Tonight we continue with Part 2: Pioneers and Explorers. We've already met some of our main characters and tonight we're going to meet some more; namely two of the space twins eventually selected for the mission.
So far we got to meet Kelvin, the handsome Virginian who's good with the ladies. Günther, the soft-spoken German whose father is a government official. Also B.J., the lovely math whiz from Colorado whose brains and good looks are only matched by the gal's limitless sex drive. And finally Robin, the flamboyant transgender from east Atlanta who introduces the concept of 'the twin paradox'.
It's been months since the official announcement; along with the unveiling of the new Santa Maria galactic exploration vessel. The media has covered it ever since, thrilling the public with imagery of the ship’s designs, details of crew functions, accommodations, as well as descriptions of the ship’s anticipated mission protocol. Meanwhile, the ongoing search for just the right set of identical twins is coming to a conclusion. Sure enough … Günther’s father embraced the wild idea proposed by his son and his friends back at Magellan Aerospace. To be sure, he's taken things much further than originally suggested.
Tonight we continue with Part 2: Pioneers and Explorers. We've already met some of our main characters and tonight we're going to meet some more; namely two of the space twins eventually selected for the mission.
So far we got to meet Kelvin, the handsome Virginian who's good with the ladies. Günther, the soft-spoken German whose father is a government official. Also B.J., the lovely math whiz from Colorado whose brains and good looks are only matched by the gal's limitless sex drive. And finally Robin, the flamboyant transgender from east Atlanta who introduces the concept of 'the twin paradox'.
It's been months since the official announcement; along with the unveiling of the new Santa Maria galactic exploration vessel. The media has covered it ever since, thrilling the public with imagery of the ship’s designs, details of crew functions, accommodations, as well as descriptions of the ship’s anticipated mission protocol. Meanwhile, the ongoing search for just the right set of identical twins is coming to a conclusion. Sure enough … Günther’s father embraced the wild idea proposed by his son and his friends back at Magellan Aerospace. To be sure, he's taken things much further than originally suggested.
Hello, and welcome back to Twin Paradox. I'm King Everett Medlin and what you're hearing is a SciFi trilogy I wrote four years ago under the pseudonym Purple Hazel. Twin Paradox follows my first podcast series entitled Deathwalker Colony, which is now a full length novel available for purchase on Amazon. It's on sale today in E-book format, as well as the first two books in the Rijel 12 Series, The Rise of New Australia and Return of Anarchy. You can check out those as well as some of my earlier works by going to the link provided in the transcript.
Tonight we continue with Part 2: Pioneers and Explorers. We've already met some of our main characters and tonight we're going to meet some more; namely two of the space twins eventually selected for the mission. So far we got to meet Kelvin, the handsome Virginian who's good with the ladies. Gunther, the soft-spoken German whose father is a government official. Also B.J., the lovely math whiz from Colorado whose brains and good looks are only matched by the young woman's limitless sex drive. And finally Robin, the flamboyant transgender from east Atlanta who introduces the concept of 'the twin paradox'.
Twin Paradox is a SciFi series encompassing three full length novels; all of which will be read in their entirety during the coming weeks. You can go online and download the E-books ... or, if you prefer, tune in each week and listen to me read them to you. So let's keep going.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Twin Paradox, Part Two: Pioneers and Explorers. Chapter Seven, Three Adorable Pairs ....
May, 2086. It had been months since the official announcement; along with the unveiling of the new Santa Maria galactic exploration vessel. The media covered the event daily thereafter, thrilling the public with imagery of the ship’s designs, details of crew functions, accommodations, as well as descriptions of the ship’s anticipated mission protocol. Meanwhile, the ongoing search for just the right set of identical twins was coming to its conclusion. Sure enough … Günther’s father had embraced the wild idea proposed by his son and his companions back at Magellan Aerospace.
Conducted in secret, upon direct orders from Space Programme administration, the worldwide investigation into orphanage, workhouse, and foster home records was a daunting challenge that staffers recruited for the project came to loathe. Their searches took them far and wide, all those eager individuals assigned to the experiment. Administrators hired twenty to come work for them at their Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, just a few miles southwest of … Amsterdam.
