Karen's Twin

  This was true. I had a shadow, and the shadow was named Audrey. I did not have any privacy. Once I stayed in the girls’ room for fifteen whole minutes — just because Audrey was not there. I needed to be away from her for a little while. Another day, I kept hiding from her on the playground. Whenever I saw Audrey, I ran someplace else.

  “Hannie,” I said, “Nancy — ”

  “Hi, twin!” called Audrey.

  “Hi!” I called back. Then I turned to my friends. “Meet me behind the big tree at recess today,” I whispered. “We will try to hide from Audrey.”

  * * *

  As soon as I finished my lunch that day, I ran to the playground.

  Audrey was still inside, eating. I did not tell her where I was going. When I reached the tree, Nancy and Hannie were there.

  “Hi, you guys!” I said. “We are alone at last.”

  “Not for long,” said Hannie glumly. “I bet Audrey will be here any minute.”

  “You know what? We have not played together after school lately,” I said. “Not just the three of us.”

  “That is because you have been too busy with Audrey,” said Nancy.

  “Well, let’s play together today,” I went on. “Can you come over to the little house this afternoon?”

  Hannie and Nancy smiled. “Yes,” they replied.

  And just in time. The next thing I knew, Audrey was at my side.

  * * *

  That afternoon, the Three Musketeers sat in a row on my bed.

  “I have a big problem,” I announced. “Audrey is a gigundo pest. I have to do something. Will you guys help me?”

  “Sure,” said Hannie.

  “Now let me see,” said Nancy. “What could you do so Audrey will not want you to be her twin anymore?”

  We sat and talked. By the time my friends went home, I was ready to put a plan into action. I would put it into action the next day.

  Twin Trouble

  This was my plan for twin trouble. It had been Nancy’s idea mostly. “If Audrey wants to be your twin,” she had said, “you should do everything together. Everything,” she added.

  “But we already do!” I wailed.

  Hannie had grinned at me. “Not everything,” she said.

  “Oh,” spoke up Nancy. “You mean everything.”

  * * *

  The next morning, I reached school before Audrey did. I sat patiently at my desk, my hands folded.

  When Audrey arrived she ran straight to me.

  “Hi, Karen!” she cried. “Guess what my dad told me.”

  “Hi, Karen!” I said. “Guess what my dad told me.” I started talking just a couple of seconds after Audrey did. I repeated what she said while she was still finishing her sentence. Sam taught me that trick. It sounds hard to do, but it is not. It is easy. And it is very annoying. The last time I did it to David Michael he called me Princess Pest. Then he did not talk for three hours. To anybody.

  But Audrey just stared at me. Her mouth dropped open. “How did you do that?” she asked. “That is amazing.”

  I started talking before Audrey was finished. “How did you do that?” I said. “That is amazing.”

  “Come on, Karen. Answer me.”

  “Come on, Karen. Answer me,” I said.

  “What is the matter with you? What are you doing?”

  “What is the matter with you? What are you doing?”

  Ms. Colman came into the room then, and everybody dashed for their seats. I think Audrey was glad to get away from me. But at lunchtime she sat next to me as usual.

  I peeked into her bag, to see what she had brought for lunch.

  “You know, Audrey,” I said, “if we are going to be real twins, we should eat the same things for lunch. So we should divide everything we brought and each eat half of it.”

  Audrey looked at my sandwich. She wrinkled her nose. “But you have tuna fish,” she said. “I do not want tuna.”

  Just in time I remembered to say, “But you have tuna fish. I do not want tuna.” I wrinkled my nose. Then I handed Audrey half of the sandwich anyway.

  “No, really. I mean it. I do not want tuna.”

  “No, really. I mean it. I do not want tuna.”

  “Karen!”

  “Karen!

  I gave Audrey half of my raisins and half of my orange, too. Then I pretended to think about something very hard. Finally I said, “Audrey, you know what? We did not get the same grade on our math quizzes. You got a ninety-five and I got an eighty-two. I think we should ask Ms. Colman to change your grade. You should have an eighty-two like me. Then we can be the same.”

  “No! That is not fair!” exclaimed Audrey.

  “No! That is not fair!”

