Dad walked over to me and Carson, grabbed us by our shoulders, stared at us, and smiled.

“You guys are twins. Your DNA tests were positive for twins.”

Everyone just stood there for a few seconds. There were tears flowing down my cheeks, as I turned to Carson and grabbed him in a big hug that included his left arm in its cast between us, and he didn’t even complain. He hugged me back, and Lynn, Barb, Mom, and Dad joined us in a family hug.

“I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!” Lynn shouted. “Come on, guys, say something, shout, scream, dance around, do something!” Everyone stepped back from the hug, leaving me and Carson still holding each other, looking at each other, tears of happiness flowing down our cheeks. I stepped back from him and started a little dance.

“Oh my GOD!” I shouted. “I cannot believe it! This is so fantastic! Come on, Carson, let’s do what Lynn said and dance around. I’m so excited I just have to get it out!”

“You’re crazy, David,” Carson shouted back at me, “and so am I because we’re twin brothers! We! Are! Twin! Brothers! That is freakin’ fantastic!” He started shouting “Oh my god!” over and over as we danced around in the kitchen together, shouting and laughing and crying and hugging each other and Mom and Dad and Lynn and Barb, and then doing it all over again and again and again. Finally Carson pulled back and stopped, and closed his eyes and breathed hard. “I’m outa breath. I need to sit down and rest and just think about all this for a few minutes.”

“Come on,” Mom said, “let’s all go into the family room and let David and Carson sit down and rest. This has been a very emotional and exciting couple of weeks for our twin sons. And for the rest of us as well.”

I sat on the sofa and Carson sat next to me. His right arm was pressing against my left arm and that felt awesome. I turned and looked at him. His eyes were closed and there were tears on his cheeks, but he was smiling. Just looking at him I could tell that my brother, my twin brother, was happy, and knowing that made me smile even more than I had been already. I put my arm around his shoulders, and he turned and looked at me. I leaned over and kissed him on his lips, soft and quick. He took a deep breath, and we heard clapping.

“Oh my GOD!” Lynn shouted, “They kissed each other. That is SO sweet!”

I nervously looked at Mom and Dad, and they were smiling. In fact, I could see that Mom had tears on her cheeks.

“I guess we shouldn’t have done that in front of everyone. But it seemed the right thing to do right then.” I snuggled closer to Carson. “I can’t tell you how important this is to us, right Carson?”

“Yes, David, it is important. And we have Lynn to thank for us finding out that we are twins.” Carson stood and put out his right hand and I grabbed it with my left and stood next to him. The two of us walked over to where Lynn was sitting. She stood and pulled the two of us into a hug.

“Thank you, Lynn,” I told her. “You guessed right from the beginning that we are twins, and you didn’t let any of us forget about it. You kept bugging Mom and Dad until they decided to have us tested.” I could tell that what I said made her happy.

“You guys are the best twin brothers in the world.” She motioned to Barb to come join us. “You don’t know this, but Barb and I planned everything together, so she has to be part of your thank you.”

Carson pulled Barb into a four-way hug. “You two are the best sisters in the universe,” Carson told them, “and the best sisters I’ve ever had.” Then he grinned.

Lynn pulled back a bit and punched him in his right shoulder.

“OW! What’s that for?” He pretended to be mad, but it’s hard to pretend to be mad when you’re giggling, and he was giggling.

“We’re the only sisters you’ve ever had, dufus. And don’t you forget it!”

“You two are the only sisters we’ll ever need,” I added. “And if you keep punching Carson in his right arm he’ll have both arms in slings.”

“It will serve him right! He’s gotta learn who’s at the top of the sibling pecking order around here. And that’s…”

Before she could say ‘me’ I interrupted, “And that’s me because I’m the oldest!”

Lynn looked at me and shook her head. “David, David, David! How can you know that you’re the oldest? Carson could be older by a few minutes. That means you’ll have to abdicate the Oldest Dempsey Sibling Throne. Anyway, it should go to the sibling who’s the smartest and the most persistent.”

“Actually, I was thinking,” I turned and looked at Carson, “that Carson and I would serve as the oldest child jointly. How’s that sound to you, bro?”

“Sounds like a plan, David. Sounds like a plan.”

“Good. That’s our plan then.” Before Lynn could interrupt, I continued, “Okay, let’s sit down ‘cause Carson and I have some questions for Mom and Dad. Don’t we, Carson.”

“Yes, we do, whatever those questions might be.” He shrugged his shoulders, then we stared at each other for a few seconds. Then Carson grinned. “Fire away, David. You know what we want to ask.”

I took a deep breath. There were so many questions we needed to ask!

“Well, our biggie question is this, what’s next?  And what about the two birth certificates? Will we have to have our blood taken for that other test? Will we have to go to court? How does this affect adopting Carson? Is it okay if we dress alike? Did the test show that we’re identical or fraternal twins? Now that we know that we’re twins, will we still have to have separate bedrooms? What is Carson’s birth name? How do we find out if he’s older or younger than me? If I’m gay does that mean that Carson is gay too? When are you going to let Mr. Hagen know? Do we have to be listed as twins at school? Do we have the same blood type? Is it okay if we kiss each other on the lips, like we did a minute ago or when we say goodnight or if we’re just happy to see each other? Can we go get haircuts tomorrow so we have the same haircut? Is it okay if Carson and I help each other with our homework? Do you know if we have any relatives from our birth parents? What happened to Carson’s birth parents? And I guess they’d be mine, too. How…”

Mom interrupted, and she was grinning and shaking her head.