Yes. Amsterdam! It was still above water, having seen an 84 centimeter rise in sea levels during the past six decades yet able to cope due to its elaborate systems of pumps and dikes. Kelvin and B.J. initially jumped at the chance to go; imagining occasional road trips up to the city to buy hashish. Unfortunately, no such offers came. Neither stood much of a chance passing the drug screening required for agency employment. Thus they had to settle for slaving away several more months at Magellan while those diligent staffers combed through millions of birth records identifying “eligible” twins.
Günther’s father had certainly done some broken field running with the concept. Originally taking his son’s idea of ONE set of identical twins to use in the experiment; he subsequently expanded it to THREE: “three adorable pairs” as he put it. He also took Kelvin’s advice stated in his and Günther’s original message to focus their search on “city kids” (as most people had come to call street urchins abandoned by poor families or seized from irresponsible parents by authorities). 'City Kids' was a derogatory term that some, especially older folks, had come to use when referring to these unfortunate children. Yet it was the easiest and most obvious choice to provide a wide selection. The government already had a massive database.
It was busy work really, not the type of thing Kelvin and his friends would have enjoyed, even if Günther was technically wired for it. Günther just didn’t have the communications skills necessary when it came to young children. His Vater knew better than assigning him. No, Günther was not selected either and of course Robin wasn’t about to apply. Robin rather enjoyed his comfortable little job at Magellan. He was more than happy to remain in the shadows when Kelvin and Günther wrote that Email. At Magellan, there was one staff meeting a day, and that was usually virtual. Robin could simply log onto it from his Digital Communication Device (or “DICE” as folks called them). It all came down to getting his projects completed. If he finished a section of code and it was only 14:00 hours, he could simply knock off for the afternoon and make his way up to Centennial Park – maybe hang out at the Observatory and smoke a joint while he looked out over the city.
For his part, handsome Kelvin wasn't much interested in an administrative role. Kelvin wanted a spot on the crew; and to be fair, he knew it would be a tall order regardless of how he tried going about it. It would require having a powerful connection somewhere in the GU for one thing. Plus, it might involve passing a rigorous examination, a physical fitness test, maybe enduring a litany of psychological batteries to determine mental stability for such a long grueling mission. That posed a potential dilemma for the young man. Could he really go through all that? Could he get “straight” and stay that way for a full month? Get in shape, get healthy?
"No problem!" he'd say, whenever B.J. posed that question, and he meant it too. For Kelvin was one of those individuals who knew his path in life at nearly every given moment. Never doubted what he wanted or exactly how to get it; once he’d set his sights on something. That’s why he quickly began lobbying Günther to get his father back in Darmstadt to let Kelvin pay the fellow a visit ... in person ... at the Space Programme Operations Center later that year. He also planned on bringing a guest.
Kelvin knew in his heart having B.J. along would come in handy. Wasn’t sure just how - but he figured it certainly couldn’t hurt having the brainy brunette on hand in case he got in over his head, which was typical of the wavy haired fellow. B.J. was a good wingman. Always had been. As for B.J.'s sentiments regarding flying off to Germany with him, hoping to lobby for a spot on the crew? She'd see it as a nice little vacation, he had to assume. A chance to hook up with German dudes for a change. That was basically how Kelvin pitched it to her. She couldn't resist.
“Fuck yeah; I’ll go!” B.J. replied when asked … if Gunther's father agreed to meet with him, that is. Kelvin as always had no doubt he would and booked them two flights to Frankfurt. From there it would only be a short drive south to Darmstadt.
********
Meanwhile the search for the “three adorable pairs” of twins was truly a massive undertaking. The twenty staffers assigned to it pored over medical records from orphanages and researched Live Birth Certificates to identify the top one hundred prospects, based on acceptable demographics. From there they narrowed their search until they had selected three top finalists; thus leaving only one remaining challenge and that was to go out and meet with them. Decide which of the siblings to bring along on the mission.
