Duncan looked around the loft and noticed that Connor had come back alone. "They didn't come with you?" he asked.
"They have names you know," Connor replied, "And no they didn't, they said they'd catch up, they took Richelle's bike."
"How was the movie?" Tessa asked.
"It was a movie about a little doll coming to life and stabbing people, how do you think it was?" Connor asked, "Isn't much to do at those kinds of films except laugh at them."
"Then why did you go?" Duncan asked.
"I've been stuck in this place with you for the last few days, I need all the laughs I can get," Connor dryly remarked, "And, I'll trust I haven't missed anything around here."
"Not much," Tessa answered, "Duncan's still trying to find some way to prove that Richelle is a fraud."
Connor groaned and grumbled something to himself before asking Duncan, "Why is it you don't believe she could be Richie's sister? What proof do you need before it finally hits you in the head?"
"Connor, there's got to be some way to prove who she really is," Duncan insisted.
"Listen to you talk!" Tessa spoke up, "Weren't you the one telling Richie it's good not to know where you come from because you get to pick then?"
"That was different," Duncan said.
"Why? Because that's Richie and not his sister? It's okay for Richie to more or less be a myth but his sister has to factually exist?"
"I really don't get why it's so important to you anyway," Connor said to Duncan, "It's not like I'm asking you to raise her too, and a good thing, you seem to be doing poorly enough already with the boy."
The three of them got into an argument that carried on enough that they hadn't noticed the two teenagers sneaking back into the house.
"What do you think they're arguing about?" Richie asked.
"Who knows?" Richelle replied, "Better yet, who cares? Come on, let's go to your room."
And the two of them headed off for Richie's room, each carrying several large bags, none of which any of the adults ever noticed.
"Do you hear that?" Duncan asked Tessa that night when they were in bed.
Tessa grunted and turned over, "I was asleep. What's wrong?"
"Do you hear that?" he repeated.
Tessa pushed herself up in bed and listened, "I don't hear anything."
"Exactly," Duncan said, "This is the first night since Richelle came here that those two have been quiet."
Tessa yawned and commented as she lay back against the pillows, "Maybe they ate each other."
Finally, Duncan thought, he'd be able to get some sleep. But now he couldn't help but wonder…after hearing those two practically tear up the place for the past few nights…why all of a sudden did it stop? He had half a mind to go into Richie's room and see what was going on but decided against it, if by some chance the two had gone to sleep, hell if he was going to wake them up and open that can of worms again. So he settled down beside Tessa and tried to go to sleep.
What Duncan didn't know was that Richie and Richelle were not asleep, not even close. Instead, they were in his room making plans to draw Duncan in for an unpleasant surprise. Richie was taking out of a bag, one by one, several things they had picked up when they were out, including a toy horn, some noisemakers, and several large bags of metallic confetti.
"You know," he started to say.
"Shhhh," Richelle replied as she skimmed over the dialogue from A Midsummer Night's Dream that they'd checked out from the library, making some mimicked movements of a ballerina warming up for a recital.
"When Mac comes in here, he's going to kill us," Richie said.
"That he might," Richelle replied as she stretched her free arm over her head as she continued reading, "But at least we'd die having some fun. That's more than can be said for this whole damn building, all the life is draining out of it piece by piece and day by day."
Richie picked up one of the plays she had dumped on his bed and said, "You ought to consider this line of work."
"Shut up," Richelle replied, "You got everything?"
"Yeah," Richie answered.
Richelle spun around on the toes of one foot and saw what he was talking about. "Good, now take everything out," she told him.
She threw down Shakespeare and picked up another play and she started half speaking, half mumbling some of the lines, "Life is running around inside of me like a squirrel…" and like a silent actor terribly overacting his motivation, she started hopping around in circles, and repeated, slightly louder, "Life is running around inside of me like a squirrel." Then she stopped, "Na," and turned to another page, "I threw him on the floor, did it kill him?" She tried to read into it and personalize it, "I threw him on the floor, did it kill him?" She turned to Richie and said, "That one might work."
