Karen's Twin

  “What are they looking for?” I whispered back.

  “Papers. Emily’s papers.”

  I did not know what David Michael was talking about. I put down my knapsack. Then I peered into the living room. Nannie was there. She was looking through a desk. All the drawers were open. Papers spilled out of them and onto the floor.

  “Go look in the TV room,” David Michael whispered to me.

  I looked. Daddy was in there, going through another desk. Then I found Elizabeth in the kitchen. She had taken every paper out of the desk by the telephone.

  David Michael and I shrugged at each other.

  Grown-ups.

  At dinnertime, the adults were in very bad moods. They snapped at each other. When Elizabeth said, “Is there any more salad?” Nannie replied, “No, there is not. I forgot to make enough for an army.”

  I decided not to ask if Nannie had made dessert.

  That night, Kristy put me to bed. “What is wrong with everyone?” I asked her. “The grown-ups are acting very strange.”

  “There is some problem with Emily’s adoption papers,” Kristy replied.

  “Oh,” I said. I knew that Daddy and Elizabeth had had to fill out lots and lots of forms, and sign lots of papers so they could adopt Emily. Daddy kept calling the papers “red tape.” I did not know why. I had not seen a speck of tape, red or any other color. I also knew that Daddy and Elizabeth had not quite finished with the papers. Emily was not quite finished being adopted yet. But she was going to be soon. And then we were going to have a big party to celebrate Adoption Day.

  “Is it a bad problem?” I asked Kristy.

  “I’m not sure,” she replied. “But do not worry about it, Karen.”

  After Kristy left my room I could not fall asleep. I heard Daddy and Nannie come upstairs. They were talking in quiet, angry voices. Then Nannie went downstairs, and Daddy got on the telephone. Later Elizabeth got on the telephone. She made call after call. Two were to Peter Lambert. He is a lawyer.

  I kept getting up for drinks of water. Then I kept getting up to go to the bathroom. One time I heard Daddy say to Elizabeth, “Ask Peter if we can file late. They did not send us what we need. They did not send us what we need. They did not send us the proper document. That was not our fault. They cannot hold us responsible. That is not fair to us or to Emily.”

  I wondered what would happen if the grown-ups had a big problem with Emily’s papers. Emily would not have to go back to Vietnam, would she?

  I began to feel afraid. And guilty. When I told Emily to get out, I did not mean it. I did not hope it would really happen.

  Karen’s Twin

  On Saturday, Daddy and Elizabeth and Nannie were still making phone calls and looking at papers. But they did not seem so upset. And nobody had packed a suitcase for Emily.

  On Sunday, Andrew and I went back to the little house. I hated to say good-bye to my big-house family, especially Daddy. But I had to. That is the way things are for a two-two.

  On Sunday night, Audrey called me.

  “Hi, Karen,” she said. “How is my twin?”

  I smiled. “I’m fine.”

  “What are you wearing to school tomorrow?” Audrey wanted to know. “Have you decided yet?”

  “Yup,” I replied. I had just laid out my clothes. I knew exactly what I was going to wear. “My jeans skirt,” I told Audrey, “a white turtleneck shirt, a yellow sweater, white tights, and my red shoes. Why?”

  “Oh, I just wondered.”

  The next morning, Nancy and I went to school together. Nancy’s father drove us. When we reached our classroom, Audrey was already there. And this is what she was wearing: a jeans skirt, a white turtleneck shirt, a yellow sweater, white tights, and red shoes. Her outfit was not exactly the same as mine, because her shoes were different and so was her sweater. But it was close.

  “Hey!” exclaimed Nancy when she saw Audrey. “You and Karen are twins! Cool.”

  Audrey pulled me aside. “You forgot to wear your taxi sweater last week after I told you to. So I thought I would find out what you were going to wear. Then I could dress just like you.”

  I was glad that Audrey still wanted to be just like me. It was a nice feeling. Sometimes I want to be just like Kristy. That is because I think she is gigundoly wonderful.

  “Hey, look! The Bobbsey Twins!” said Chris, when he saw Audrey and me.

  “Yeah, twins!” echoed Leslie Morris.

  Audrey just grinned.

  That night, Audrey called me again.

  “What are you wearing tomorrow?” she asked.

