Congratulations my Sweet,
My brother and I are so proud that you and your twin have successfully completed your higher education. Just in case your Mom has neglected to inform you about us all, I am your biological aunt Aurora and my twin brother Michael is your biological father. Should this come as a complete surprise to you, continue reading what I wrote the afternoon I was fully introduced to our ancestry.
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Aunt Dora's Box
With her shimmering lips pleasingly pursed, her cheeks rosily blushed and her long lashes fanned out gently from her exquisitely shaded eyelids, she seemed to be enjoying yet another of her secret little daydreams, there amongst the roses. She looked as cute and saucy as ever in her favorite little black cocktail dress. I waited patiently for her eyes to flutter open after I touched her cool folded hands. I had so many questions I needed answers for right then, from the sleeping lady I so closely resembled. To no avail, I stepped back and grabbed tightly onto my Dad's arm as more tears welled up in my eyes. My twin brother Michael stepped up and held my hand just like my Dad held his twin sister's as she lay there in her coffin.
Aunt Laura never married, couldn't have children like me and was taken in late 1987, during her forty-fourth year, by the Cervical Cancer that spread through her malformed reproductive organs. She was shunned terribly by my Mom and all her family. Dad, Mike and myself were the only family members left to mourn her but she had many close friends. Sixty or more well-dressed men and women of all ages, shapes and sizes were being comforted by Alicia, Laura's faithful young caregiver. Tears rolled down from their reddened eyes as one by one, they stared at her serene face and touched her cool hands.
When the minister spoke of God's house having many doors, my mind flashed back nine years, through the back door of Laura's beach house. At that last visit, my Aunt and I walked down the stairs of her sundeck and went for a walk while my parents took my brother shopping. As we strolled along and gazed at the mansions that backed onto the sea, I saw Aunt Laura give flirty nods to several people smiling at her through their windows. Suddenly a giant wave caught me off guard and soaked me to the skin! Back at her cottage, Alicia washed and dried my fishy-smelling clothes while Laura drew me one of her wonderful bubble baths. It had been a ritual ever since Mike and I were little, for her to give us baths after she made sandcastles and mermaid sculptures with us on the beach out back. As in so many times before, she lathered up my hair but when she rinsed it, Laura remarked how much my body had blossomed. As she set out towels for me she asked me if I had my period yet, to which I shook my head, No!
After I dressed, she gave me the Nikon camera and some photography books she'd bought me and then showed me the Nintendo game she'd bought for Mike for our thirteenth birthdays. As we drank the hot herbal tea Alicia had steeped for us, we all talked of high school, college and career choices. When Mom returned, she wanted to know why my hair smelled of shampoo and my clothes of fabric softener. When I told she and Dad of Aunt Laura's wonderful bubble bath, Dad raised his eyebrows, rolled his eyes up and flinched away from Mom, who immediately went ballistic. She screamed at her sister-in-law continuously for fifteen minutes, dragged me to our room and forbade me to ever see Laura again without supervision! Mom never relented in her views. Even at her funeral she went on about Laura's lifestyle bringing on her demise. Dad spun around and told her in no uncertain terms, his sister died of Cancer and nothing more!
During our twenty-first birthday party wherein I had unequivocally become an adult, I finally found an opportunity to talk to Aunt Laura in private. In the seclusion of the garden-shed, we consumed the better part of a bottle of wine together, as we chatted. She queried me about my video arts courses, my future plans and my love life, of all things. After a slight pause in the conversation, she looked me in the eye and said: "We're both the same, you and me, down to the minutest of details. Every female twin born into our family for as long as we know of inherited the same physical defects, the same physical appearance and the same damned diseases. There's not much hope for me now, but a cure might come in time for you. Someday soon you'll operate the business. It's not a bad life for a woman, you know. Stayin' cute all our lives, never getting' all fat and motherly or loosing all that valuable time to the monthly curse. Just usin' our good looks and bodily oddities for personal pleasure and financial gain and dyin' young without regrets is a good way to go. Look after my clients, my sweet. The young ones represent three generations of Old Money now and they're really counting on you." I was really confused by her words and scarcely three months later there at the funeral I was full of regrets for not questioning her further when I had the chance.
A couple of weeks later, a registered letter informed me that Aunt Laura had bequeathed Mike and I her substantial investment portfolio, her BMW and the contents of her beach house, In addition, I inherited her business contacts and a conditional guaranteed income for the rest of my life. Three days later my Dad and Alicia came up and asked me to meet them at the local Holiday Inn. In the posh room, he presented me with a large suitcase-sized black wooden box strapped to a hand trolley. Alicia sat quietly as he explained that the substantial guaranteed income would be mine if I take over Laura's production company, retain her present client base and keep Alicia in my employment as long as she wishes to stay on with me. He explained that Alicia possessed many talents and that she would play a pivotal role in the operation of the business and maintenance of my welfare. He suggested that I stay at the hotel for as long as was necessary for Alicia to help me understand the implications of what was contained in the box. As he excused himself to go inform Mike of his windfall, Dad reminded me to notify the clients as soon as possible and then abruptly left us alone.
I unlocked and opened the mystery box and inside found a photo album, a collection of still and video cameras, tripods and accessories, a small portable VCR, a bag of old lingerie and a box of unusual small objects and jewelry. On the album's cover, "Adorable Productions Anthology" was printed in black marker. Inside, the first section was labeled, "The Twins." On the first page was a faded and cracked sepia portrait entitled Charles and Elora, 1881. They didn't look at all alike but she looked exactly like me! Overleaf, another faded black and white studio portrait showed Robert and Flora, 1900. Again, they had dissimilar faces but she certainly resembled me. Clarence and Cora, 1921 followed the same pattern, as did Howard and Dora in 1943. A color print of my father, Douglas and my Aunt Laura in a 1965 portrait, as well as my brother Michael and I in 1986 completed the cycle. In every "twins" photo, the men looked nothing like the women, who except for hairstyles, all appeared eerily identical.