] 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. National Story - canada.com network |