"I don't know," Richie said as he picked up another book, "I don't think we can use a lot of this stuff."
"Maybe not," Richelle threw down that book and picked up another play, "Dammit, this one's a musical…too bad we don't have a piano in here, but I suppose your stereo will have to do."
Richie took that one from her and she picked up another play and skimmed through it for good dialogue, "We were two raw unbleached schoolgirls." They looked at each other and laughed.
"I'm with you, Richie," she said as she threw the book down, "We won't be able to use most of this stuff, we'll just have to go with what we already have."
"Right," Richie said.
He watched as Richelle's eyes moved to look towards the door, she cocked her ear and said, "There's a play afoot, we'll be the audience!"
"And the actors too if we see cause," Richie added.
Duncan didn't know how long he'd been asleep but as soon as he heard the noise, he knew that it hadn't been near long enough.
What the hell was that noise? He thought to himself as he sat up in bed. He looked at the clock and saw it was about 1:30 He listened and tried to figure out what it was he was hearing…he couldn't tell, it sounded like somebody ringing bells and clattering a bunch of cheap New Year's Eve noisemakers together. He was already making a mental list of what he was going to do to those two as he got out of bed and headed down the hall.
Duncan was surprised to find that when he got to Richie's door, there weren't any lights on. He opened the door and peered in, but all was quiet, and Richie and Richelle were in bed. How could…had he imagined it? But how could he? Maybe he was starting to lose his mind, he started to wonder. He double checked to make sure that Richie and that girl weren't just pretending to sleep until he left the room. Both seemed to be perfectly sound asleep. He couldn't figure it out, but he was too tired to really care. He closed the door behind him again and went back to his own room.
As soon as Richie and his sister knew Duncan was gone, they threw back the covers and got up, Richelle dressed for their performance in a makeshift toga she'd put together from one of the bed sheets; Richie was still dressed as he was because though he agreed to take part in this ridiculous idea, he refused to dress like an idiot.
Richelle made quite a show of yawning and stretching her arms out before speaking up, "How now spirit, whither wonder you?" Without waiting for an answer she got up from the bed and continued, "Thou speakest aright, I am that merry wanderer of the night. The king keeps his revels here tonight, take heed the queen not come within his sight, for Oberon is passing fell and wrath."
"And oh boy, what wrath," Richie agreed.
"That's right," Richelle said, "And we want to make sure he arrives on schedule, so we'd better call him, and we all know how fairies call one another."
And on that note they each picked up some large bells they'd found in a junk shop and rang them loud enough to wake the dead; though not loud enough they couldn't hear Duncan and Tessa's bedroom door open, they quietly got back into bed and put the bells away and closed their eyes two seconds before Duncan opened the door and looked in again. And once again, finding nothing, he couldn't help but wonder if he was finally starting to go crazy and shut the door behind him again.
After his own door slammed shut, Richie and Richelle emerged from under the covers, their hands pressed over their mouths to keep from laughing loudly.
"This is too much," Richie said, "It's terrific."
"I know!" Richelle's voice got a few octaves too high to stay a whisper by any means and for a moment they worried Duncan might've heard them, but the moment passed and nothing happened. So they got up again and went back to work. Richie took out of its hiding spot, a large bag of streamers they'd picked up from a party supply store, and he started rigging them up right above the door so they'd fall on Duncan when the door opened, while Richelle fiddled around with Richie's stereo so it came on to just the right song when they hit the volume on it.
Richie went over to his drum set, picked up the drumsticks and when Richelle cranked the knob up on the radio, he started pounding the drums in somewhat of a beat connected to the music playing. Richelle ran over to the door and peered through the keyhole, and a few seconds later, she saw the lights come on in Duncan's room. She hit the lights, turned around and announced as she ran back to Richie, "Look out! Here comes Oberon, the biggest fairy of them all!"
