The One That Came Back

1.4. Visitors

Jessica

I look away from the mirror after I'm done combing my damp hair. I've got the natural curls again, and I wear them longer now too. The tips fall leveled with my chest. I'm still bent on cutting it before the new school year starts. But maybe I would. New year, new look. I bet my students will have something to say about it if they see me with a new 'do.

I hear a car honking outside the house.

It's nine a.m. Right on time.

I decide I'm dressed decently enough in my denim shorts and peach t-shirt. I leave my room and head for the front door, then the white gate.

My brother steps out of the black CR-V that he bought when they got back to the country two years ago. If I didn't know of such details, I'd mistaken it to still be brand new.

He opens the passenger door and helps his wife, Kim. Then to the backseat to unbuckle their kid from the child seat.

Kim waves at me with a huge smile on her face.

I open the gate wider and approach the rear of their car.

"Rough night?" she asks.

"Something like that," I shrug. My eyes still look tired, even after a cup of brewed coffee.

My sister-in-law only changed a little since she began to officially date my brother seven years ago. They got married, lived in Singapore for three years, came back to this country, had a baby, and she looks the same. She still wears her hair shoulder-length, with layers, and bangs. Her glasses are almost identical to her previous pair, angular and with black plastic rims. She also hasn't updated her wardrobe. T-shirt, skinny jeans, sneakers.

My brother is practically the same one that I like to call a baboon. He's wearing a new Foo Fighters t-shirt. Some things never want to change.

They come here to my house from time to time, whenever they visit Kim's parents who live near the heart of town. Sometimes, they stay here too. And if they can, Therese brings Mikey along, so the kids can play. But this weekend, Benjie's family is only dropping by.

"Oh. I have a dog inside now," I tell them as Benjie hands their son over to Kim.

Theo looks like he just woke up.

He's a carbon copy of my brother. A little version of Benjamin, but with chubbier cheeks and no facial moles.

"A dog?" Kim says with delight in her eyes and a smile on her lips.

"Well, puppy, but yes, a dog. Don't worry," I say to my brother, who's giving me a look of worry, "I got him checked and vaccinated and all that. And he's on a leash in the garage."

I still haven't figured out all things Muttley related, so I have no clue how he'll behave with my would-be-two-year-old nephew around in the house.

I lead them inside. Benjie stays behind to check out something in the garage, probably Silvester.

I lift Theo, and he's heavier than I expect. "Hey, buddy. Wow, you've grown. How have you been?"

"The King of Rohan is doing fine," Kim answers.

Of course, his dorky parents named him after a Lord of the Rings character.