CHAPER THREE
 

Hearing keys in the door, Rollie came out of his reverie.  Looking up he saw his assistant, Joshua come in. Laughter followed him close by; Rollie smiled inward.  It was a sad smile; he remembered laughing like that when he was younger. Joshua was laughing with his cousin, Kieran. Just by looking at them you could tell that they were cousins; in fact, all three looked very much like the cousins that they were.
 

"We’re back!" Josh sing sang as he sailed thru the door.
 

Kieran just kept on laughing as he followed Josh in.  Seeing their older cousin, he stopped.  "Hey!  How is it going? Are you any better?" which was a pointed question about Rollie’s mental state. Rollie threw a glare in Kieran’s direction that would have withered Kieran a couple months ago but now just made him chuckle.
 

"Dear cousin, haven’t you been taught to mind your manners?  Because if not, I am *more* than willing to do so" Rollie said in a mocking tone.
 

"OK, OK, that is enough.  Rollie you said that we have a lot of work to do. Did you go over the schematic of the new model?" Joshua asked trying to keep the other two from arguing.
 

"Um…no, I didn’t have the time.  I’ll go over it in a few minutes with you. OK?" was all that Rollie could offer. "And don’t give me a lecture you two, OK?  I am not in the mood for it" sighing heavily he pulled out the layouts that the younger Tylers retrieved from the copier office.
 

"Rollie, we know that we really don’t know you all that well but we ARE family and if you are in trouble, we would like to help you" Josh told him.
 

"I know and I do appreciate it, really.  This is something that I need to work thru myself.  And I promise if I want to talk to someone, I’ll let you know." Rollie promised his younger cousins.
 

"OK, as long as Uncle Dingo doesn’t have to be here.  No offense, Rollie" Kieran quickly  added

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Rollie chuckled to himself but did say out loud, "Look, I don’t mind you two living here and God knows I need the help with the work but please stop calling him ‘Uncle’; it makes me all weird to hear that. Sometimes, I think he lives in a totally different world.  Something like a parallel universe" he sighed as he looked over the layouts.
 

"Rollie, can I ask you a question?" Kieran asked.
 

"Um…sure, as long as it doesn’t deal with….the accident".
 

"No, not that.  I’ve been curious; I mean how come your dad brought us here to stay with you but before now we didn’t know about you.  Why is that?"
 

"I really don’t know; I gave up trying to figure him a very long time ago.  I was just a little bit younger than you two when I stopped.  Probably the same reason why half the family thought I was living here in the States with him, he told us what he wanted us to hear.  Dingo thinks only the way Dingo can.  I still can’t believe the way he did it either; shows up with the two of you after Ange….after the accident, knowing I was miserable.  Then he says he has an errand to run and he will be back soon…."
 

"And that was 5 months ago" finished Kieran

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"I’m sure he didn’t mean to just up and leave.  I’m sure he’ll be back " Joshua defended his uncle

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"Joshua, you don’t have to defend him; Dingo can usually take of himself. So, if you think you have to because he is your uncle, fine…but you really don’t need to." Rollie told his cousin.  "Kieran, since you are sitting around doing nothing, get the mail off of my desk and see if anything interesting is in it."
 

"Rol, when was the last time you sorted thru this!!  It looks like it’s been weeks!!" Kieran exclaimed.
 

"Yeah, well, I’ve been a little bit preoccupied. I’ve been meaning to tackle them and now is as good a time as any. That’s why I hired you.  You said that I don’t give you enough responsibilities.  Here’s your chance to prove how good you really are, little cousin." Rollie said with a smile.
 

Kieran walked over to his cousins at the workstation and dumped the mail right in the middle of the layouts that they were going over.
 

"Nice, Kieran!! Really nice!!  We’re working here!!!" Joshua shouted.
 

"Oh, relax.  I couldn’t hold them any longer.  Rol, I really think you should consider doing your mail more than once a quarter." Kieran joked.  Rollie just ignored him and continued working; he just moved the mail away from the spot that he was concentrating on at that moment.
 

"Hey, Rollie.  He’s right.  There is some stuff here since before we came.  I really think you should see them."
 

"Josh, I will get to them in a minute.  If they have waited that long, a few more minutes won’t do any harm, hmm?"
 

"Rollie, when was the last time you really looked at this pile??  I mean really looked.  Because I don’t think..."
 

"Why??  Josh, just tell me what is there."
 

" A letter from…"
 

"Josh, people usually get letters in the mail.  That’s what the mail *is*."
 

"Rol, you didn’t let him finish.  It’s a letter from *her*…I think " Kieran explained.
 

Rollie walked over to his cousins and as he read the envelope, he paled. "It’s Angie’s handwriting, all right".