While Richie beat the drums, Richelle picked up the horn and started blowing it like an old messenger announcing somebody's arrival. The door flew open and Duncan stepped in, looking ready for a knockdown-drag out confrontation. As soon as he set foot into the room, several large red streamers fell down around him, distracting him only for a second, but long enough for Richie and Richelle to grab the bags of confetti and bombard him with the stuff, laughing at the top of their lungs like a couple of banshees. They stayed far enough away that Duncan couldn't grab at either of them and if he tried to lunge at either of them, they'd see him coming and get away.
Richelle jumped up and down a couple of times, inadvertently moving closer to Duncan as she announced, "Now we are dead, now we are fled, our soul is in the sky, moon, take thy flight!" And to Richie she added, "Let's get out of here!"
They ran by Duncan and headed for the living room with him not far behind them. Richelle led the way on a wild goose chase into the kitchen, where she and Richie ran around to the opposite side of the table that Duncan came to. Richelle picked up the big bowl of fruit on the table and started throwing everything at Duncan; bananas, apples, oranges, pears, and when the bowl was empty, she put it on her head and spun it around, proclaiming, "I am Nero! Rome is burning! I'm Nero! Let me get my fiddle! I'm Nero! I'm crazy!" It was something he hadn't anticipated in the least, giving them enough room to run out when Richelle threw the bowl at him.
The two teenagers ambushed Connor on the couch in and were screaming and shaking him to get up.
"What's the matter?" Connor asked.
"Your crazy cousin's trying to kill us!" Richelle answered as the two of them jumped behind the couch for cover just as Duncan entered the room.
Connor turned on the light and got a good look at Duncan who was covered in sparkling confetti and red streamers, and it was all Connor could do to keep a straight face as he said, "Duncan, you're a mess." Just as Duncan opened his mouth to speak, Connor told him, "Never mind, I'll handle this." He got up on his knees and looked behind the couch and asked, "Just whose bright idea was this?"
Richie and Richelle each pointed the finger at the other.
"That's what I thought," Connor said, and reached over and grabbed Richelle by the hair, "What was the bright idea?"
"Well I'll tell you, Connor," Richelle answered, "Nothing pleases this guy, he tries to culture Richie, so we were getting cultured, and he don't like that either, he chased us out of the room screaming bloody murder at us!"
"Alright, it's late, everybody's tired," Connor said, "You two go to bed," he turned to his cousin, "Duncan, get cleaned up, you're starting to look like a pixie."
Duncan was at a loss for words but his jaw dropped and he made several almost animalistic grunting noises as he tried to think of something to say to his cousin.
"Connor," Richelle called back to him, "Would you say he looks like Oberon?"
Connor looked back at Duncan and looked him up and down in his black robe covered with glittering confetti and remarked, "Yes, slightly." He then looked at Richelle again and took in her attire. "Come here," he said.
Richelle stepped over towards him and said, "What?"
Connor pulled out one of the corners of the sheet she'd wrapped around herself and pulled it up over her head, and jokingly he remarked, "And don't forget, there's a meeting tomorrow night too! Now go on to bed."
Everything had gotten settled down and the grownups of the house thought they were going to get some sleep finally, but they were wrong.
Connor had been asleep again for a while when Richie and Richelle came back into the living room and started shaking him again to get him up.
"What is it now?" he asked, still half asleep.
"The TV in Richie's room just went out, can we watch the fight out here?" Richelle asked.
"I don't care," Connor replied as he rolled onto his side.
They leapt at the TV and started fighting with each other over what channel it was on.
"That's the wrong way," Richie slapped her hand away from the buttons, "That's the adult movie channel," and he started going toward the lower channels.
"Wait a minute," Connor said as he started to get up.
"What is it?" they asked.
"What time is it?" he asked.
"2:30," Richie answered.
"Okay," Connor laid back down and closed his eyes again, only to repeat the whole thing a minute later when he got up again and asked, "Wait a minute, what fight's on at 2:30 in the morning?"
"They're televising it from Japan," Richelle answered.
"Okay," Connor obviously saw it as a good enough answer and went back to sleep.
They got it to the right channel but then started adjusting the volume, until it was loud enough to be heard for the next block. But that wasn't all, as soon as the picture came on the screen of the two men practically killing each other, Richie and Richelle were both screaming, each cheering for a different fighter. Their yells and cheers were about as loud as the TV itself, all of which Connor was blissfully oblivious too, and all of which, was enough to wake the people in the next room.
