] VERNON -- Two half-starved brothers who emerged from the
] bush two weeks ago are telling an astonishing tale of
] growing up in complete isolation in the remote backwoods
] of B.C.'s Interior.
]
] Initially, the story of Tom and Will Green seemed like
] Swiss Family Robinson fiction.
]
] But now a wide-ranging group, including a young mom, a
] lawyer, a counsellor, Salvation Army staff and the local
] Member of Parliament have come to believe it just might
] be true.
]
] "They are not like other street kids," says Carol Anne,
] who once ran a group home for runaways and now works as a
] receptionist for Okanagan/Shuswap MP Darrel Stinson.
] "They don't have that what's-it-to-you, in-your-face
] demeanour."
]
] The kind-hearted group of residents has put the brothers
] up in a hotel and given them food. They are also fiercely
] protecting the privacy of Tom, 22, and Will, 16. None
] would arrange an interview, for fear of spooking the boys
] back into the bush.
]
] Born in the wilderness, the brothers claim they were
] raised in complete isolation by their mom and dad, who
] call themselves Mary and Joseph Green. They believe they
] were born in Canada, but that their parents are American.

Will says he was ordered to leave home this summer when he became a vegetarian and his mother declared him an "alien influence" in the home, says Rhelda Evans, a case worker for Stinson.