|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- QUARREL ORCHARD--CUP 5--"INTRODUCING" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Quarrel Orchard  ||  -------> (Cup SRqo005, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = "Okay, I'm home." Quarrel Orchard said, entering his house. "Hi honey." said Jessica Orchard, his wife, in a matter-of-fact fashion. She was on all fours, cleaning something in a cabinet underneath the kitchen sink, and didn't see Thiffor as she entered behind Quarrel. "What's your name again?" Quarrel asked of his wife. She backed out of the cabinet, blew some hair out of her eyes, and looked up at Quarrel with a confused look. Then she turned her gaze to the beautiful young form of Thiffor. "Huh?" she said. Quarrel stared at her. Eh, all right. She seemed like someone he might marry if he were mortal. Average weight and height, curly brown hair, okay face. Kind of long and leonine, though. Kind of like a hated schoolteacher. "Your name." Quarrel said, not wishing to play the tedious game of pretending he knew her. "What?" she said sharply. "Never mind. Honey, uh, okay--I want you to meet Thiffor." he said. Jessica stood up, took off the ugly rubber gloves she'd been wearing and took a step forward. "Hi." Thiffor said. "H-hi." said Jessica, looking awfully perturbed. "She's my niece." Quarrel said. "Can you believe it? In one day I discover a brother I never knew I had, and a niece I never knew I had." Jessica started to frown as she looked back and forth at the two. She looked like she might be about to cry. Thiffor moved forward and extended her hand. "Glad to meet you." the former tree spirit said, as Jessica limply shook the girl's hand. "What was your name...?" "Jessica." she said, trying half-heartedly to smile. "It's really great of you and Uncle Quarrel to take me in like this. I mean, when I met Quarrel today, I was totally destitute. I had no home, no money--" "What..." Jessica mumbled, looking at Quarrel. "--no clothes." Thiffor continued, a mischievous smile crossing her lips. "Listen Jessica." Quarrel said. "You must bring the entire family in and introduce them to their cousin Thiffor." "Uh, okay..." Jessica said dumbly, as she stiffly turned and left the room. "We were kind of hard on her, weren't we?" Thiffor said. "I don't care. This whole business of getting a free mystery family is totally anathema to me. It's convenient, but I'd rather have just the bank account." "Mmm." Thiffor responded. "So what do you think of the wife?" Quarrel asked. Thiffor smiled. "Delicious." Quarrel rolled his eyes. "Yeah well--be careful how you wield your human sexuality. You can do serious damage to your spirit that way." "So? If I'm gonna die anyway, why not taste everything humanity has to offer." Quarrel thought about it a moment, then turned away. "I don't know." he grumbled. "Do what you want." Just then, the two could hear other voices coming down the hall saying things like "What's wrong?", "Why?", "Come on!", and the like. Soon Quarrel's children were in the kitchen. They stared at him for a moment, then their eyes struck on Thiffor. There were three of them. One boy, two girls. The boy was about 14, awkward, short, curly red hair. One girl looked a little older, and had straight blond hair. Quite attractive. The other was young--6 maybe? With hair similar to her sister's. "Jessica," Quarrel said, "introduce everyone." The kids stared at their father. It looked like they could tell something was different. "Uhh, uhh..." Jessica stammered. "Kids, this is... uh... this is your... cousin... uh... what was it again?" She had put venom in the word "cousin". Thiffor just smiled smugly as she responded. "Thiffor." "Thiffor. Yes. She's a... cousin... we never knew you had. Your father just found her. Somehow." Quarrel smiled. His wife gave him a look of death. She wasn't buying the niece thing, and Quarrel couldn't care less. "Thiffor." Jessica said coldly. "These are your cousins, Tina, Bremmer, and Hi." Tina was the small girl, Bremmer the son, and Hi the older girl. "Glad to meet you all!" Thiffor said, and grinning in her lie, "All these years I knew about you, but I guess you never knew about me." "No." Bremmer said stupidly. "I never heard of it before." Thiffor just kept on smiling. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----