  I thought of the clothes I had laid on my chair. “My blue dress and red hair ribbons and the red shoes again,” I said.

  “Which blue dress?” asked Audrey.

  “The striped one with the long sleeves.”

  “Okay. ’Bye, twin!”

  “ ’Bye, Audrey.”

  On Tuesday, Audrey wore a blue striped dress with short sleeves. It was not the same as mine. But it was close.

  “The twins are back,” said Pamela.

  “Yup,” I said. I blew my bangs out of my face.

  “Yup,” said Audrey. She blew at her hair, too. “Being a twin is gigundoly fun, isn’t it, Karen?”

  “Gigundoly,” I agreed.

  “Well, my goodness,” said Ms. Colman as she hurried into our room. “How will I tell everyone apart today?”

  I looked around. I saw Audrey and me in our matching outfits. Then I saw Terri and Tammy. They were wearing matching outfits, too. They never dress the same. I could hardly tell which one was Terri and which one was Tammy. We were having a twin time in Ms. Colman’s room. (I was glad Ms. Colman wouldn’t really have trouble telling Audrey and me apart.)

  Audrey’s Glasses

  On Friday, Audrey said to me, “Karen? Can you come over and play at my house tomorrow? My parents said you can stay for lunch.”

  “I have to ask Mommy,” I replied.(I remembered to add, “Thank you.”)

  Mommy said I could play at Audrey’s. She drove me to her house just before lunchtime. Of course, Audrey had called me the night before. This time she had said, “Wear the outfit with the taxi sweater. Then we can look exactly alike.”

  So I did.

  “Hi! Hi, twin!” cried Audrey when she opened her front door. Audrey was jumping around. “We are going to have a great day! I fixed our lunch myself! I fixed peanut butter and honey sandwiches and apple slices and cookies. Oh, and we rented The Little Mermaid! And we are allowed to eat in front of the TV!”

  “It sounds as if you are going to have a fun afternoon, Karen,” said Mommy. “Seth will pick you up at five, okay?”

  “Okay,” I replied. Then we called goodbye to each other.

  Audrey pulled me inside. She led me into the TV room. A table had been set in front of the TV. (Well, not right in front of it, but near it.) She served us our lunch. Then she switched on The Little Mermaid.

  I had seen that movie five or six times already. I love the story of Ariel. So I was happy to watch it again.

  Audrey and I sat down side by side at the table. I picked up my sandwich. Audrey picked up hers. I crossed my feet. Audrey crossed hers. I nibbled at my crusts. Audrey nibbled at hers. Then I smiled at Audrey and she smiled at me.

  The movie went on. I ate my apple slices. Audrey ate hers. I ate my cookies. Audrey ate hers. Once I tried to trick Audrey. I reached for a cookie, but then I switched and picked up an apple slice instead. Audrey copied me exactly.

  The thing about being a twin that was not fun was being watched. Audrey watched me all the time so she could copy me. She was always looking at me.

  When the movie was over, we cleared away our dishes. Then we sat at the table and colored pictures. Audrey drew whatever I drew. After awhile I wanted to put my hand over my paper so Audrey could not see what I was making. But I thought that might be rude. Besides, Audrey said, “Karen, you make the best pictures. I want to draw just like you.”

  “Thank you,??
? I replied politely.

  Soon I ran out of things to color.

  “I have an idea,” said Audrey. She jumped up. She began to look through a box of dress-up clothes. “Look what I have!” she exclaimed. Audrey held up an old pair of blue glasses. Actually, they were just the frames. They looked a little like my reading glasses. “I thought these were in here,” said Audrey as she put them on. She sounded triumphant. “Now I look even more like you.”

  Audrey pulled me into the bathroom. She was still wearing the fake blue glasses. She studied us in the mirror. “Hmm. Our hair does not look much alike,” she said. (That is true. For one thing, Audrey’s hair is brown.)

  “You know what?” said Audrey. “I need bangs like yours, Karen. Would you give me bangs?”

  “You want me to cut your hair?” I cried. “Oh, no. Sorry.” I have gotten in enough trouble cutting my own hair. I was not going to cut someone else’s. “I cannot do that, Audrey,” I said.

  I was not sure I liked being a twin after all.

