DEVIN DROPS IN

by JoAnn Baca

Author’s Note: A discussion on BBTV, the Google-based Classic Mailing List, sparked the idea for this story, and it was posted there. It was posted in the 2023 conzine for fans who are not members of BBTV.

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“What’s this?” Vincent stared at the small laminated card that Devin had just handed to him.

“What…no ‘Happy to see you, brother’ or ‘It’s been a long time, Dev’? Just ‘What’s this?’? I guess the bloom is off the rose of my reappearance in your life, Fuzzball!” Devin smiled and patted his taller, younger, and more handsome brother on one heavily muscled shoulder.

Vincent’s eyes narrowed. “I am, of course, happy to see you again, dear brother of my heart. But…I repeat in more precise terms: exactly why have you brought me what looks like a legal driver’s license which cannot possibly be legal?”

Devin dropped into the large throne-like chair beside Vincent’s writing table. He shrugged as his hands sketched wide circles in the air. “Oh, you know…working my shift upstate in the DMV’s license issuance office, I just happened to find it.”

“You…found…a license I did not apply for…could not have applied for, having never been behind the wheel of a vehicle, let alone had my photograph taken…which, by the way, I’d be interested to know how you got.” Vincent tossed the license onto the table, then stood with arms crossed and brow furrowed, waiting for whatever improbable and highly suspect response his brother would offer.

Devin just looked up at him with a big grin on his face.

Trying again to prompt an explanation, Vincent said, “You have me living in an apartment in Manhattan.”

Devin nodded. “Chandler’s place. Seemed the logical thing.”

Leaving the question of that logic alone for the moment, Vincent asked, “A birth certificate backs this up?”

That shrug made another appearance. “I know a guy…owed me a favor…so, yes. I’m going to have to bring it down for you sometime, to add to your pile of important papers to grab in case of a flood Below, you know, along with that license.”

“So, it really is completely legal – paperwork-wise, that is?”

Devin nodded again. “Yep. Backed up by a perfectly legitimate set of documents in the system, an eye test, a driving test taken in Chandler’s vehicle…it’s all as kosher as the next guy’s.” He stood then and grabbed his brother by those massive shoulders, squeezing a little as he added, “Whatever I had to do, I did it, and that there is one legal license, perfect for when you are eventually caught by the cops in this burg, to prove you are a legal resident and, you know, a legal person.”

Vincent’s eyes widened as the implications of Devin’s actions settled in. His big brother, looking out for him. How could he complain? After all…he was a fraud…but a good fraud, in all its definitions.