{"id":296,"date":"2020-03-09T07:10:55","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T14:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/?p=296"},"modified":"2020-03-09T14:25:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T21:25:26","slug":"deception-twins-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/2020\/03\/09\/deception-twins-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Deception – Twins, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Loads of excitement visiting family in Kentucky<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Of the two of us, I was the more naturally deceitful. I had\nbeen sneaking around since I had discovered \u2013 first, the thrill of boys, and\nsecond, how to strategically place a few towels in bed to resemble my sleeping\nbody. I had shoplifted on occasion. I had cheated on tests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I wasn\u2019t twisting her arm. Long before our ESP test, in\nelementary school, she and I would covertly switch sides to help the other\u2019s\nteam while playing large group games like capture the flag. Because we were\nboth good at sports, we were always placed on separate teams. We would wear\nidentical outfits so that no one else could tell us apart, and it became our\nown personal one-one-on contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One night in high school when a date came to pick me up, I\nwas in the bathroom giving myself a final glance. My sister opened the front\ndoor, barefoot, in shorts and a t-shirt and eating toast. I\u2019m ready<\/em>! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My date greeted my dad, and they chatted a bit. Then he turned to my sister. Let\u2019s go. <\/em>He started to walk away, and my dad chided my sister who burst out laughing. He was red-faced and sputtering when I arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We didn\u2019t use our twin powers of deception very often, but\nwhen we did, we fully invested in the illusion. In most cases, we judged the\nrisk of capture to be less than the thrill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was the time in junior high when I mouthed off to the wrong\n<\/em><\/strong>girl coming out of the school bathroom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

School bathrooms in the 70\u2019s were used as student smoking halls in high schools and middle schools for the student smoker with too little time to make it off-campus between classes. Due to the mild winters in California, an open layout allowed for all classrooms, offices and facilities to open onto an exterior corridor . In elementary school, an occasional student would brave a smoke in the bathroom.  In junior high, it was commonplace. So in grade seven, while wading through a cloud of cigarette smoke in the entry with a friend, I made a snarky comment about the stench. The girls who were leaving stopped. The tallest one, older and unfamiliar, blocked my entry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apologize.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I refused. It stinks.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She challenged me to a fight after school. I agreed then left\nfor a doctor\u2019s appointment before the day ended. The next day at school, it\nbecame clear that, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. the girl still wanted to fight me <\/li>
  2. the girl had many friends<\/li>
  3. not all of the friends knew that I had an\nidentical twin, and<\/li>
  4. those who did could not tell us apart<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    Hard to believe that these faces would deceive….<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Thus began the deception. When cornered, I would claim to be my sister. When cornered, she would justly claim innocence. They chased either one of us. Athleticism was on our side \u2013 we were fast, and we could maneuver. She and I were able to steeplechase our way through campus to avoid them on multiple occasions and evaded them for over a week. I outran three of them and escaped into Mr. Archer\u2019s open science lab where I had to finish my lunch one day. But it was tiresome being always on the watch. And there were casualties.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There was the day when a pursuer tripped over the bench my\nsister had just perfectly vaulted. She skidded on her hands and knees then\nstood up shrieking and pointing to a freshly torn hole in her light blue Ditto\njeans. You owe me a new pair!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the penultimate deception, I\u2019d been confronted at one end\nof the school and had sent them looking for the other me at the opposite end. I\nfollowed and watched as they surrounded my sister. There were many other\nstudents there, too, bystanders, and I pushed my way through them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One of the girls in our own grade stepped forward, hands on\nhips. Apologize<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My sister shook her head. I didn\u2019t do anything.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I think it was the frustration of not ever knowing who they\nwere talking to.  Or maybe the anger\nafter a week of fruitless pursuits.  The\ngirl didn\u2019t care anymore if she had the right twin.  She slapped my sister.   \n\nA tear fell slowly down my sister\u2019s cheek, and I\nfelt shame and sadness.  \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Of the two of us, I was the more naturally deceitful. I had been sneaking around since I had discovered \u2013 first, the thrill of boys, and second, how to strategically place a few towels in bed to resemble my sleeping body. I had shoplifted on occasion. I had cheated on tests. But I wasn\u2019t twisting her arm. Long before … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,19],"tags":[100,101,104,105,102,103,94],"class_list":["post-296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deception","category-musings","tag-deceptions","tag-middle-school","tag-mouthing-off","tag-schoolyard-fights","tag-smoking-in-the-bathrooms","tag-steeplechase","tag-twins","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":302,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296\/revisions\/302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}