  “Karen, stop!”

  “Karen, stop!”

  I did not stop. By the end of the day, Audrey looked very confused.

  The Trouble With Emily

  On Friday, Mommy drove Andrew and me to Daddy’s house. It was another big-house weekend. At last.

  “Kristy,” I said to my big sister after dinner. “When are we going to have Adoption Day? When will we have the party for Emily?”

  Kristy frowned. “I am not sure,” she replied. “My mom and your dad are still having trouble with those papers. They are waiting for something important to come in the mail.”

  “Oh,” I said. I was worried about Emily. Plus, I was feeling impatient. I wanted to start planning that party.

  At bedtime I had to look for Elizabeth. Usually she comes to my room to tuck me in. But not that night. I think she had forgotten about me. Elizabeth was on the phone. She looked cross. She was saying, “But it isn’t here, Peter. They sent the wrong form…. What? Tomorrow? Are you sure? … All right. The mail usually arrives after lunch.”

  Elizabeth saw me then. She held out her arm toward me. She kissed me good night, but she did not get off the phone.

  * * *

  On Saturday, Emily wanted to play dress-ups. We pulled the clothes out of the trunk in the playroom.

  “What do you want to be, Emily?” I asked. “How about a cowgirl? Or a Lovely Lady? Or Batman?”

  “Pea-cess,” replied Emily. That meant “princess.”

  I helped Emily put on a gown and a crown. Then we found a magic wand for her. I led her downstairs.

  “Elizabeth!” I called.

  Elizabeth was standing by the front door. She looked cross again. “Where is it? Where is it?” she kept saying.

  “Where is what?” I asked her.

  “Oh, the mail,” she replied.

  “I pea-cess!” announced Emily.

  Elizabeth did not even hear her. She exclaimed, “There it is!” She ran outside and across the lawn. She met the mail carrier just as he pulled his truck up to our box. I watched Mr. Venta hand her a stack of letters. Then Elizabeth ran back to the house. She shuffled through the envelopes. She ripped one open. Then she cried, “I don’t believe it! They sent the wrong form again!”

  Elizabeth flew to the phone in the kitchen. I stood in the hallway and tried to listen to her end of the conversation. But that was hard. Emily kept jumping around, shouting, “I pea-cess! I pea-cess!”

  “Emily, shhh!” I said finally. I listened again. I heard Elizabeth say,” … have to go back.” A moment later, I heard her say, “Oh, poor Emily.” Then she added, “This is so hard.”

  My mouth hung open. I stared at my sister. Emily was dancing in circles in her pea-cess costume. How could we send her back to Vietnam? Even when Emily was being a gigundo pest I had not really wanted to get rid of her. I loved her.

  “Emily,” I said, “no matter what, you will not have to go back. I promise I will save you.”

  I scooped up Emily. I carried her to the stairs. Then I led her all the way up to the third floor. We hardly ever go there. If I hid Emily very carefully, no one would find her.

  And that is what I did. I left Emily in the attic with a lot of toys and some crackers. I told her I would be back soon.

  The Truth
About Emily

  When I went back downstairs, the first thing I heard was Nannie calling, “Emily! Naptime!”

  Of course Emily did not answer her.

  Nannie kept calling. Soon Daddy and Elizabeth were calling, too. Then Kristy and Charlie joined them. I pretended I did not know a thing about my little sister. “Emily! Emily!” I called.

  Daddy looked panicky. “I will check outside,” he said. Daddy checked outside. Kristy checked the basement. When they did not find her, Elizabeth said, “Okay, I am going to phone the police.”

  Uh-oh.

  “Wait! Wait!” I cried. “Don’t call the police!”

  “Why not?” asked Daddy sharply.

  “Well … because I know where Emily is. I hid her. She is in the attic.”

  Daddy gave me a Look. Then he ran upstairs. The rest of us ran after him. Sure enough, Emily was in the attic. She was looking at Lotto cards and eating a Saltine. “Hi, Daddy,” she said.

  Everyone hugged Emily. Then Nannie put her down for her nap, as if nothing had happened.

  And then Daddy turned to me. “Karen,” he said, “would you please tell us why you hid Emily in the attic?’

