?" dorothy asked.

"Well, when it came his turn he kicked the ball, and somehow, I don't know how, it went backwards and hit his father square in the back, oh boy was he mad, he gave us all a right earful, had it not been for Mr. Foreman coming out of his office at the time and calming him down, I think he would have shouted himself hoarse." Melinda said.

"I think I've heard this story before, your ears were apparently ringing for a week after it." Zeb said.

"yes, and every time I tell the story the ringing comes back, but the story isn't over, I've just told you my part, there is more, and it's probably the most depressing part." Melinda said.

"Oh?" dorothy asked.

"Yes, his father tried to ground him, send him to work in the shop instead of going out and playing." Melinda said.

"I assume that didn't go well?" Dorothy asked

"no, it ended with him going to stay with your father for a few weeks." Melinda said.

"Oh, wow, um, where was the Teak's carpentry shop at the time?" dorothy asked.

"at the edge of town." Melinda said.

"Which edge?" dorothy asked.

"You know where your aunt and uncle's farm house is?" Melinda asked.

"of course." Dorothy replied.

"Opposite edge." Melinda said.

"Oh." Was all dorothy could say.

"Then his father built the carpentry shop that your father and he went into business in for a short time together, I don't think your father ever sold his shares in that business, so technically, when you come of age, you could get a lot of money out of that." Melinda said.

"I wouldn't know, I don't normally like talking about my parents, too painful." Dorothy said.

"I can imagine, you were so young when they died." Melinda said.

Dorothy closed her eyes. She had remembered these things before, she didn't want to let the memories awaken again.

"auntie Melinda, I think that's enough stories for now." Zeb said.

"I think you're right, well, you two chat amongst yourselves, I'm exhausted." Melinda said getting up and stretching.

"I'll check on dad and uncle bill at around 8." Zeb said.

"all right." Melinda said walking out of the living room.

"dorothy, are you alright?" zeb asked.

Dorothy opened her eyes and sighed.

"yea, I'm fine, it's just that, when people mention my mother and father in their stories, its fine, but bring up their death, and it kinda sets me off." Dorothy said.

"I see, would you like to be left alone for a bit?" Zeb asked.

"No, I'll be fine, just give me a moment." Dorothy said taking a few deep breaths.

"She knows it's a touchy subject for you, but she often has problems containing herself when it comes to story time." Zeb said.

"did uncle bill tell her not to talk about?" Dorothy asked.

"he said to be light on mentioning it, but again, auntie Melinda has problems containing herself." Zeb said.

Dorothy took another deep breath and sighed.

"So, Chores, because they start tomorrow…" dorothy started to say before zeb raised a hand.

"let me stop you there." Zeb said.

"Why?" dorothy asked.

"working starts again on Friday, while I'm out for a funeral, normally dad does funerals but well, you get the picture, you'll have all of tomorrow to yourself though." Zeb said

"what about Saturday and Sunday?" dorothy asked.

"that's break days as well, sometimes Lorretta, Joe when he's around, Charlie, and myself sit around an old fire pit in the forest out back and make idle conversation." Zeb said.

"sounds like fun." Dorothy said.

"I think we'll be doing that this weekend, it will be something cheery to do, old lady Gibson died, her funeral is Friday, and she wanted her casket driven to the cemetery via horse drawn carriage."

"Why do they openly refer to her as old lady?" Dorothy asked.

"let's see, she was 102 years old, was the oldest living person in town, ran the scrapyard at the edge of town, but she and her husband were a nice couple and loved inviting people over for tea and cakes, oh, and they used to just call her lady Gibson, then she turned 80." Zeb said.

"I see." Dorothy said.

Meanwhile back in Kansas

Alex was in the basement unburying a drum set from in between several boxes when his mother called him up. As he ascended the stairs he found his mother with the phone in her hand. Handing it to him she smiled.

"It's for you." She said.

"Thanks." Alex said bringing the phone to his ear.

"alex?" came Dorothy's voice.

"hey kitten, settle in nicely?" Alex asked.

"as well as any Kansas girl, can." dorothy said.

"Oh, come on, you're more than just a Kansas girl, did you find the pea shooter?" He asked.

"while I was putting away my nightgowns, alex, you could have just handed it to me up front, and not slipped it in with my things." Dorothy said

"and would you have actually carried it?" alex asked curiously.

"probably not, but that doesn't make slipping my peashooter into my things any better." Dorothy said.

"well, you didn't bring the scepter, though I'm sure Madeline still has that wand somewhere." Alex said.

"she never explained, I wonder if Ellie knows?" Dorothy asked.

"I'll look into it at school tomorrow." Alex said.

"well if Ellie knows, and she's hiding it, let her know that I'm going to give her an earful when I get back." Dorothy said.

"you could 'call' Madeline and ask her." Alex said.

"I'm sure she already knows, she's always hiding, something." Dorothy said with an audible yawn.

"you tired kitten?" alex asked.

"kinda, yes." She replied.

"Dorothy, the entire town feels your absence, and I thought of a way to bring it some color again." Alex said.