First off, they wanted healthy children with no birth defects or maladies. Next, they wanted an assortment of cultural backgrounds. After that it was merely a matter of tracking down the children to the workhouse, farm, or orphanage where they now resided. The target age for the mission was ten, give or take a year, just so the twins would have had time to develop together and take on common traits of twins such as matching mannerisms and style of dress. Thus, another essential criterion for the selection was twins who’d never been separated since birth; yet were somehow “available” to be used in this bizarre experiment. That’s what made the search so difficult.
Luckily the first of the finalists to be inspected were located a mere train ride from their offices in Noordwijk.
Starting off, the staffers traveled by train through the “Chunnel” to England and investigated a pair of twins currently living at the Brixton Workhouse for Girls in London. These facilities offered primary education in exchange for a six-hour workday, usually involving light assembly or domestic duties at various locations within the city. Nearby companies could contract with Brixton; and after their morning studies were completed, the children would be sent to their daily work assignments. “Donations” from companies often insured priority in having access to the healthiest kids, but otherwise any legitimate business could apply for this cheap supply of labor.
The twins selected from London were actually of African descent, both of them beautiful girls, straight from the Dark Continent where their parents had fled recent famine in Zimbabwe. Their father had been killed in a street altercation shortly after arriving in London when their mother was pregnant with them. Therefore their mother was deemed unable to raise them “properly”. They’d been taken into the child welfare system and were now living in rather drab conditions at this, one of London’s more notorious facilities for orphaned girls.
Their names were Shamiso (which means “a great wonder” in their native language of Shona) and Rudo (which means “love”). Shamiso and Rudo Kachote. One look at them; plus watching them playing together out on the schoolyard, and the staffers immediately knew these two girls were special.
At first blush, it seemed the two were inseparable. Shamiso followed her sister Rudo around constantly, like she was some dangling appendage. Rudo on the other hand was loud, had a deep voice which would increase several octaves if she grew excited or angry. The section supervisor pointed this out early on. The supervisor also emphasized, when interviewed in person, that Rudo was typically the instigator among the two. The leader in getting the two of them into trouble on occasion, committing mild infractions like smuggling food to their beds at night and other such “acts of rebellion”, as she called them. What’s more, Rudo was the scrapper among the two, and would “beat seven bells" out of any girl or boy who bothered her and Shamiso. Space Programme staffers appreciated this bit of information greatly. Rudo was already starting to look like the better prospect between the two! A brave individual who had a sense of responsibility for her more reserved sibling. That said, it was Shamiso who possessed the brain for science, they soon came to discover. Administering aptitude tests to the girls ultimately revealed this fact; and soon changed their opinions of which twin they’d like to take.
Aptitude tests were done on Portable Digital Devices (nicknamed “Peedees” by English kids years ago and it eventually caught on). These thin, flat, flip-open computers were perfect for recording test scores and displaying questions or problems for a child or pre-teen to solve. To further replicate a normal testing situation, staffers from Space Programme had the supervisor set up a regular classroom scenario with the entire group of girls in her section – a little over a thousand of them, it turned out – to sit for this supposed “exam”.
Of course it was quite real, this test being administered to the girls, and the Peedees performed all the work of eliminating children of lesser intelligence quite smoothly and efficiently. At the conclusion of each section – some taking as little as twenty minutes and others much longer – the Peedees would message the student informing them either that they had performed adequately, or (if the child’s scores were unacceptable) it merely thanked them for participating and directed them to return their device to the proctor. Because of this, the room slowly dwindled from 1,006 young girls ages nine to eleven, all the way down to twenty-five within just a few days. Those eliminated were simply sent back to their employers or given the rest of the morning to play outside in Brixton’s large, fenced-in schoolyard until transports arrived to whisk them away to their assigned worksites.
