Laura and Robbie arrived at Nell's mid-morning. Nell was truly excited to see them. These two people had been a very important factor in James' life. She heard the Laura and Robbie stories for a few years until she met them in person. They were exactly as James had described them, which made them two amazingly wonderful people, with very interesting personalities.
Nell gave Laura and Robbie the full tour of the house, and showed them the sketches that she'd made about how she hoped to modify the house to convert it into a bed and breakfast. Her plans looked good to Laura and Robbie. Yes, they were ambitious, but she seemed to be methodical about sketching and outlining her plans.
James arrived at Nell's house about an hour after Laura and Robbie did. He knew the house, and did not need the detailed tour that he knew Nell was inflicting upon Laura and Robbie. Yet, when he got to Nell's, he did not have to resuscitate Laura or Robbie from boredom. They seemed to actually be enjoying themselves.
Nell had prepared some refreshments for her guests. It was a sample menu of what she thought would be interesting to serve the guests at her bed and breakfast. Laura and Robbie enjoyed, and even James had to admit, it was good. While Laura and Robbie continued to discuss the house and its history and possible future with Nell, James excused himself and went upstairs for a few minutes. By the time he came back downstairs, he found Laura, Robbie and his sister bonding like good friends. It surprised him, he did not think of Nell as the life of the party.
Nell went upstairs to get some old photos of the house to show Laura and Robbie, while Laura and Robbie started to wash and dry the dishes that Nell had served the refreshments on. James was sitting in the kitchen, answering questions about the house for Laura and Robbie. Yet, James seemed to be expecting something to happen.
Suddenly a blood thirsty scream cut through their conversation. Laura and Robbie immediately stopped their dishwashing duties and ran in search of the source of the scream. James finished what he was having in the kitchen and then followed the path that Robbie and Laura had taken to find the scream. James took his leisurely time.
Robbie and Laura stopped at the base of an ornate Victorian staircase and looked up just in time to see a skeleton come hurling in their direction. Robbie was hit in the head by the skeleton's skull. They were both caught in a shower of various bones from the skeleton. Robbie and Laura were not scared by a mere skeleton they'd seen plenty of them in their daily jobs over the years. Usually, skeletons waited until they found them, they rarely came to them flying through the air.
Laura's first observation to Robbie was that the skeleton was plastic. Good, no forensic analysis needed. But Laura did think it might be amusing to leave a few of the plastic bones in the lab to see how fast the techs would figure out that they were not human. She then realized that was an appalling sophomoric prank from undergraduate years, and decided it still sounded like a fun idea.
Laura realized that Robbie had gotten hit on the head by a skull, and took a look t him. Robbie seemed fine. So she did not fuss over him, he didn't like that.
Nell was crouched on the floor above them, looking down upon Robbie and Laura while James came into the area beneath the staircase. "You horrible man. How could you?" Nell cried out between deep sobs, while she looked through the rungs of the banister from the landing above. Laura and Robbie were concerned for Nell, but James was laughing loudly and seemed completely unconcerned for his sister.
Robbie started up the staircase and Laura slowly ascended the staircase a few steps behind him. They wanted to speak with Nell and help her in whatever manner they could.
Robbie got to the top of the staircase first and extended a helping hand to Nell to assist her in standing up. Laura stopped by Robbie's side and looked over Nell from a medical point of view. Physically, she seemed fine, but Nell had been crying hard. "He did it. That brother of mine, he did it." Nell informed Laura and Robbie as she pointed down to the floor below, looking down upon her brother and the scattered pieces of the skeleton.
Robbie asked Nell "What did James do?"
"He hung the skeleton in the linen closet in my bathroom. He's an evil prankster. He needs to be in the church, to pray for his sins. And he needs to be in the police force, to understand that his mean pranks should be a crime. " Nell replied. Nell was responding to Robbie's question but looking down at James who's face had turned red from laughing so hard. James felt that his sister was over reacting, but then again that's why he found it so much fun to pull jokes on Nell.