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The wagon dropped me off less than a 5 minute walk from the old homestead, and about 15 minutes from where I was really headed.  Only Cody was there to greet me.  I guess that shouldn't have been a surprise; I imagined Aunt Rhoda would have preferred that I not come home at all.  Somehow she was able to overlook everything that her trouble making stepsons and sons-in-law had ever done and blame all misfortunes on Cody and me.

Of course, she always had a soft spot for the bitches in the family:  my two little sisters, Nell and Sue, were treated like her own daughters.  So it couldn't be that she hated our dad for being a wolf, or us for carrying that forward; maybe she just hated males.  I'd be lying if I said I felt particularly cozy towards her.

Sinkle hadn't changed very much, but I wasn't expecting that.  I imagined jumping off the wagon and telling Cody "You haven't changed at all" but of course, he had.  Even if I hadn't changed, living off in the Carston metro area, he'd changed somehow while staying in this changeless backwater hole.  He was wearing a collar, but it looked like it had been ripped several times in strategic places--how rebellious!! It featured a dumbbull skull tag.  "What's that supposed to mean--you just had dinner?  Saving the horns to chew for later?"  I reached up to touch it.

He flinched, but then after a few uncomfortable seconds, he smiled.  "I missed ya, Eli," he said as he let me flick the little bauble.  He hugged me.  "There was no Ascension Celebration in the big city for you to attend?  Or did you miss all of us?"

"There's the share of the ranch," I said.  "Can't let go of that.  I don't want any of our cousins to get ideas.  I also wouldn't mind seeing Grandpa."

We trotted to the house.  It was the first time I'd gone on all fours in a long time--it was something you just didn't do in the city.  But Cody took one of my bags, wrapped it around his shoulders, and took off; it was normal around here.

Just as we were about to go up the path leading to Aunt Rhoda's house, someone called after us.  "You, Cody Kensho..both of you Kenshos."

A black and tan dog who I thought I recognized came up to us.  Cody slunk around behind me; I wasn't even in town for an hour, and here I was defending my slightly smaller twin.  Old habits died hard, I guess.

"Well I'll be!  Eli Kensho, I thought you had moved to Carston."  He looked past me and nodded.  "Cody."  

"I did," I answered.  He was wearing a badge, but I still couldn't place him.  

He noticed this and laughed.  "Lou Oldfellow...you remember my older brother, I'm sure.  We're kin now, more or less:  I just married Sally less than three seasons ago!"

I assumed he was talking about one of Rhoda's litters.  I felt bad about not even knowing all of their names.  Cody came to my rescue.  "Sally's one of uncle Kay's kids.  You know, the whitefaced one?"  He yipped and dropped into his slightly clownish omega routine.  "You two haven't been busy making even MORE kin, have you?"

We ignored his question.  "Ah yes," I said to Lou.  I was still slightly off of the trail.  I felt worse now, since Kay was from my father's side of the family.  "Well!  Then you're not on the way to our Aunt's house, then."

"I might stop by later," he said.  He looked Cody over, and I felt my hackles rise slightly.  Cody was visibly shrinking away from Law Dog Lou.  There was certainly a story there.

"Cody, I know you used to run with that Jesse and her pack of delinquents.  I just have to know:  did you and your friends take the jerky cart from the fetch courts?  It's been found, but all the meat's been eaten from it."  Lou looked embarrassed.  "I have to ask in an official way later, Cody.  But this is unofficial, off the record, while there's still time to fix it.  Did you have anything to do with it?"

My brother's body language was hard to read, which astonished me--could he really hide things from me?  Just when I was going to ask "Well, did you?" he shook his head and said "I don't know anything about it."  I could tell this was a lie, but I believed he wasn't there.  But he knew something.

I don't think Lou believed him.  As I said, I belived Cody knew something, but I'm his litter-mate.  It didn't look like he wanted to give up the trail but after having introduced himself as kin, he couldn't get more aggressive with Cody now.  He certainly wouldn't do it while I was there: I was more than half a head taller than him, and there were two of us.  Having some wolf in us didn't hurt either.

"Well, I didn't think you really did," Lou finally said.  He backed off from us and grinned.  "I just had to ask.  Part of an investigation.  Whoever did it not only ate all the jerky, they tore the hell out of the fetch course; total damages were more than six femur, total."

My ears perked up involuntarily.  "SIX?  What'd they do, drive the cart back and forth twenty times?"  Back in the old days, one femur was more than great grandpa Cauchy paid a ranch hand for two week's work.

"I figured either anise or some other herbs were in play," Lou said.  He eyed Cody again.  Something else I'd have to ask about later.

"We'll keep our noses to the ground," Cody said.  "The family might have come across something, you never know."

"I'll be seeing you later, cousins."  Lou trotted off.  Going on all fours was certainly faster; and out here, with everyone spread out so far and a lot of ground to cover, anyone with even a dumbbull's amount of sense would forgo dignity in favor of practicality.  My city sensibilities were slipping away like a winter coat in the spring.

However...I'd given myself a blister, being unused to shifting my hands all the way back to paws.  There'd be plenty of time to practice that while I was here.  I licked the spot while I walked upright the rest of the way to the den.

Cody did the same.  "That's a mystery that I don't think poor Lou will be solving soon," he said with his tongue hanging out a little.

"You did it after all?  Sly."  I punched his shoulder and made as if to nip him.  "Still have any of the jerky?"

"No, it wasn't me...I'm sure you'll hear all about it.  It was Sue's new husband, our brother-in-law.  He's been bragging about doing it with some of his friends ever since that night they did it.  He claims they returned the cart and paid up for what they ate, but I don't remember them mentioning that much damage to the fetch course."  He panted, looking happy.  "Don't say anything about Lou," he said.  "That's a bone we can bury and really, REALLY enjoy when it's dug up again."