As I, then Norma Bullock, 25 years old, walked up to the looming modern medical office building in Baltimore I was really hoping that Neurologist Stephanie Hager could help my sisters and I to come to a rational way to proceed in life. Dr. Hager was considered THE amnesia expert at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She was a part-time professor and had her own practice. It took me a while to get an appointment with her, and a recommendation from a friend of mine who is a doctor. I was hoping that she would help, rather than boot me out of her office, especially since health insurance didn't pay for what I was consulting her about, and her one hour office visit -- payment in advance -- was costing me and my sisters $650.
I saw a friendly receptionist in Dr. Hager's plush anteroom, which she apparently shared with two other neurologists. I only had to wait about two minutes before I was led by the receptionist into Dr. Hager's office. I turned on my hidden recording device before entering -- I wanted to play it for my sisters and not get anything wrong.
Dr. Hager's office was sophisticated and luxurious without being ostentatious. Hanging on her wall she had an undergraduate degree from Northwestern, a Masters from Harvard, and a M. D. from Tufts, and enough awards to cover most of the wall space more than four feet off the ground. Despite all of those accolades, however, she looked young and fit with rimless glasses that appeared to be more for enhancing her professional look rather than to enhance her sight. Every piece of clothing was crisp and expensive looking, and not a hair was out of place in her straight layered lob hair style.
I reproduce below only the relevant portions of our discussion.
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"Over the phone, Norma, you indicated that you wanted to get right to the point and ask me some questions about amnesia, especially as it relates to pregnancy. However, I think that I need some significant background if I am to give best advice; we can do a lot in an hour."
"Thanks, Dr. Hager; of course I'll give you background, but first I want to confirm: everything we talk about is covered by the doctor-patient privilege, right?"
"Unless you tell me that you are going to commit a crime that would adversely affect someone else, yes."
"Is it OK if we talk in hypotheticals since some things I'm going to relate are not necessarily things I or my sisters are thinking of doing, but rather are for general information?"
"Yes, Norma, we can talk in hypotheticals."
"Great. So that I don't have to continually repeat myself, can I just preface my statement with 'Everything is hypothetical,' unless I specifically say that it is not?"
"That's fine; everything is hypothetical," Dr. Hager replied with a smile.
"I am one of identical triplets which I understand happens in only about one out of every 200 million births. My sisters are Gail Minton and Julie Frost. We are 25 years old. What makes our situation unique is that when we were born to an 18 year old mother she put us up for adoption through a church, and we were placed with three different families in three different cities, although no more than 250 miles apart. We were never told that we were triplets by our adoptive parents probably because we suspect that they didn't know it," I started out.
"A strange hypothetical," Dr. Hager replied.
"It gets way stranger," I laughed and paused before continuing.
"For various reasons all three of us went on 23andMeยฎ and got genealogy tests when we were twenty one; maybe it had to do with some sort of triple telepathy, but we did it within three months of each other. Each of us had a feeling of incompleteness through our lives up to that time which is why we all probably submitted our DNA. I was the last to get my report back."
"Hypothetically you all did it, independently, within three months of each other?" Dr. Hager asked, apparently completely surprised.
"Yep; anyway by the time that I got my results back Gail and Julie had already talked on the phone and when their results were updated with mine they immediately got in contact with me. At first I was shocked, but then it made sense -- given my feelings of incompleteness for my entire life. We made arrangements to meet in person at a central location, only about a 90 minute drive for each of us."
I took a sip of the beverage I had been offered by the receptionist, saw that Dr. Hager was staring intently at me, and then continued.
"At our first meeting we were shocked that we not only looked identical but that we had the same hairstyle, wore dresses that looked like they came from the same collection, and had all sorts of mannerisms in common. We also were all getting our teaching certificates -- in three different states -- to teach elementary school. We all had boyfriends of about 18 months, and by exchanging photos of them they all had a similar look although different in size, profession, and age."
"I guess that, hypothetically, it's not unusual for identical triplets to have similar mannerisms and tastes," Dr. Hager offered, then sipped her own beverage.
"The three of us carried it much further than that," I continued. "I think that all of our mannerisms were genetic, not environmental, we all had the same laugh, the same expressions, and the same outlooks on politics, religion, and almost everything else. Perhaps the freakiest thing is that we all really would like to get some strange cock, but knew that our boyfriends were strictly monogamous and we didn't want to take the chance of screwing up our relationships. Anyway, after meeting for an entire 28 hour period, even sleeping together in a California King bed in a hotel, we promised to keep in touch. For that purpose we bought three burner phones and vowed never to use them except to talk to each other."
Dr. Hager raised her eyebrows at some of my statements -- especially about wanting strange cock -- but didn't interrupt.
"Let me make a long story shorter, since I need to get your advice within an hour, Dr. Hager. After we talked to each other virtually every day, met three more times, and each got married to our boyfriends -- each of us keeping our relationship secret from everyone else -- Gail called our first post-nuptials meeting, about five months after the last of us got married. Gail is slightly more brazen than Julie and I so she was the first one to vocalize the concept -- although Julie and I had thought of it too without her prompting."
Then I sighed deeply.
"What?" Dr. Hager asked.
"Can I repeat that this is hypothetical?" I sheepishly grinned.
"I agreed that it was -- you don't have to say it again," she smiled.
"OK. Gail's idea was that we each fuck the others' husbands to satisfy our need for strange cock without our husbands ever knowing it. Julie and I were immediately on board. We knew that we would have to learn much of each other's history, and make sure that our bodies and faces were identical in every way to pull it off, but we were excited beyond measure to give it a try."
I was getting excited and almost spilled my beverage when trying to take another sip.
"That very day we went to a spa and made the employees make us physically identical in every way. This included cutting our hair to exactly the same length, trimming our pubic hair in exactly the same way, giving us the same nail and toenail polish, piercing my ears since Julie and Gail had theirs pierced, and even forming a cut on my and Julie's knees which would ultimately form a scar just like on Gail's, and doing the same above Julie's and Gail's hairline to correspond to one on my head. Then we purchased exactly the same shampoo, toothpaste, perfume, and makeup and practiced putting on our makeup so that it would be identical. Also we told Julie to start exercising in exactly the same manner that Gail and I had for years since she needed a little more muscle definition in her arms and legs. We were unbelievably successful since when we met again nine weeks later no one could tell us apart. We actually did a dozen or so tests, all 100% successful."
"Wow!" was Dr. Hager's only comment.