leave a comment
Maryjane
and Annette were two peas in a pod. The twins were identical in every
way. Aside from their mother, it was very difficult for other people,
including friends, to identify one from the other.
Maryjane and Annette took advantage of
this feature and got away with numerous pranks. Their mother, Arden,
had enrolled them in the same secondary school but an incident made her
separate them. One day, Annette was caught when she tried to impersonate
and write an impromptu test for Maryjane! Her sister had broken the
hostel rules and gone for a friend’s birthday party in a neighbouring
city. Unknown to her, the mathematics teacher organised an impromptu
test at the end of the class. When she got wind of the test, Annette
quickly sneaked into the class when she taught the teacher was not
watching. At the end of the exercise, the teacher informed her that he
was aware of what she had done.
The matter was brought to the notice of
the principal, who immediately summoned their mother. The principal
threatened to expel Annette and gave their mother an ultimatum— she
either withdrew Annette from the school or have the twins expelled. As a
result, the girls were separated from each other for the first time
since birth.
Maryjane could not face being separated
from Annette. She wept bitterly and fell ill. Annette assured her that
they would always visit each other in school. Their mother ensured that
Annette was enrolled in a nearby school.
The incident sobered Maryjane and she
became more serious with her studies. She never played pranks in school
again. Her sister visited her whenever she had time between classes and
they hung out at the school cafeteria together. At the end of the
school year, Maryjane emerged top of her class. Annette also took top
position in her class.
That year, their mother took them on a
summer vacation abroad. Although she had raised them as a single
mother, Arden took great pride in the way her twins turned out. She was
not ashamed of the fact that they were a product of a casual fling with a
visiting diplomat from the Caribbean Island.
The man, Peter Thompson, was married and
Elizabeth did not think it would be proper to break another woman’s home
since he only spent one month in Nigeria on official duty.
When the children sought to know about
their father, she came up with this explanation: “Your father was a
visiting sailor. Unfortunately, by the time you were born, I lost touch
with him.’’ Since then, however, Maryjane and Annette had secretly tried
to locate their father. They gathered data, asked questions and looked
up every Peter Thompson in phone books and other records. Their mother
had no idea that they were looking for their father.
One day, they were able to locate a man
by that name on the yellow pages but the man was listed as a diplomat
from the Caribbean Island and not a sailor as their mother made them to
believe. They eventually gave up the search and continued with their
lives.
Arden worked in an advertising and public
relations agency. As one of the top managers, she was entitled to a lot
of privileges including foreign trips once a year. The company also
made provision for scholarship scheme for children of senior staff.
After their secondary education, Maryjane and Annette were placed on the
company’s list of beneficiaries. Both had wanted to study law but their
mother kicked against the idea. “Both of you cannot be in the same
discipline. You have to be separated at a certain point in your life, no
matter how dreadful that sounds. That is the only way you can grow up
as independent women,’’ she advised them.
So, while Maryjane chose medicine, Annette settled for law in different universities.
“One thing I would not have you do is
board the same flight home whenever you are on holidays. When we travel
out of the country we can afford to board the same flight. When you are
on vacation, don’t wait for each other. I am not saying something bad
would happen but it is better to take precautions,” their mother also
advised.
But the two tried as much as possible to
stay close. They went to each other’s school whenever they could get
away. In her third year in school, Annette met and fell in love with
George, a 400 level medical student. George was from the Niger Delta
region and his family was very influential. He was head over heels in
love with Annette and always said he could not wait for the semester to
end in order to take her home and introduce her to his parents.
The semester finally ended and Annette
and George started making preparations to travel to Delta State to visit
his parents. George knew Annette had a twin sister but he had not met
her. Each time Maryjane came around, George was either busy or out of
campus.
Annette had insisted, however, that for
the trip to Delta State, Maryjane would have to accompany them. George
was excited at the prospect. He would finally get to meet Annette’s
twin. They fixed the trip for the Christmas holidays.
Arden knew about the whole arrangement
because her daughter had told her so much about the young man. She had
also spoken to him several times on phone and he sounded like a
responsible man. She was the one who suggested that Maryjane accompany
her sister to Delta State. The idea was for them to look after each
other.
They travelled a week after their
semester exams and Maryjane came to school to join them. George saw her
for the first time and to him the resemblance was uncanny. “I would
never be able to tell them apart in a million years,” he told himself.
They boarded the morning flight and in 30
minutes, they arrived in Delta State. The parents and relations of
George were awed by the twins and could not stop fussing over them.
Maryjane and Annette spent three days in
Delta State. They were to spend one week and then leave for Lagos to see
their mother. But things went horribly wrong.
