Jody exited the car, approached him, and then poked Kyle with her foot. "Huh. Things turned for the better." She then noticed the minor spot of mud on her shoe's tip. "Ew," she complained and then wiped it on Kyle's unconscious body.
"Is he hurt?" Emily asked.
"Nah," said Jody. "People fall unconscious from impacts all the time. Children's cartoons never lie."
Jennifer tried to stop herself from grinning, and failed miserably.
Emily looked to them, "What do we do with him now?" Jody opened her mouth. "That isn't illegal," Emily finished. Jody closed her mouth and began to think it over.
A few minutes later, the three girls had Kyle dragged out of site behind the barn. It wouldn't do to have Ergus or Dinah see him lying there in the open. "See," said Jody, "This is what happens if you drive to a farm. You get stuck having to move turd around. I swear, Jenn. I don't understand how you enjoy this."
"It feels good getting some work that matters in," Jennifer replied, almost without thinking about it. Yet, the response felt right. She looked to Emily, "So what was dire enough for you to force Jody to drive you out here."
"I need the curse, or at least I need you to help me with a problem that came about due to it. That is, unless you need help with... this," she said gesturing to the farm.
Jennifer frowned. "Emily, you were surprised by my behavior this morning and the mention of me working here. Do you remember me not acting like this?"
Jody rolled her eyes again. "Jenn, I've known you longer than Em or even Cassy. You've always acted like this since preschool."
"Actually," said Emily, "She only started doing this this morning. Your memory has been altered Jody. I think everybody's in town has."
With a raised eyebrow, Jody paused and glanced at the two of them. "You're pranking me. Is this related to that T or D Curse?"
"No, prank, darlin'," said Jennifer. "Kyle tried to have me grow udders and dingle a cowbell, but instead he turned me into a real cowgirl... and actually caused this entire farm to pop into existence." She frowned. "I wonder if Ergus and Dinah were created or just had their lives changed."
"You do release what you're saying sounds like bullshit?"
Jennifer nods. "Believe me, I thought the same thing this morning."
Jody nodded. "Okay. Prove it. T or D me."
"Wait," Emily said. "Once someone is victimized by the curse they gain control of it. Also, from what I've heard I don't think it can be instantly passed back. No backsies. I don't know if someone can ever be re-targeted actually. Plus, I kinda need help."
"I can help after," Jody said. "Wait, does this mean Kyle was turned into a dork by somebody, because if somebody did that I need to thank them badly."
"I haven't a foggy clue," said Jennifer. "Emily, what do you need?"
Emily took a moment to pause but then glanced over Jenn's shoulder. "Got your check," Ergus said as he walked up. "Pardon my interruptions, but I find it always best not to wait on matters of the wallet." He handed the check to Jennifer. "Thank you again. Uh, anything I can do to help your friends?"
"Oh, no," said Jennifer. "In fact we were just about to head out. Uh, Jody, I can give Em the ride back."
"Oh no," said Jody. "I'm not missing whatever it is that's going on."
Emily sighed, "Fine, how about we meet up at Jody's place."
Jennifer nodded. "And you can then tell me what happened to your cousin."
Emily smirked. "Actually, it happened to both my cousin and to me... not that I really remember the first parts of it." She waved to Ergus and got back into Jody's car.
Jody leaned towards Jennifer with a smirk. "I don't believe in this, but if you have magic powers and waste it on something minor, you and I are going to have words." She hopped into her car and slowly started pulling out back to the main road.
"Interesting friends," said Ergus. "See you next week?"
"Absolutely, Mr. Dawson," Jennifer replied with a smile. "Have a good night." With that she got in her truck, glanced at the check, and blinked. "Well tan my hide and call me leather," she muttered. It wasn't a bad amount for a few hours work. At this rate she'd be able to maybe get one of those new iPhones coming out later this year. At some point she should probably check her bank account to see if any previous checks bumped her balance up. "Later," she told herself as she pocketed the check and drove off for Jody's house. It was pitch black by the time she got there, and her stomach was grumbling louder than a herd of irate sheep. Hoping Jody had some food available she hopped out of her truck, passed by Jody's car in the driveway, and walked up to the door.
