Several times in the last few weeks I’ve had occasion to
pull up a picture on my phone that my nephew took of his mother and sent to me.
On most of those occasions it went something like this:
I show the person I’m talking to
the picture.
Them: That’s a nice picture of you.
Me: No, it isn’t.
Them: That’s a really nice picture!
Me: Yeah. But it’s not of me.
Them: Oh.
The only exception to this scenario is one woman who scanned
the picture then faced me and said, “That’s not you, is it?”
“Good eye. It isn’t me.”
She confessed she didn’t think it was me because of the
different glasses, but still, not many people noticed any differences between
that picture and me. Confronted with the two of us together is another issue.
Sometimes I wonder how her family can tell us apart, but not
even her husband never had any problems telling us apart.
The first time he set eyes on me, I was sitting on his couch
in his apartment holding his then-infant eldest daughter in my arms, and he still
knew I wasn’t his wife at first glance!
Nice.
Though I admit later visits with Konnie didn’t go so well. I
can’t remember if it was May or Melinda, but prior to my visiting Konnie had
warned me that this little darling only ever wanted her momma and would rarely
even go to her father.
However, the second I walked into their apartment, she
instantly reached for me. I gladly took her into my arms and hugged her. She
was all fine and dandy with me holding her until she realized I didn’t have
mother nature’s milk supply for her and she screamed bloody murder!
Another time, some years later, I’d just gotten off the
phone from talking to Konnie when a few minutes before when my phone rang
again. I answered and a small child happily said, “Hi, Mommy.”
Excuse me?
Talk about a heart-stopping moment!
Eventually, I got the kid to hang up and I called Konnie
back.
Turns out, a certain little tyke had thought his mother had
her cell phone on her while she was in the bathroom, and he’d also thought the
last number dialed on their landline was that cell phone.
How wrong he was!
Again, he doesn’t make that mistake anymore. Though all of
her family consider it weird when they enter a room while Konnie is talking to
me with her speaker on. One time I heard Konnie giggle for no seeming reason
then one of her kids said, “Oh, that’s Aunt Bonnie.”
It seems they had temporarily been nonplussed at hearing their
mother’s voice coming from her phone.
I guess it was something like the time years ago when I’d
been busy in the bathroom when my phone rang. I hurried to get it knowing as I
did that it was Konnie. The answering machine, which was downstairs picked up
first, but I got on the line upstairs and told her I was there. We talked for a while but I never went to the kitchen to erase our conversation from the answering
machine.
Honestly hadn’t had time with all I was doing that day.
Anyway, when Tom got home from work, he noticed there was a
message and, while wondering why there was a message when I’d been home all
day, he played it.
Him: You talked to yourself on the phone?
His confusion was evident on his face, because after all,
how could I manage that!
That memory is still as funny as the day it happened, but
honestly, listening to that tape, the only way I could tell who was talking was
by what was being said.
We’re identical after all. And our blind counselor in high
school couldn’t tell us apart because our voices are so identical. Let alone
that our own father could rarely manage to tell us apart until we managed to land
such polar opposite husbands!
That’s not Konnie if she’s standing next to the tall one!
Though I admit, Dad had no trouble knowing it was me when I
was entering the kitchen at a time when a meal didn’t need to be cooked or dishes
didn’t need to be done, because at least once it was him who announced to the
rest of the family, “Bonnie’s baking!”
Causing a stampeded to the kitchen while I’m still pulling
the flour out!
And it's not like Konnie can’t bake. I have no idea why he
could make that distinction, because, like I said, most of the time, he couldn’t
tell the difference at all.
Such is life as identical twins. Just remember this the next
time you have such characters in your WIP.
No comments:
Post a Comment