Meanwhile, those who continued to pass and advance to the next more difficult levels were kept indoors day after day; kept together and separated from their friends playing outside. With time they were moved to a more private facility for more intense examination downtown. Shamiso, to the surprise and delight of the staffers, was one of those final twenty-five who were still testing at the level of English “Sixth Formers”. What’s more some of them, Shamiso included, were soon tackling university level science and math problems! Sure enough, Shamiso Kachote was just what they’d been looking for.
Rudo, by way of comparison? She unfortunately was eliminated within the first day of testing and whisked away to a factory in town where she worked on an evening cleaning crew. This had been the first span of time lasting more than a few days that she’d been separated from her sister since they were babies. Nevertheless, when the finalists were moved to a hotel in downtown London where they could live like “rich kids” – room service, comfortable beds, clean towels, clean bathrooms, delicious food – Shamiso seemed transformed. It was easy to see in her demeanor. More outgoing, more expressive, and far more confident she became with each passing day. Perhaps, observed the staffers, Shamiso became a different person whenever Rudo wasn’t around.
This they felt they should verify, so during testing they went back and consulted the section supervisor and learned even more about their bright new prospect. According to the tough old gal running the place, Rudo was to Shamiso much like kryptonite was to Superman … or the way tequila was to a college freshman, one might say. Rudo was the loud, boisterous, outgoing type. The evil twin. In her absence, Shamiso became more of the reserved, introspective type ... educated, informed, mature. Maybe, they speculated, she’d be the kind of girl who would blossom in an environment such as a space exploration vessel hurtling through the galaxy toward Kapteyn B … growing into an adult during the mission and playing a vital role in its ultimate success.
However everyone knew what this would mean. The two would have to be separated and that was going to be a challenge. Shamiso was clearly the one they wanted. And yet, how could they do this to the poor girls? It perplexed the young staffers and brought up an even deeper moral issue that none of them had considered or for that matter openly discussed among themselves up to that point. Even if they could pull apart these identical twins who’d spent nine plus years together - every waking moment of their lives - then what would happen to Rudo Kachote? What would become of Rudo … now that her identical twin would be leaving her?
They never objected to this moral quandary back in Darmstadt when they were in the presence of their superiors. They didn’t dare complain. This job - this internship for all intents and purposes - to go out and recruit three pairs of identical twins and decide which among the two was right for the mission? It was a great opportunity! A segue perhaps to a lifelong career with the GU Space Programme, from which they could support themselves comfortably and eventually retire. Full benefits and health coverage? Two weeks’ paid vacation every twelve months? They all wanted something like that, especially given the likelihood that Space Programme would be expanding for decades to come and become the catalyst for the alliance’s next economic expansion. Therefore, they had to ask themselves, why rock the boat?
But it had to bother them thinking about it, this idea of separating identical twins and basically abandoning their Earth-bound sibling. A life of hard knocks and brutal reality for one. But for the other girl? Adventure and wonderment exploring the galaxy. That said, Space Programme (and Günther’s father in particular) had already addressed this issue long before when setting out the prime directives for their mission.
First off, the Earth twin could never find out what had happened to their identical sibling. That was of the utmost importance. Once separated and a plausible story had been concocted, only then could the space twin be told of their mission. Those were the rules. After that, the two could no longer see each other … not for many years … at least until the ship finally returned to Earth, however long that took.
The second issue was what to do about all those who knew about the experiment and had participated in the process. What about staff and administration at the orphanages and workhouses? What about all those people left at these places of business who might later tell the Earth twin of their sibling’s true destination? The answer to this was easy: they were to be bought off. Incented and yet also warned to keep it a secret all the rest of their days. The orphanages and workhouses would get a large government “endowment” in the form of a deposit made into their bank account that would be equal to their average operating budget the past five years. Also, any staff aiding Space Programme staffers would receive a bonus, and in each case a government accommodation of a sort that most everyone craved: each section supervisor, administrator, or field overseer assisting in the process would receive (after signing a confidentiality agreement that was filled with warnings against breaking their silence), a guarantee of full government retirement benefits starting at age 55.