Jody opened the door before Jenn could ring the bell. "Come on in, Magical Cowgirl." Jennifer smirked. She knew she was being poked fun of, but a part of her liked that title. "Emily in the dining room. Parents are out." Jenn's stomach rumbled loudly. Jody smiled. "I can make you something. Can't have you fainting."
"Thank you. I need it."
She nodded as she led her to the dinning room before shouting towards the kitchen, "Mariella! We got three people here needing food. Chop. Chop!" At which point Jody sat down next to Emily. "Okay, spill it. What's going on?"
Emily looked to Jennifer, sighed, and began.
"Before I was born, my father had been 'cursed' by the T-or-D when he was younger. Apparently he got dared into serving this bitch of a woman doing whatever she wanted as revenge for bumping into her car with his bicycle."
Jody nodded. "Understandable."
"His life was miserable until he learned how to manipulate her exact instructions. Obeying the letter of what she said, but not the meaning." She smirked. "Apparently a few times she told him to go make some deposits at the bank, but she never specified the account. He got caught once, and he said he suffered for that one, but he had this grin on his face when he said that."
"Didn't your grandparents notice anything was wrong?" Jennifer asked.
Emily shook her head, "Nope. Somehow she had been able to legally adopt him, my grandparents just outright abandoned him. He said he wasn't sure how, but he suspected she had manipulated some people using whatever her own curse was. He never could figure it out. Anyway, nine-years later, she messed up, badly."
Jody smirked. "What? Did she tell your dad to 'go fuck yourself'?"
Emily bit her lip, "Actually, she was frustrated at one of her own financial deals going sour and muttered 'Please, somebody kill me.'"
Jennifer's eyes widened. "He didn't." Even the sarcastic expression on Jody's face slipped.
"Yes and no," she swallowed. "She didn't specify that he had to. Just that somebody had to. Funny thing. Due to the nature of the dare, his ability to succeed at the orders he was given seemed to be... amplified. He couldn't do anything impossible, but if she ordered him to do something unlikely to work, he made it work. He told me, 'I had to do what she said, not try to do what she said.' At least insofar as in town. The curse appears to stop at the town border for some reason. So, he went and found somebody to hire somebody to hire somebody, and so on, to kill her. He didn't want the assassin to know he was behind it." Her lip twitched. "However that part wasn't covered by the dare.... Anyway, normally those chains make it more likely the job would be discovered and exposed to the police, but... for him it worked. An assassin was hired and broke into the manor and uh... yeah."
Jennifer and Jody remained silent.
"Anyway, the crime was unsolved. Dad inherited everything. Adoption and all. But uh, funny thing, is that she had still given him instructions on things to do every day, and so he kinda still has to do them. He's technically still not free, but he makes due, very much to our advantage too in several cases. Anyway. It was later on he learned more about the T-or-D curse in town, and realized then he still had it. From what he could gather, there's like three or so separate threads of this curse going around town. But continuing. Later on, he married my mother." Jenn noticed that Emily seemed to hesitate for the briefest of moments when she said that. "And with her permission, he transformed her... kinda. He altered her so that the T-or-D curse would never affect her or their children. So... yeah. That's why I didn't not notice your sudden switch into country and western."
"Holy shit," said Jody just as Jennifer said "Tarnation."
Jenn cleared her throat, "What about your cousin?"
Emily paused as food was brought in, sliced turkey, potatoes, and cranberry. "Oooo," said Jody. "Going all out tonight. Thank you, Mare." The maid nodded to her and stepped back out.
"That was mom's doing," she said ashamedly. "My cousin John and I got into a fight when I was little. It was shortly after my dad was able to reattach with his brother with my mom's help. You see, that woman told him he couldn't try to contact them, but nothing stopped mom from... Anyway. I can't remember the exact details of my fight with John. I think he broke my... Barbie Dream Home? Or something. I can't remember."
"Hold up," said Jody. "I know your family. You don't have a cousin John."
Emily frowned, "Yeah. That's the problem."
Jennifer's frown deepened. "What happened?"