TWINS

©2004 by Geraldine Ahrens

I opened my eyes. The up-ended reverse side of an irritated stink bug stared back and my eyes began to water from the effluvium. I quickly rolled aside and wished I hadn’t moved so fast. The pain in my arm made me cry out.

From above, Rex’s laughter landed on me just about as hard as I had landed on the ground. Had I not had a mouthful of sand I’m sure I could have used several colorful and unflattering epithets to describe him. As it was, I could barely breathe. Then I noticed how my arm was at an odd angle.

The next thing I knew, Mom was kneeling at my side. “Candice, wake up. You’re too big for me to carry. I need you to get up and walk over to the car.”

My arm was broken in two places and I had a fractured rib. I promised Rex a sound beating when I was released from the cast. He giggled, sounding more like a girl than I did. Mom would beat both of us silly if she knew we had been fighting when I fell out of the tree.

**********

Rex and I were twins and we had been fighting since we were able to walk. Actually I think that’s when we probably had our first battle. Mom said I was walking about thirty minutes before him. Of course I was born first. Rex came along about ten minutes later.

Our family owned and operated a large turkey ranch, and there was plenty of work associated with taking care of fifteen to twenty thousand turkeys. We had chores to do before we went to school, chores when we got home and we were expected to do our homework and get good grades. You would think that we wouldn’t have the energy to fight after we were done, but fight we did.

The tree I had fallen from was a big, old oak tree that rose from the ground like a stately monarch of ancient times. They’re probably the best climbing trees anywhere. We had nailed boards in to the side of it, making a ladder of sorts, so we could get to the lower branches.

The sandy area this tree called home was also a place where Dulce, Rex’s heifer, liked to lay when the weather turned warm. One fine warm day, when Dulce was only a couple of months old, Rex had fallen asleep next to her. She paid me no mind as I clipped a rope on her halter, and tied the other end to Rex’s ankle.

I had hidden behind some berry bushes, lobbed a small stone toward Dulce, and watched the events unfold.

Dulce jumped up and just stood in place. Thinking she was going back to sleep, I lobbed another stone. This time it landed on her rump. She gave out a startled bleat and kicked her hind feet in the air. About that time, Rex woke up and right off noticed the rope.

His eyes went wide and he spoke real soft to Dulce as he tried to undue the knot that held the rope to his ankle. Well, she wasn’t having any of this and promptly took off running. And of course there was this apparition bouncing along behind her making all kinds of noise, which only caused her to run faster.

Luckily for Rex, Dulce was small and he was finally able to get hold of the rope and get her stopped. I laughed so hard that day, my sides hurt for a week. Rex promised to repay in kind.

A couple of months later I found myself swinging upside down from that same oak tree. Rex had made a snare and I had stepped right in to it.

When the branch sprung back in to place, snatching my feet out from under me, I knew I was had. I mixed Rex’s name in with a few colorful metaphors I had read and memorized, for just such an occasion, while I hung there and contemplated my next move.

That evening Rex had a hard time eating dinner because his sides hurt so badly.

**********

Mom and dad seldom asked questions about our minor injuries, but a broken arm and fractured rib were not considered to be minor.

The two of them surrounded me the next morning, grim shadows flickering across their faces.

Mom asked, “Candice, did Rex push you out of the tree?”

“No.” I answered truthfully.

“But you two were fighting again, weren’t you.” Dad said, more as a statement than a question.

I was mute. One thing neither Rex nor I did was lie to our folks. We’d get a sound beating for a lie. But if we were trying to hedge an answer or just not wanting to snitch on the other one, we would keep mum.

“This fighting has got to stop.” Dad said. “You two are almost twelve years old and you’re still fighting like four year olds. I would suggest you and your brother sit down and have a long talk, because if you can’t come up with some kind of an alternative, I will. And you know that is not something you want me to do.”

Rex came in my room a while later. He looked upset. “Mom and dad said we got to quit trying to kill each other. You didn’t think I was trying to kill you, did you?”

I was shocked. “No. No more than I was trying to kill you when I made you pee your pants in the Hinds’ milk barn.”

His face reddened. “What do you think mom and dad will do?”

“I don’t know, but you can bet it won’t be something we like.”

We were silent for awhile. Then he spoke real soft. “I’m sorry about your arm, sis. I never meant for that to happen.”

“Neither did I, it was an accident.”

Rex made a face and mimicked dad. “Accidents don’t just happen. There is always a victim and always a preventable cause.”

“Well, fine.” I said, “Accidents don’t just happen. But I was a willing victim.”

He grinned. “Yeah, me too.”