Now that was something practically no one could turn down! Indeed, all of them leapt at the chance to essentially check their morals at the door and sign on to help in any way they could. In ten or fifteen years, depending on their age, to be able to simply walk away from those moldy dormitory halls and bratty kids? That was irresistible, even if it was blatantly unethical. After all, separating identical twins from each other would have far-reaching, perhaps even devastating effects on each sibling’s individual development. No one needed an advanced college degree to know that.
Monozygotic twins are formed in the fetus from a single egg or zygote which splits and forms two embryos. TWINS … whether monozygotic or dizygotic (i.e., fraternal twins) occur on average 33 out of a thousand live births. But identical twins are the rarest - most often female - because male embryos are more susceptible to dying while in utero. Monozygotic twins have different fingerprints, and though genetically very similar, they are not genetically the same. Not exactly that is. This becomes more prevalent over time because there will also be epigenetic modification caused by environmental influences throughout twins’ lives. This term basically means “activity of particular genes”. Genes can be switched on, switched off, or left dormant in an individual. Same thing with twins. Rudo Kachote was different than her sister Shamiso due to not only the environment they had to survive in, but also the way she chose to react to it. Shamiso, by way of comparison, had her twin Rudo to pummel or “put the boot” in any girl or boy daring to bother them out on the streets of the city. Without Rudo present, Shamiso was easily mistaken for her tough-as-nails duplicate, thus Shamiso was free to more fully develop other parts of her intelligence. That’s how each twin had affected the others’ development while growing up.
Now the only remaining question was just how would Rudo develop without her beautiful sister to look out for and protect. What would this do to her personality? How would this affect her own IQ development … not to mention her future? What might she become someday without Shamiso constantly tagging along, always by her side, balancing her emotionally, and giving her responsibility for another human being? Unfortunately, these challenges were no one’s affair but Rudo’s, at least according to Programme directives. The staffers were directed to inform her that her sister was going away to "live with another family for a while” and eventually the two would be reunited. That’s all they were allowed to say.
It broke the hearts of staffers to have to lie like that; especially to an innocent little girl who'd done nothing to deserve what was about to happen to her. There was no way to rationalize it. No way to live with what they’d done. This was not a matter of international security for the future of mankind after all. It was just a scientific experiment being conducted by sober, intelligent, otherwise moral men and women back in Germany who felt this somehow needed to be done. Thus poor Rudo was going to be on her own, and when the two parted, it was a very teary, heart-wrenching scene to be sure.
For Rudo this was the last of her family being spirited away in that solar transport lorry one drizzly London afternoon, following the final day of testing. Shamiso was merely told she was being moved to a program for smarter kids who showed an aptitude for applied sciences. Shamiso said nothing in response to this barefaced lie. She just stared out the back window of the van with her hand pressed up against the rain-streaked glass. Rudo meanwhile stood on that lonely wet sidewalk until the vehicle had completely disappeared down the street.
“Thank God we only have to do this two more times,” muttered one of the staffers. A few others heard the young woman say this and sighed or nodded in silence. Devastated by the experience, none of them spoke about it again for the rest of the drive out to Heathrow.
********
Next, the young staffers travelled all the way down to south Texas, near a city called Katy, which was just west of the original site of metropolitan Houston. Here they investigated a very strange set of circumstances indeed.
Back at the Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk a month earlier, they had come across a pair of twins which had shown up on government records eight years prior. Live Birth Certificates indicated they were ten years old, in perfect health, and up to that point in time no physical maladies or defects had been identified. They seemed healthy and vibrant enough to go interview, decided the young staffers. Seemed like a couple of boys strong enough to endure the strain of a deep space mission. Strong and athletic, both of them. What a gross understatement that was.
“Ranger Battalion” was what their little league coach called them when referring to the Guerrero’s. He was the first to greet the staffers at Houston Hobby Airport and the one driving the van which drove them out of the terminal. He was also more than happy to tell the team of young scientists all about their two prospects they’d journeyed across the Atlantic to meet.