  I was in the living room with the grownups. I was sitting on the couch between Daddy and Elizabeth. Nannie was in an armchair. “I put Emily there,” I began, “because I thought if you could not find her, you could not send her back.”

  “Send her back?” repeated Elizabeth. “What do you mean?”

  “You know,” I said. “I heard you on the phone. Something is wrong with Emily’s adoption. You said poor Emily will have to go back. I do not want her to go back to Vietnam. Even if she is a pest. I do not think that would be fair to Emily. I know I should not have hidden her. But please do not send her back.”

  “Oh, Karen,” said all the grown-ups at the same time.

  Then Elizabeth said, “Honey, Emily is not going to go anywhere. Yes, we are having a little trouble with some paperwork. But Emily is here to stay. No one has ever said she might have to go back to Vietnam. I think you misunderstood what you heard today. Someone sent us the wrong papers. They are not the ones we have been waiting for. I meant that I will have to send the papers back. That is all. And I said “poor Emily” because this is so frustrating. We just want her papers in order so that we do not have to worry about that anymore.”

  “Elizabeth? What is red tape?” I asked.

  Elizabeth laughed. “Red tape. That is just an expression. It means lots of papers and procedures that use up time and do not seem necessary. But they have to be taken care of anyway.”

  “Oh,” I said. “I have been looking for pieces of red tape!”

  Daddy smiled. Then he said, “I know you were trying to help Emily when you hid her, Karen. But you do see that hiding her in the attic would not have solved any problems. Don’t you?”

  I nodded. “Yes. Daddy? When are we going to have Adoption Day?”

  “As soon as the red tape is taken care of. Probably in about two weeks.”

  “Two weeks? Cool! We can start thinking about Emily’s party.”

  I felt happy. I felt relieved. I felt so good that I changed my mind about something. I decided to invite Daddy and Emily to Family Day at school. Not Daddy and Mommy. Anyone could bring her parents. But I wanted my classmates to see what a wonderful and unusual family I have.

  The Big Joke

  I had noticed something. It seemed to me that Tammy and Terri looked more and more alike every day. First they just wore matching outfits. Then they began to fix their hair the same way. (They used to wear their hair differently, so we could always tell who was who.) Then they added matching jewelry. One day they came into Ms. Colman’s room wearing brand-new flowered dresses. The dresses were exactly alike. On their feet were white knee socks and blue Mary Jane shoes. The same shoes. They had parted their hair on the left side, and put blue barrettes on the right side. They wore gold necklaces, and tiny gold rings on their lefthand pinky fingers. They were even wearing the same watch on their left wrists.

  “Hannie!” I whispered. “I cannot tell the twins apart!”

  No one could.

  The twins loved it. They teased us. One of them said, “I am Terri. I promise I am Terri…. Fooled you! I am Tammy.”

  I did not know if she was fooling or not.

  After awhile, the twins pulled Nancy and Hannie and me into a corner. “Guess what,” said one. “We are going to play a joke on everyone today. We are going to trade places. I bet we can even fool Ms. Colman and Mr. Berger. I am going to be Tammy, and Tammy will be me.”

  “You cannot do that!” I exclaimed.

  “Oh, yes we can,” said Terri. “No one will know.”

  “You mean you are going to go to Mr. Berger’s room today, Tammy?” I asked. “And Terri will stay here?”

  Tammy nodded. “Yup. And right now we are going to switch places for Ms. Colman. I will sit at Terri’s desk, and she will sit at mine. Ms. Colman will never know.”

  Nancy frowned. ’If we cannot tell you apart, how will we know you are really switching places?” she asked.

  “Because I can prove I am Terri,” said Terri. “Remember when I fell off my bike and had to get stitches in my knee?” (My friends and I nodded.) ’Okay, there is the scar. So I am Terri.”

  Well, this was going to be a very interesting day.

  When Ms. Colman came into the room, I watched the twins. Sure enough, Terri sat at Tammy’s desk, and Tammy sat at Terri’s.

  Ms. Colman did not say a word. She let Chris take roll. Chris likes to call the names out loud. When he called Terri’s name, Tammy said, “Here!” When he called Tammy’s name, Terri said, “Here!”