  Terri and Tammy

  Audrey did not seem upset when I said I would not cut her hair. We just played dress-ups until Seth came to take me home.

  On Sunday night, Audrey called to find out what I was wearing to school the next day. On Monday we both wore blue jeans and our taxi sweaters. Also, Audrey wore the blue glasses. And she had bangs. Someone had cut her hair.

  Terri and Tammy came to school wearing matching dresses. “My goodness,” said Ms. Colman again when she saw the four of us.

  That morning we worked on our family projects some more. We had been working on them for awhile. Every morning we would divide into two groups. Half of us would go to Mr. Berger’s room, and the rest of us would stay with Ms. Colman. Then half of Mr. Berger’s students would come into our room. I was with the group that stayed in our own classroom. So was Audrey. And so was Nancy. But Hannie went to Mr. Berger’s room. Audrey said she was glad she was in the same group as her twin. She felt sorry for Terri and Tammy. That was because they could not be together. Terri went to Mr. Berger’s room. Tammy stayed in Ms. Colman’s room.

  The kids in Ms. Colman’s room had been working on their family trees. Like I said, I needed two trees — one for a picture of Mommy’s family, one for a picture of Daddy’s family. Daddy’s family tree was enormous. It was gigundo. At first I had gotten confused and didn’t know where to stop drawing. I made boxes for Daddy and Andrew and Emily and me, and wrote our names inside the boxes. Then I made boxes for Elizabeth and her kids. And Nannie. Then I wondered if I should add Elizabeth’s first husband, since he is the father of Kristy and my stepbrothers. That was when I got confused. Ms. Colman told me to stick with Daddy’s part of the family. She said it would be easier. Even so, I erased a lot when I was working on the tree. Finally, I had to start it over again. I was still finishing it that day when Ms. Colman began to talk about animal families. I drew boxes and wrote names and colored leaves on the tree while I listened to Ms. Colman. I wanted both of my trees to be perfect.

  Twin Day

  Audrey still called me every night to find out what I was going to wear to school. And I always told her. I felt funny when Audrey did everything I did — when she copied me and wore fake glasses and cut her bangs — but I was not angry at Audrey. She was always nice to me. Still, sometimes I wanted to play just with Hannie and Nancy. I did not want to play with Audrey every single minute.

  Then one day in school Audrey pulled me and Tammy and Terri aside.

  “Guess what,” she said. “I have decided to have Twin Day, and you are all invited. It will be next Saturday.”

  “What is Twin Day?” asked Tammy.

  “It is just for twins,” Audrey replied. “That is why you and Terri are invited. So are my friends Marilyn and Carolyn Arnold. They are twins who do not go to our school. And of course Karen is coming because she is my twin. Three sets of twins.”

  “Cool,” said Terri and Tammy.

  “Yeah, cool,” I echoed, even though I was not sure. Audrey and I would be the only ones who were not really twins.

  On Twin Day, Mommy picked up Tammy and Terri. She drove the three of us to Audrey’s house. Marilyn and Carolyn had already arrived. (I know the Arnold twins a little bit. Kristy and her friends baby-sit for them pretty often.)

  “Who wants to see Aladdin?” Audrey’s mother asked us. “Today we will go out to lunch, and then go to the movies.”

  “Really?” I cried. Maybe Twin Day would be okay after all.

  When Mommy left, Audrey’s parents helped Audrey, me, Terri, Tammy, Marilyn, and Carolyn into a van. They drove us downtown. First we went to the Rose-bud Cafe. I just love that place. It has good food plus lots of ice cream sodas and sundaes.

  We sat in the back. We took up one long table. All the twins sat next to each other — Terry and Tammy, Marilyn and Carolyn, and Audrey and me in our taxi sweaters.

  “Well, look at this!” exclaimed the waitress when she brought our menus. “Two sets of twins. Imagine that.”

  Audrey gave her the evil eye, but she did not say anything. I knew she was mad, though. And I wanted her to feel better. “It must be our glasses,” I whispered to Audrey. “I have to wear my pink ones, and you only have blue ones.”

  Later, a man at the table next to ours leaned over. He said to Audrey’s parents, “It isn’t every day you see two sets of twins. I thought I had double-double vision!”