Any team they ever played for not only won but won big, they were told on the drive. Championship after championship. They were “freaks of nature,” the coach was bold to say, and identical from head to toe. Practically interchangeable. “Could hardly tell ‘em apart since the day they got here,” he claimed. Their names were Práxedis and Oswaldo, the Guerrero twins. Any sport, any position, they quite literally dominated the field “from whistle to whistle”. During the long drive through the south Texas countryside he detailed for the Space Programme interns everything he thought they needed to know – like he was some high school football coach entertaining a group of college recruiters.
“Práxedis can throw, Oswaldo can catch anything you throw at him,” he said. “Oswaldo can kick, Práxedis can elude tacklers like a greased pig,” he added. “Práxedis can outmaneuver defenders on the soccer pitch while ‘ole Ozzie … he can pretty much outrun anyone - except Práxedis of course - in a sprint. And what’s more he got the endurance of a God-dang marathon runner”. In the traditional American sport of “baseball” they were fantastic position players as well as devastating hitters. Práxedis could pitch and throw blazing fastballs. Oswaldo was a phenomenon in the field, chasing down fly balls and heaving the ball from the warning track all the way to home plate - on a single bounce - whenever base runners attempted to tag up and steal on a sacrifice fly. On top of that … he could do this at only ten years of age!
“Of course, that’s on a little league ball field,” added the coach, “but hey, let me tell ya’, I ain’t seen nobody do that before I met these kids that’s for sure.” He could kick too, added the fellow, and in European style soccer Oswaldo was a fearless goalie.
But when it came to Megaball, which had evolved from combining the very violent and injury-plagued American sport of “football”, with the more skill- and endurance-oriented sport of English “rugby”, that’s where both boys really stood out. Práxedis and Oswaldo were already “up-and-comers,” playing on the 12-year old team which was the maximum age limit for their orphanage. And on the Katy Boys Farm, located just outside the little Texas farming community of 250,000, both kids were being groomed to become stars in the sport someday.
A woman named Rotella Coronado ran the place it was learned; and it had been “servicing the community” for over forty years. It functioned as a cotton farm during the week, but … come Saturdays it was more or less a sports boot camp for future high school athletes. That was the reputation they’d garnered over the years, boasted the big man.
"If yer a tough city kid and lucky enough to get sent here; if yer coachable and willin' to work hard ... we'll get you onto one of our sports teams and the sky's the limit. That's why most o' the schools around here don't like playin' us," was how he put it.
How in the world could a place like this exist? Those young staffers from Europe could only wonder. Only in Texas perhaps. But what had happened with Katy Boys Farm was simple really. Starting in the 2070’s, several former Megaball players who’d retired from the professional league came to work there as “youth counselors”. That was their official function that is. Back then Coronado Plantation typically had several hundred city kids (male only) sent there each year. A rudimentary education was provided until boys turned thirteen, when they were tested for mental aptitude and released into society as employable workers.
Yet this was also a working farm: hours of strenuous labor in the hot Texas sun, and plenty of free time on weekends with nothing else to do but play sports. It was quite easy to test various athletic-looking boys to see if they possessed any dexterity for sports. That’s basically how it came about; and that’s also how the Guerrero’s had been discovered. They’d been there since they were toddlers; and now they had both developed into strapping ten-year-olds who towered over most kids their age.
The staffers from Space Programme knew they’d have a tough time deciding between the pair, but the solution once again was to try and test them out on applied sciences. Really the only way to differentiate them so to speak. Physical fitness was obviously NOT going to be an issue, they could readily see without even having met them.
“Oh there’s no question about it,” quipped the colorful coach, “they’re tough little bastards let me tell ya’.”
Between the two, it was almost a dead heat during that long week of testing. Once again the GU staffers showed up with their peedees and packed a large gymnasium with school desks to test ALL kids between the ages of nine and eleven. And ... once again ... this was merely a ruse to see how the two boys fared in such an environment. Could they concentrate? In a massive room packed with several hundred boys their own age? In that stifling south Texas heat with air conditioning units pumping full blast just to keep the temperature (and humidity) bearable? It was an ordeal, especially for the staffers stuck with proctoring the exam.
