The Legend of the Ditto Twins by Jerry Douglas Read Free Book Online Page B

time in ages we weren't looking at each other. I kept going over Mom's
ultimatum, trying to put my thoughts into words.
    " They
don't really want us to be happy," I began.
    "But they think they do. Only
it's got to be their idea of happy."
    "Do you think they're
happy?"
    Clark shrugged. "Happy enough.
She runs things; he lets her."
    I nodded. "Very good. Smart.
Maybe even wise."
    "Maybe."
    I glanced over.
"Are you happy?"
    "Happy?" With a laugh, my
brother abruptly tossed his head back and forth in spastic double-time, like a
spaniel shaking himself off after a bath. Little droplets of sweat whirled into
the air like a splash of tiny diamonds. "Dog happy. Well, till today,
anyway."
    "'Dog happy'? What kind of happy
is dog happy?"
    "Totally happy." He panted
extravagantly at the blazing sun and howled like a werewolf. "Is that an
answer?"
    I crowed with laughter. "That'll
do."
    "Seriously, I've never been
happier in my whole life."
    "Me either. I like
puberty."
    "I like your hard-on in my
hand."
    "I like my tongue in your
mouth."
    "Think we'll ever get tired of
kissing each other?"
    I snorted and tried to keep my eyes
on the road, but mostly I watched the trickles of sweat shimmying down the
smooth skin of my brother's ribcage. I was beginning to realize what it meant
to be mesmerized.
    "Earth to Mark. Where are
you?"
    I looked up, almost but not quite
embarrassed. "Where do you think?"
    "In my pants." It was not a
question.
    I nodded. "Let's go find a
field."
    "Okay."
    Five minutes later, we selected a
spot down the road and padlocked our bikes to a fence post. I started off into
a row of waist-high corn; Clark didn't.
    That surprised me. "What?"
    "Relax," he said.
"We're gonna play soon enough."
    "When?" I demanded, moving
back to grope him.
    "As soon as we've settled what
we're gonna do."
    "Oh, that." I let go.
"Okay. Talk."
    "Well. I've been thinking. Do
you realize... You've been right here next to me every day of my life? Every
single solitary day."
    "Never missed a day." I ran
a fingernail down his upper arm. "Or night. Never missed a night. Not
one."
    "Ditto. We've always done
everything together. Everything. That's why I'm not... sure I could handle...
being alone."
    "Me either." I touched the
golden fringe on his upper lip. "You think I haven't been thinking,
too?"
    "I know. I could almost hear
you." He touched my lip. "I wanted us to shave together the first
time."
    "We still can."
    I slid an arm around his slimy
shoulder.
    "This isn't solving our
problem." He pulled away to sit on the hard ground. "You, too.
Sit!" I dropped down. "No, not so close or we'll get sidetracked.
C'mon. Please, Mark."
    Begrudgingly, I sprawled on the warm
ground, opposite him, trying my damnedest to concentrate on the very real
catastrophe that had to be resolved in less than six hours.
    "Okay. We've got to negotiate a
deal. You know, a deal the folks'll take, but one
that we can live with, too."
    He leaned back on his elbows, his
butt and legs flat on the baked soil. I did too, mirroring his position.
    "Such as?"
    I pressed the soles of my sneakers
against his and spread our legs apart, so that together our long, lean limbs
formed a perfect diamond. Reflexively, he pressed back.
    "Now the first question is, how
much do we want a car?"
    "A lot," I answered.
"Not for the prom or the drive-in, but so we'll have a way to escape when
things get worse."
    Clark nodded. "And they
will."
    "Hey,
would you mind putting on your T-shirt?
    "Why?"
he asked.
    "'Cause
I'm having trouble concentrating. All I can think about is play ing with your
nipples."
    "Mark,
shut up! Now the second question is... Let's say you and I, we
agree—theoretically—that one of us'll go. Then part of
the deal's gotta be that we get to take turns visiting each other every single
weekend all summer long." He paused. "How do we make Mom and Dad buy
that? All that travel costs money."
    "But
five nights a week sleeping alone."
    "I
can count." He groaned. "That's the price of a