  “Hmmphh,” grumped Audrey. “Let’s take off our glasses, Karen.”

  I shook my head. “Nope. I am not allowed to. Besides, I would not be able to see. Sorry.”

  When we went to the movie theater the ticket-taker grinned. “Two pairs of twins!” he exclaimed. “This must be my lucky day!”

  “Hey! What about us?” cried Audrey. She pointed to me, then to herself.

  “Oh, nice sweaters,” said the man.

  “But — but — ” Audrey did not know what to say.

  I pushed her forward. “Come on. Everyone is waiting for us.”

  Mrs. Green bought a bucket of popcorn. Then we found eight seats together. A kid in front of us said, “Look, Dad! Four twins! Cool!”

  Audrey slumped down in her seat. She stayed that way during the whole movie. She could not have seen much. I said, “Audrey, watch the movie. It is very funny.”

  But all she would reply was, “No. Everyone is stupid.”

  The Great Idea

  After Twin Day, Audrey was in a bad mood until Tuesday. She would not talk to anyone. Then she cheered up. She turned into regular old Audrey. Regular Audrey who was nice to everybody. On Tuesday night she called to find out about my outfit. On Wednesday we were twins again.

  Something else happened on Wednesday. We had divided into our two groups. Ms. Colman was standing in front of the classroom.

  “Boys and girls,” she said, “Mr. Berger and I have been talking about our family projects. We have decided that in a couple of weeks, when we finish this unit, our classes will hold Family Day. Each of you may invite one or two members of your family to come to school for a program. We can show off what we have been learning. Also, we will play a game to see who comes to Family Day and try to guess who belongs with whom. That might be harder than it sounds.”

  Ms. Colman was smiling. I thought I knew why. First of all, we did not know the kids in Mr. Berger’s class very well. We did not know who was in whose family. Then I thought about my own family. Would anyone guess that Emily was my sister? I remembered our talk about families. The kids in my class lived with parents, stepparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and foster families. Ms. Colman’s game might be harder than it sounded.

  Who would I bring to Family Day? Easy. Mommy and Daddy. I love when we are together again. And I love spending extra time with Daddy.

  “Now, class,” Ms. Colman was saying, “think about Family Day. What kinds of things would you like to do with your families?”

  “Eat!” cried Edwin. (He is from Mr. Berger’s class.)

  Ms. Col
man smiled. “What can we do to show them what we have been learning these last few weeks?”

  I raised my hand. “Show them our family trees,” I said.

  “Good idea,” replied Ms. Colman. “We will display the family trees.”

  “We could tell them about animal families,” suggested Chris.

  “Another good idea,” said Ms. Colman.

  Edwin raised his hand and tried again.

  “Maybe we could read the stories and poems we are writing about families.”

  “Terrific,” said Ms. Colman. “Now let’s think about who is going to do what. First of all, raise your hand if you have not finished your family tree yet.”

  We talked about Family Day projects for a long time. Finally Mr. Berger’s kids returned to his room, and my classmates came back.

  “Who are you going to invite to Family Day?” I asked Nancy and Hannie.

  “Mommy and Sari,” replied Hannie. (Sari is Hannie’s little sister.)

  Nancy frowned. “I’m not sure,” she said. “I want to invite Mommy and Daddy. But if I do that, then Danny cannot come.” (Danny is Nancy’s new baby brother.) “If I invite — ”

  Nancy was interrupted by Audrey. “ ’Scuse me,” she said. She pulled me away from my friends. “Karen, Karen! I have to ask you something!” she exclaimed.

  “What is it?”

  “Will you be one of my guests at Family Day? After all, you are my twin.”

  “Audrey, I cannot be your guest at Family Day,” I told her. “ I am sorry, but I cannot. Anyway, I will be busy with my mother and father.”

  “Oh,” said Audrey.

  I hoped Audrey understood. Being twins was just a game. She knew that. Didn’t she?

  Hiding

  “Karen,” said Nancy one day. “Hannie and I never see you alone anymore.”

  “Never,” echoed Hannie. “Not at school, anyway. You are always with Audrey.” Hannie was whining. Nancy sounded whiney, too.

  “Well, I cannot help that,” I said. “Everywhere I go, she goes.”