Billy Cobb
June 17, 2022 5:23 PM
Nothing ventured, nothing gained...
by Billy Cobb
Co-written With: Iris Cobb
"And just where have you been?"
Billy rolled his eyes as he turned around to face his sister. He'd almost made it back inside again without anyone noticing. A quick glance around revealed that she was the only one around. He gave her an easy grin. "I was out checking the traps, like I'm supposed to do." Was his way to casual response as he shook the bundle of rabbits and squirrels that he was carrying.
Iris just glared at him for a few moments. "You've been gone for hours longer'n you shoulda been." Dangit, they'd only been back a week now and she was already starting to relax her enunciation again. She had to back here, everyone looked at her funny when she talked proper, but she didn't want to do it if she didn't have to, and she certainly didn't have to around her stupid brother. "You also have far less to show for the time you spent out there than normal." She added, making sure to make each word come out properly.
Her eyes narrowed and she moved in a step closer, "You went back over there again, didn't you?" It was a whispered accusation and she could tell by Billy's reaction that she'd struck home.
Billy waved her off with a casual dismissal, "Nah, that'd be awful silly of me ta go over there all by myself. Plus," he paused and looked around again, "It's not allowed." He grinned and winked at her before turning to go back to the house. "The traps were just a bit emptier than usual. Might be somethin' 'round here gettin' to 'em." He knew Iris was trying to keep her words all proper and such, so he did the opposite as hard as he could just to annoy her. It worked to.
Iris stamped her foot in frustration, set her jaw, marched up to Billy's retreating form, grabbed his arm and dragged him off to a more secluded area. She was sure her brother could have fought her if he wanted to, but he came along with her with just some token efforts at resistance. "How could you go over there again by yourself with that killer bear just roaming around?! You could have been killed! We got lucky last time!"
"There ain't no bear," Billy stated simply. Iris just glared in disbelief. "Alright, yeah I wandered over that way, it was the first chance I got since last year. I was careful and sneaky, didn't see any sign of that bear at all." He shrugged, "No tracks, no droppings, nothing. Maybe it died over the winter."
"So.." Iris started cautiously, "You saw the house again? Did you..." she hesitated again, "Go inside?" Oh she wanted to know, but at the same time the whole thing was ridiculous.
Billy just shook his head. "I saw it again, looked 'xactly the same as it did last time. But it was gettin' to late to do anything more. I figured if we wanna do that, we should get some stuff prepped and try 'n come up with some sorta reason we'd both be gone for a while so no one gets suspicious." Thanks to some talks he'd already gotten this week, Billy knew things around here were still a bit 'uneasy' as Pa put it. They weren't supposed to do nothing to make things worse.
"We?" Iris had caught an interesting word in Billy's speech.
Billy cocked an eyebrow at her questioningly, "Sure, you wanna go back over there, don't cha?"
Iris processed the thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. "We'll need lanterns, and some food... and a really good story."
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Billy Cobb
Nothing ventured, nothing gained...
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Iris Cobb
Iris Cobb
June 19, 2022 5:31 PM
..nothing lost either
by Iris Cobb
Co-written With: Billy Cobb
Iris halted as the old wooden boards creaked and groaned under her feet. It sure sounded to her like they were on the verge of breaking and she really didn't much relish the though of plummeting through the old porch and into whatever lie beneath. "Are you sure this is safe?" She asked very quietly. She and Billy had made their way through the forest and found the old stone wall again that surrounded the old house they had found last summer. Thankfully, just as Billy had said, there had been no sign of the bear. She wondered a bit what had happened to it, or maybe where it was. Once they'd reached the wall, she'd been expecting it to be waiting for them on the other side, but it hadn't been.
Now she found herself inching across the old creaking porch towards the front door. Billy was already at the door, impatiently waiting for her. He rolled his eyes at her question, "I made it across and I'm bigger than you. Stop being such a worrywart. Come on!" She took another careful step and froze again as he called out, "Hey! Lookit!" The porch seemed to sway horribly as Billy took a few steps from the door to pick up some fallen bits of wood. Her stomach churned as the porch moved. Why had she agreed to this? This was just ridiculous. Still, it was just a few more steps, then, hopefully, slightly more stable footing.
To distract herself while she braved those steps, she watched Billy grin at his find and try to piece together the remains of the sign over the door. "Ha!" he cheered "It is our place!" As she finally stepped up next to him, Iris could now see that the 'C' and 'B' of the old sign, now had an 'OB' stuck between them thanks to her brother. Could that be possible? No wait, this was Billy.
She smacked his arm, "Not quite genius." she said and pointed out the ragged edge next to the second 'B'. "There was more there as well you missed." With a quick glance around, she spotted what looked like more of the sign. Without hesitating she scooped it up, "SON" she read from it. "Cobbson?" she asked her brother.
Billy shrugged, "Eh, to long. Someone just shortened it along the way probably. Come on , let's see what's inside!" He let the bit of sign drop that he'd been holding and moved to the front door. As if he actually thought it would open. Iris was sure it would be locked.
The moment he touched the knob, a stern voice spoke out, "Who calls? The master is not to be disturbed!" Both kids looked around for the source of the voice, but saw nothing. "Identify yourself!" the voice repeated.
This time Iris had found the source. A small, metal gargoyle ornament attached to the door had moved it's mouth and spoken. Very uncharacteristically of her, Iris responded without thinking, "Bil... William and Iris Cobb." She thought using Billy's proper name would be best, plus it would annoy him.
"Of the Kentucky Cobbs!" Billy spoke right after her, finally seeing what she was talking to. Iris did her very best not to hit her brother. He was now leaning in close, inspecting the metal ornament. The gargoyle's eyes blazed with light, and Billy froze, his own eyes locked with the gargoyle's. Iris didn't like it one bit, never in her life had she ever seen Billy so motionless. He was always moving as if he couldn't contain himself. Now, she could barely make out his breathing. It only lasted a moment, but it was one that felt like an eternity to Iris. The light from the gargoyle faded and Billy took a half-stumbling step back.
"You may enter." Was all the gargoyle said as the door swung open.
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Iris Cobb
..nothing lost either
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Billy Cobb