Yet Práxedis and Oswaldo hammered through the first day with flying colors until the room’s population of sweaty, annoyed nine-, ten-, and eleven-year-old boys had dwindled to less than fifty. After that, the remainder were taken from Katy Boy’s Farm for another week to undergo further testing. The Guerreros’ coach, one Dustin “Dusty” Kinefick was only vaguely accepting of this interruption to their “studies” as he referred to them. Clearly he was referring to them missing afternoon practice but there was no use in arguing the point. Not that he didn't try.
“Y’all thinkin’ these boys ‘r what? Good at math ‘n shit? Scientists someday maybe?”
The staffers chose not to belabor the matter, just let the facility administrator Rotella Coronado pull him aside and have a little chat with the barrel-chested fellow. She had no problem setting him straight of course. Knew just what was at stake. After that, Dusty Kinefick was completely on board.
The staffers it turned out had promised Mrs. Coronado a rather generous endowment toward the improvement of her sports facilities, paving the way for her “plantation” out west of New Houston to be transformed into a real sports academy. She and her beefy “youth counselors” could then train hundreds of future “Guerrero Brothers” with materials and equipment like that of a major suburban youth sports program. What a fortune they might make if one of their charges made it into the professional leagues some day! They’d need an agent, wouldn’t they? How could “Coach Dusty” argue with something like that?
In the end however it was the young but not-so-little Oswaldo who made “the cut”. He and five other boys finished the entire program on their Peedees and demonstrated a deep understanding for scientific concepts despite the very basic education taught to them on Katy Boys Farm. Práxedis for his own part got pretty far into it as well. But when the exam delved into more complicated natural sciences and physics-related problem solving, he simply couldn’t handle it. His brother Oswaldo advanced into the final day of testing. Práxedis was eliminated. It was the first time in his young life he could ever recall being bested by his twin brother.
Once again, the staffers had the twin they wanted, and had to separate one from the other in such a way that no one suspected anything or asked too many questions. That’s why they wisely delegated the unenviable task to Coach Dusty, charging him with explaining to Práxedis that his twin brother Oswaldo (or “Ozzie” as he liked to call him) would be moving on to another boy’s home and “maybe someday soon you two ’ll get to play each other! Who knows, bro’?”
It was a good lie, if there was such a thing, the young staffers had to admit. They couldn’t have thought up something better that was for sure. Therefore, when the two boys parted, out front of the local hotel where the finalists were staying, he bravely bid farewell to his brother.
“Well ... Guess I'll see you on the field then, pussy,” said Práxedis with a macho grin. Oswaldo chuckled and playfully punched his twin brother in the chest. Práxedis rough-housed with him for a bit, then pushed him away as Oswaldo turned to load up onto the van heading out to Houston Hobby Airport. He then waved goodbye as the shiny vehicle, all covered in solar chips and glistening in the afternoon sunlight, rolled away with a whining, whirring sound. His brother waved back to him through the rear window.
“Yeah bro’, I’ll see you on the field someday,” he mumbled to himself. He couldn’t possibly have known just how long it would be before that day would come to pass.
This concludes tonight's podcast of Twin Paradox Book One, Chapter Seven: Three Adorable Pairs. I hope you enjoyed it. Watch for episode eight; which I'll be posting very soon.
I wrote Twin Paradox books one, two, and three, four years ago under the pseudonym Purple Hazel; and each book in the trilogy is organized into parts. What you've just heard is the second chapter of Part Two: Pioneers and Explorers. The entire trilogy can be found by googling Twin Paradox ... Purple Hazel. Book One is on sale for $3.99 on Amazon. Buy it today. Or, if you like, just tune in each week and listen to me read it to you.
Also, and don't forget, my latest full-length novel ... Deathwalker Colony ... is available right now in E-book format and can be downloaded today on Amazon.com, along with the first two books in the Rijel 12 Series, The Rise of New Australia and Return of Anarchy. A link to these as well as some of my other works can be found in the transcript for this episode.
I'm King Everett Medlin. Thanks for tuning in.
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