  Soon it was time to work with Mr. Berger’s kids. I began to wonder about some things. How would Tammy be able to work on Terri’s project on animal families? How would Terri be able to finish Tammy’s poem about brothers and sisters? And how would Tammy know the rules in Mr. Berger’s room? I bet they are different from Ms. Colman’s rules.

  I began to think the twin switch might not be a very good idea. My heart was pounding when Tammy walked into Mr. Berger’s room. But nothing happened all morning. Ms. Colman called Terri “Tammy,” and Terri answered. She finished Tammy’s poem. Later, Tammy came back from Mr. Berger’s room. She was holding Terri’s project. It was all finished.

  “ ’Bye, Terri!” called Mr. Berger. “Nice work!”

  “ ’Bye!” replied Tammy.

  I turned around and looked at Nancy and Hannie. My friends and I giggled. Then we watched Terri sit at Tammy’s desk, and Tammy sit at Terri’s desk. The twins had played a very big joke.

  Pretend Sisters

  All day, Tammy was Terri, and Terri was Tammy. They traded places during lunch and recess and in the afternoon. Then, about five minutes before the last bell of the day, Terri raised her hand.

  “Yes, Tammy?” said Ms. Colman.

  Terri grinned. “I am not Tammy,” she said.

  Ms. Colman looked confused. “Excuse me?”

  “I am not Tammy. I am Terri,” said Terri. She stood up. Then she and Tammy switched seats.

  “We fooled you all day!” exclaimed Tammy. “We fooled everybody! You and Mr. Berger and the teachers on the playground — and everybody!”

  “Not me,” I said.

  “Well, no. Not Karen,” agreed Tammy. “Or Hannie or Nancy. We told them what we were going to do. But we tricked everyone else.”

  Bobby Gianelli looked impressed. “Cool,” he said.

  Chris Lamar looked impressed, too. But then he said, “Prove it.”

  So Terri showed us the scar on her knee.

  Ms. Colman laughed. “Girls,” she said, “that was a wonderful trick. I don’t know how you did it. But I do want to say one thing. I miss having Tammy and Terri in my class. Different girls I can tell apart. Dressing in matching outfits must be fun, but I like having two of you, not one of you.”

  The bell rang then. Ms. Colman assigned us a page in
our science workbook for homework. Then my friends and I began to put away our things, and find our coats and hats and mittens. A lot of kids were talking to the twins. Some were saying congratulations.

  But not Audrey. Audrey came over to my desk. She looked as if she wanted to cry.

  “What is the matter?” I asked her.

  “It’s — it’s Terri and Tammy,” she replied. “It’s what they did.”

  “Their joke?” I asked.

  Audrey nodded. A tear rolled down her cheek. “Don’t you see, Karen? We could never do what they did. We could never play a joke like that. Mr. Berger would just have said, ‘Audrey, what are you doing in my room? And where is Karen?’ He would never have thought I was you. No one would. No one does. I was silly to think we could be twins.”

  Good, I thought. Maybe Audrey would stop copying me. Maybe we would not have to dress alike anymore. That would be fine with me. Still, I knew Audrey was feeling sad.

  “I guess you are right,” I said to her. “We are not twins. I am glad we can stop pretending. But not all twins look the same, you know. Some do and some do not. Some just look like sisters, or brothers, or sisters and brothers. So maybe we could be pretend sisters sometimes, Audrey. But just pretend sisters. And only sometimes.”

  Audrey smiled a little. “Pretend sisters?” she repeated. “That would be fine. I just don’t want to be so lonely all the time.”

  “Why are you lonely?” I asked. “You have lots of friends at school.”

  “But not at home,” she said. “No one lives near me. And now my brother is away at college. I miss him so much.”

  Oh, I thought. So that is why Audrey wanted a twin. Twins are never lonely. They always have each other. That is what Tammy and Terri say. And they should know.

  “Well, do you want to be my pretend sister sometimes?” I asked Audrey.

  She nodded. “A pretend sister is much, much better than no sister or brother at all. Thank you, Karen.”

  “You’re welcome,” I replied.

  Family Day

  “Here they come! Here they come!” I cried.