We're Related

The fall of 2009 was quite an interesting year for Lesko Diamond. He found out that he is distantly related to not just one but TWO fellow band-mates! This is the story of how he found out about the first one!

It was almost a typical day. It was still the first week of school so no routine had totally solidified yet but even still there were people already gathering in the lounge upstairs, talking as usual and getting acquainted with the newcomers. This day Lesko and his wife were up there, along with several more such as Eagle, Kirby, as well as several new people. One particular man, a clarinet player judging by his instrument case, was up there waiting to speak to the professor, talking to Avicile Mohaili.

Lesko noticed him right away, along with everyone else, because of his extremely thick Vetonian accent. However, the reason it really stood out to Lesko was because his entire paternal family was from southeastern Vetonia and he recognized a familiar quality to it. This young man was of medium height, about 5'10'', and had short, buzzed brown hair. His face had a sweet quality to it and he had a soft smile. Lesko could tell immediately that he was very obviously Vetonian- meaning that he had a lot of the Catin race in his blood but was of lighter color in contrast to the tan skin and black hair of the Catins. He had a very Catin shape to his face and body and his eyes, though not as much as Lesko's, were indeed slightly almond shaped.

Being the social person that Lesko is, and having an immense knowledge of Vetonia, walked up to him smiling, saying, "I recognize your accent. You must be from... eastern Vetonia? ;)" The young man, surprised by his knowledge, replied, "Why yes I am! How did you know?" Lesko answered, "My entire family is originally from Vetonia, both east and west." The next predictable thing that Lesko asked was "What's your name?"

"Franklin Sorela," the young man answered, although with his strong east Vetonian drawl it came out as "Sur-REEEYEL-a." Lesko took this opportunity to confirm his suspicion of Franklin being Vetonian by smiling and joking, "Well, you don't look very Catin to me!" What came out of his mouth next would absolutely shock not only Lesko but also Avicile who was standing next to him. "Yeah," Franklin replied with a smile, "that's because I look like the Diamond side of the family."

"Whoa whoa whoa hold on!!!!" exclaimed Lesko. "Did you say DIAMOND side of the family?? Where are you from?!" Franklin looked quite puzzled by his reaction and said, "Yes my mom is a Diamond and I'm from Jennifer." With this Lesko began to get visibly excited. "My name... is Lesko Diamond!" he said, almost breathless. "Do you know Guy Diamond?" Franklin's eyes got wide and he replied, "Well yes! He's my mom's cousin and I worked on his ranch before I came here."

With that, Lesko let out the male version of a squeal of shock and loudly shouted, "Guy is my uncle!!! Holy cow, we're RELATED!!!!" Suddenly he realized that Franklin actually looked quite a bit like him. They had many of the same sort of features. Franklin was now extremely intrigued and asked what city he was from. "Oh actually I'm from Tarra," Lesko replied, "but my parents are from Electric Beach and didn't move there until my mom was pregnant with me and my brother. Most of my uncles still live in Vetonia though so I go there a lot and my dad held onto that east Vetonian accent." Franklin laughed and said, "Well it's totally obvious that we're related. You look just like your uncle! Wait a minute... Are you that family related to Katrina Res of Electric Beach??!" Lesko was not surprised that this would come up, as it was a pretty famous running story in that half of the state. "Sure am!" he replied with a smile. "We're the ones who left and moved to Tarra! That's totally us!"

They embraced and quickly realized that although they were not cousins they shared the same great grandparents and that Franklin's mom and Lesko's dad were cousins. To further comfirm this Lesko called his dad at work and asked if he knew someone by his mom's name. He enthusiastically replied yes and they all marveled at how two young men from Vetonia, one really from Tarra, could both end up in the same department in a completely separate state. They still have a great bond and have seen each other a few times at Diamond outings.