Duncan was beyond the point of walking into a room now, he more or less hopped into the room, climbing over whatever was in his way of getting to Richie and Richelle, his hands clenching up into chokers looking to hook onto their necks.
"That is IT!" he told them, "I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOU TWO! I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOU KEEPING US UP ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT, IF I HEAR ONE MORE SOUND OUT OF EITHER OF YOU, JUST ONE, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
"Hey Duncan," Connor said from his place on the couch, "You want to keep it down? I'm trying to sleep."
Duncan let out a disgruntled yell as he just about fell to the floor.
"Why is it I'm the bad guy in my own home?" Duncan asked Tessa the next morning.
"I don't know," Tessa replied tiredly, "Maybe if you weren't always trying to pick a fight with them…"
"I never started it, Tessa."
"No, but Richelle's trying to get a rise out of you, and she knows she can, you always give in to it…maybe that's why they do it, because you make it so easy for them," she suggested.
"So what? I should just give two teenagers the run of the house?" Duncan asked.
"Maybe if you'd stop trying to prove Richelle isn't what she is, she'd leave you alone," Connor suggested as he entered the kitchen dressed almost formally for the day.
"I never say anything around her," Duncan told his cousin.
"And you don't need to tell a dog you're afraid of it, it can smell it and it'll bite you for it," Connor replied, "You know, Duncan, I've been trying to think why you're so hell bent on proving Richelle isn't Richie's sister, and I think I've finally figured it out."
"What's that?" Duncan and Tessa asked.
"It's not so much you think Richelle's not his sister, it's that she has to not be…because if she was, she would be his real family, even though he's 18, that would overweigh you and Tessa being his guardians. Maybe you're worried he'll decide he'd rather be with her than you."
Tessa seemed to get what Connor was saying faster than Duncan did, "You think they would…you mean the two of them running away?"
"Where would they go?" Duncan asked, sounding sure of himself, "They couldn't get far, they don't have much money."
Connor paused for a second before he responded, "Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that Richelle has $5,000 with her, eh?"
"She what?" they both asked.
"Where did she get that much money from?" Tessa asked.
"I gave it to her of course," Connor answered.
"Why in the hell would you do that?" Duncan asked.
"Why not?" Connor replied, "You think I'm going to will it to you when I die? If Richelle decides she's had enough of me and my house and New York, she's got to have money to get somewhere…you mean you wouldn't do the same for Richie?"
"No!" Duncan replied.
"And why not?" Connor wanted to know.
"How do you know she even still has that money?" Duncan asked.
"What's she going to spend it all on?" Connor asked, "She's not stupid, Duncan, contrary to what you might think."
"But Connor, isn't that dangerous her running around with all that money?" Tessa asked.
"It's only dangerous if somebody can tell she has it, did either of you two notice it?" Connor asked.
Tessa and Duncan both shook their heads.
"You see?" Connor said, "She knows what she's doing."
Tessa cleared her throat and elbowed Duncan less than subtly to let both the men know the two teenagers in question were coming.
"What time is it?" Richie tiredly asked as he rubbed one eye with his fist.
"Late enough," Connor told him, then turned to Duncan and said, "Duncan, what time are the church services around here? I'm in the mood to go to church, and I'm going to take the kids with me."
"That's the first good idea I've heard all week," Duncan dryly remarked.
"Which church?" Richelle asked, sounding a bit suspicious.
"Which church?" Connor repeated, "The Catholic church, what did you think?"
"Well you can count me out," she said, "You know what I think about that place and that religion."
"You're going," Connor told her, then looked at Richie, "Both of you."
"It sounds like a good idea," Tessa said, "I think I'll go too, it's been a while since I've gone."
"I could tell," Richelle murmured to Richie, to which he only replied, "Shhh."
"We can go after breakfast," Tessa said, "How about it, Duncan?"