"Oh? How? Tell me everything!" dorothy said.

"you'll have to wait until you get back, I want you to be surprised." Alex said.

"oh, come on alex, you can't tease me like that." Dorothy said.

"brother dear, have you seen my stuffed polar bear?" Annabella asked

"um did you check under the couch?" alex asked.

"Is that Annabella?" Dorothy asked.

"are you talking to dorothy?" Annabella asked.

"yes." Alex said.

"well, I have to find my stuffed polar bear, tell her I say hi." Annabella said running off.

"she knows I could hear her right?" dorothy asked.

"probably, dorothy, how is California?" alex asked.

"Not as colorful, not as active." Dorothy said.

"sounds like the town currently." Alex said.

He then heard dorothy sigh.

"alex, whatever it is you're going to do, do it." dorothy said

"don't worry, I plan to." Alex said.

He then heard dorothy let out a loud yawn. Which she immediately tried to cover as a sigh. causing alex to laugh.

"hey, don't laugh." Dorothy said.

"dorothy, you should go to bed, you've got a long six months ahead of you, possibly more since the summer starts in six months." Alex said looking at a calendar.

"Oh, don't talk like that, if they still need me after the six months are up, I'll let you know." Dorothy said.

Alex sighed and shook his head.

"dorothy, I love you, I miss you, will you be able to call at some point tomorrow?" Alex asked.

"I don't know, it's a relax day tomorrow, but I also don't want to hog the phone." Dorothy said.

"I understand, well, hopefully we get to talk again soon." Alex said.

"the usual way or would rather send letters?" dorothy asked with an audible giggle.

"uh, is that a trick question? the usual way is through mirrors, if someone sees, that's going to be a lot of explaining to do." Alex said

"okay, the normal way then?" dorothy asked.

"yes." Alex said.

"well, goodnight, I love you." Dorothy said.

"I miss you too, promise me you'll stay safe." Alex said.

"Cross my heart." dorothy said

"good night, little kitten." Alex said.

"good night, big wolf." Was Dorothy's response.

After a moment alex heard the line click. He sighed and put the phone back on the hook. Annabella then walked by carrying a stuffed polar bear.

"Found it, it was in the corner with the stuffed penguin." Annabella said.

"you know you don't commonly find those in the same areas, right?" alex asked.

"Yes!" she shouted as she walked up the stairs.

Alex shook his head and went back down to the basement to continue unburying the drum set, only to find that it had already been done, and on the large drum from the set was a paper with a fancy red letter M.

"Madeline." Alex said shaking his head.

Meanwhile back in California.

One dorothy changed into her night dress she immediately went to the bathroom and undid her hair, she then brushed her teeth and was on her way back to the guest room when Zeb walked up the steps.

"Well, now that that's done I can get, oh, dorothy, didn't know if you were awake still or not." Zeb said.

"I've just finished getting ready, how's uncle bill and uncle Ned?" dorothy asked.

"sound asleep, man I wish my father didn't snore so loudly, and uncle bill can sleep through anything." Zeb said.

"just like his sister, but Auntie Em, always knows when to wake up, or when someone else is awake, and the sound of her kids can always wake her, but she always knows when something is wrong as well." Dorothy said.

Zeb smiled and stretched.

"well, I'll let you get to bed, oh, I was going to hide this from you." He said going through his pockets and pulling out a key.

"Key to the bedroom?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes, my conscious told me that if I hid this from you, odds are none of us would be able to find it." He said.

Dorothy smiled and took the key. Trying to bend to make sure it wasn't a false key. Finding it wasn't she smiled.

"thanks." Dorothy said.

"your welcome." Zeb said walking around her.

"Oh, zeb, this key won't get, I don't know, stuck in the lock, or suddenly go missing, will it?" dorothy asked.

"You know someone who's caused that?" zeb asked.

"Yes, my boyfriend, alex, he used to pull pranks like you do, I didn't like him at first because of it, but some circumstances led to another, and now we are happily together." Zeb said.

"Sounds like he used to pull pranks to get your attention." Zeb said.

"Yea, we were recounting our first meeting, it was on a blacktop at school, he said, he thought from that moment was when he knew there was something between us." Dorothy said

"well, you have someone, that's good, it's something to look forward to when you return to Kansas in six months, assuming all things go well." Zeb said.

"yea." Dorothy said trailing off.

"Well if you end up staying the summer, maybe he can come over." Zeb suggested

"that would be nice but let's see how things go." Dorothy said.

"Agreed." Zeb said.

"don't want to rush anything." Dorothy said

"agreed." Zeb said yawning loudly.

Dorothy smiled and sighed.

"goodnight." Dorothy said.

"Sleep tight." Zeb said.

"Don't let the bedbugs bite." They said in unison.

"you know that one too?" dorothy asked.

"like an old friend." Zeb said walking to his room and shutting the door behind him.

Dorothy smiled and walked into the guest room where she found Toto and pockets already asleep. Climbing into bed she tucked herself in and soon, managed to drift off to sleep.