Barbara doesn't think she should be a grandmother. At 45 she is still willowy and turns heads when she walks through the mall. Unfortunately, thinking is not usually involved when creating children (or grandchildren). Barbara and I had gotten married fresh out of college. A failure to read the fine print on the prescription enclosure led to a failure of the birth control pills when Barbara took an antibiotic for the flu. We became parents at 22. Our daughter was even more careless with her boyfriend, but when the stick turned blue, he immediately asked her to marry him. We became grandparents almost a year ago.
Barbara stayed with her sister, Beth, in Atlanta and helped Diane during the first two weeks after she delivered. As the six-week deadline approached for Diane to return to work, Barbara told me that she was returning to Atlanta to baby-sit Johnny and help Diane and Rob transition when Diane returned to work.
"I can stay with Beth," Barbara explained. Barbara and Beth are twins. Back in college they were known as the B&B twins, sweet and smooth but with a kick. Beth's husband had divorced her two years before and Beth had an empty condo now with her children all off at school. "Her guest room is large and you can come there for the weekends as well as you can to Greenville."
I've got a one-person consulting business and I travel 3 out of 4 weeks around the Southeast. I'm always home on the weekends though. "Honey, I know I travel a lot, but on the weeks I am here, you won't be."
"Bring your portable and work from Beth's place. Nobody will even know."
"You know that I almost always have work to do for my old clients in Greenville when I am home."
"Well, I've been here alone most of the time for the last two years," she stated in that wronged-woman voice that husbands know so well. Our youngest child had also left the nest. "For over twenty years I've done what you wanted and followed you where you wanted to go. Now I want to go somewhere. You can handle it for a while."
"How long is this going to go on?"
"Day care is really bad and expensive for babies. I may have to help for twelve, maybe eighteen months."
"EIGHTEEN MONTHS! That's crazy. Rob and Diane are adults. They can handle this like all the other parents in America do."
"You have your business. Now, I have mine. I'm going to Atlanta."
I could tell that the discussion had ended, but I had to try just once more. "The only bed that Beth has in that guest room is that double bed. We can't sleep there." The last time I had folded my six-foot four-inch frame around my wife in a double bed was on our honeymoon. I knew she wouldn't be comfortable in such a small bed either.
"Well, we'll buy Beth a king-sized bed to go in there." Beth had a queen-sized bed in the master that Barbara and I had used occasionally, but even that I considered too small for our sexual workouts.
My last objection overcome, I let the matter drop. There was some undercurrent in the discussion, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
In truth, to me this would not be much change. I arranged for one of the neighborhood kids to take care of the lawn. That was a chore I hated anyway. When I was in Greenville, I could cook frozen dinners as well as anybody.
The adjustment was not hard to make. On the weekends, I'd drive to Atlanta. Our social life picked up. Barbara and I had been mostly stay-at-homes in Greenville. Almost every Saturday in Atlanta, we had an activity. Mostly we went out to clubs with Beth and her boyfriend. Sometimes Beth would throw a party and invite over the forty-something singles or we'd go out to someone else's for a party. It was nice to be back into dancing like we did when we were dating and the parties were as much fun as when we were in college. The first few months went by without a hitch.
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One week I finished up my consulting a day early. I could get out of Montgomery before the afternoon traffic and be in Atlanta after the traffic had died down. I'd surprise Barbara, take her to a late dinner if she hadn't eaten or out for dessert if she had.
For the amount she paid for the condo, Beth didn't get much parking. She has a two-car garage, now occupied by B&B. Other than that, you have to park in a visitor's lot about sixty yards from Beth's door. When I got to Beth's condo, I pulled into the visitor's lot and started to walk down. Suddenly, I saw a man and woman come out of Beth's condo. I saw the woman's face clearly but I didn't get a good look at the man because I was so shocked at the woman.
I ducked behind some foliage and watched as they walked past. They were talking easily. He had on a sport jacket. She had on a black skirt and purple blouse that looked very feminine with a scoop neckline that showed the beginning swells of her breasts. They were walking close to each other, shoulders and hips occasionally brushing.
Beth and Barbara are identical twins. They can fool most people, even those who are around one of them frequently. But I had spent twenty-five years learning to tell them apart. This was Barbara.
I watched until they got in a car and left. Then I went to my car. It was too dark to pull a Sam Spade routine and follow them, so I sat there thinking about what to do. I called Beth's number on my cell phone. Maybe I hadn't seen what I'd seen.
"Hello."
"Hi, Beth. Can I speak to Barbara?"
"Hi, Jeff. Barbara isn't here. Diane's been really tired this week. Barbara's over there. She asked you not to call. It might wake up Johnny. She said she's looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. How are things in Montgomery?"
The conversation continued for several more minutes before I let it die. If Barbara were over at Diane's her car would be there. I pulled out of the parking lot and drove by our daughter's house. Of course the car was not there. I decided to head to Greenville. All the way up I turned over those astonishing fifteen minutes in my mind. Barbara had definitely been going out someplace special. She was dressed well. She was very comfortable with the man who had picked her up. The back and forth banter of the conversation and the closeness of the two bodies showed that. Then Beth had established an alibi that would cover Barbara's whereabouts until the next morning. What did Beth know about the planned activities?