Duncan wouldn't turn around to face any of them, his only answer was that he'd rather spend the morning at home.
"Suit yourself," Connor said, "I can't make you go, these two I can however." He turned to them and added, "After we eat, both of you go and dress respectively."
"What for?" Richelle asked, "God knows what we look like six other days of the week, He ain't damning us for that."
Connor swatted Richelle in the back of the head and remarked, "You're going to do it if I have to dress you myself."
"What do I look like, a cutout doll?" she asked, "Don't answer that."
After breakfast, Tessa cleared the table while Richie and Richelle went back to his room to change.
"Are you sure you won't reconsider, Duncan?" Tessa asked.
"Tessa, if he doesn't want to go, he doesn't want to go," Connor said, "It's very simple."
"I think I'll just lounge around here for a while," Duncan said, "Things have been pretty hectic this week, I think it'll do me some good to just be here alone for a while and think."
"If you insist," Tessa replied.
"He does," Connor added.
"I think the problem is, like Connor said, we're all crammed in here together, that doesn't give any of us much room to breathe," Duncan told Tessa, "I'm sure a couple hours away from Richelle and Richie will help me a lot."
"Okay Tessa," Richie said as they reentered the kitchen, "Here we are."
They saw that Richie was dressed in his one pair of good jeans, a dark T-shirt, and his boots, and Richelle was dressed in regular blue jeans, black boots and a long sleeved white button up shirt.
"That's a big improvement," Tessa said.
Duncan got up right next to Richelle and looked her over, coming to the conclusion, "That's my shirt."
Richelle turned around to look at him and responded, "Well now you know how it should fit."
Connor recognized the look in Duncan's eyes, the look that said 'get her out of here before I kill somebody'; so he made quick work of getting everybody out of the loft and down to the street. Richie and Richelle piled into the back of his car while Tessa sat beside him up front. He pulled away from the curb and they were gone.
A few minutes after they had left, Tessa looked out the window and commented, "This isn't the way to the church."
"I know," Connor answered, "We're taking a little detour."
Tessa turned and looked at him and asked, "To where?"
"You'll see," was his only answer.
After a few more minutes, he stopped the car and, turning around, told Richie and Richelle to get out.
"Why?" Richie asked.
"We're getting out of going to church, what does it matter why?" Richelle asked as she reached for her door.
Connor reached into his pocket and took out some money and gave it to the two of them, telling Richelle they'd meet up after 12.
"Right," she agreed, pocketing her share of the money.
Connor started the car again and he and Tessa drove on down the road, leaving the two teenagers behind.
"What's going on?" Richie asked.
"It's very simple," Richelle told him, "He and Tessa are going to church, and we're free for the rest of the morning, so we can do anything we want." She waved the bills in her hand like a fan, "And Connor's paying for it."
Tessa craned her neck around to look back at Richie and his sister as she asked Connor, "Why did you do that?"
"Richie and Richelle are still young," Connor offered as an answer, "They have plenty of time to worry about their immortal souls…they can afford to take a Sunday off, and since it's so nice today, I can't see any reason why they shouldn't."
She was starting to put it together, "You had no intention of taking them to church with us, did you?"
"None whatsoever," Connor told her, "Why do you think I didn't press Duncan to come with us?"
"But what will they do?" Tessa asked.
"Whatever they want, they have the time and the money for it," Connor said, "We'll go looking for them in a couple of hours…in the meantime, just being out of the house and away from Duncan is doing me plenty of good, and I'm sure it is for you too, you just don't know it yet."
"What I can't understand is why you hate him so much," Tessa said.
"Hate him?" Connor repeated, "How can I hate him? We're from the same clan, he's family."
"Then why aren't you defending him?" Tessa asked.
"Like you are?" Connor replied, "We're both on the same side of this, we both think Duncan's overreacting on this whole thing…and unfortunately he's just that kind of person."
"What kind?" Tessa asked.
"When he feels he's not being backed up, he pushes the people he's closest to away, he can't stand people questioning what he does," Connor explained.
"Now you tell me," Tessa dryly remarked as she rolled her eyes.