“Hold on just a minute. Which this is your biggie question? You asked about two dozen separate questions. Which one of them is the biggie? Or is it all of them?”

I looked at Carson and he shrugged his shoulders again, so I turned back to Mom.

“We just decided that it’s all of them. And we even have more. But this was a good start, don’t you think?”

“Well, I don’t remember any of your questions. You’ll have to ask them again. One at a time, if you please. So, what’s your first question?”

“I don’t know. I already asked them. How am I supposed to remember them? No one could do that.”

“I can.” It was Barb. “I remember all of the questions you asked and the order you asked them. So, for a mere dollar each I’ll tell you what they were one at a time so Mom and Dad can answer each of them.”

“You’re kidding,” I said.

“No, I’m not. I’ve got a very good memory. And anyway, there’s no way you can prove I’m wrong unless you can remember them, is there?”

“But if I say you’re wrong there’s no way you can prove that I’m wrong, is there!”

“Actually, there is, David,” Mom said. “Remember that you can’t lie to me without my knowing that’s what you’re doing. I’m your mother and I can always tell, isn’t that right?”

“Yeah. Okay, Barb can ask the questions. At the end Carson and I will ask any others that we can think of or that I didn’t get to say earlier when I was interrupted.”

“And you’ll pay me a dollar for each question, right?”

The question and answer session turned out to be like the script for a stage play.

Barb: “I’m going to skip question one because ‘What’s next?’ doesn’t make any sense.

“So here’s question two. What about the two birth certificates?”

           Dad: “We’re going to take the DNA results to court and ask for Carson’s birth records to be released from both Kettering Hospital and Redwood Hospital. Wayne Hagen is going to work on this with me and Steven Morrison, an adoption attorney Wayne recommended.”

Barb: “Question three. Will we have to have our blood taken for that other test?”
             Dad: “Yes.”

Barb: “Question four. Will we have to go to court? I’m gonna skip this one ‘cause Dad already answered it.

“Question five. How does this affect adopting Carson?”

             Dad: “It should make it easier. CPS and the courts want to keep related kids who are up for adoption together whenever that’s possible, and in this case it is a certainty.”

Barb: Question six. Is it okay if we dress alike?”

             Mom: “Why would you want to do that?”

             David: “When we go to school on Monday we want to look as much alike as we can, so we want to get haircuts tomorrow that are exactly the same and wear the same clothes and let our friends guess that we’re telling them that we found out that we are really twins.”

             Mom: “I don’t see why you shouldn’t dress the way you want, the same or different. As long as it’s appropriate.”

Barb: “Question seven. Did the test show that we’re identical or fraternal twins?”
             Dad: “That’s not determined yet. The final report will have that information.”

Barb: “Question eight. Now that we know that we’re twins, will we still have to have separate bedrooms?”

            Mom: “I think it’s a good idea. You’ll want to be together a lot, but you’ll also want to be by yourselves sometimes.”

             Carson: “Can we sleep together whenever we want to?”
             Mom: “That’s up to the two of you. Just don’t spend half the night talking and then moan about having to get up to go to school the next morning.”

Barb: “Question nine. What is Carson’s birth name?”
             Dad: “We assume it’s the same as David’s.”
             Carson: “What was David’s birth name? Weird that I never asked that before.”
             Mom: “David Thomas Camford. Carson, since you’re twins Camford should be the last name on your birth certificate. When you were adopted by the Evans they might have changed your first and middle names and registered a replacement birth certificate. We don’t know that yet.”

             Carson: “Will I keep my first and middle names? So I’ll still be Carson Ryan Dempsey instead of Evans?”
            Mom: “Of course.”
            Carson: “Good. Thanks. I like my name.”
            David: “I like it too.”

Barb: “Okay, okay, let’s get back to the list of questions. Question ten. How do we find out if he’s older or younger than me?”
             Dad: “When we get Carson’s official birth certificate it will have the time of his birth. We have David’s birth certificate so we know he was born at 11:35 a.m.”

Barb: “Question eleven. If I’m gay does that mean that Carson is gay too?”
            Dad: “Even if you’re identical twins, one could be gay and the other not.”
             Mom: “Whether one or both of you is gay doesn’t make any difference to me or to your Dad. We love you gay or straight or anywhere in between, and whether you’re both one or the other or not the same. None of that makes any difference to us.”
             Lynn: “I could care less whether you’re gay or straight.”
             Dad: “I agree.”

Barb: “I agree with everyone about David and Carson being gay or not. Who cares? No one should care about that. Now question twelve. When are you going to let Mr. Hagen know?”
             Dad: “I talked to him this afternoon.”
             David: “So you knew that we were twins this afternoon?”
             Dad: “Yes, and I know you’re going to ask why I didn’t phone you or Mom to let you know. First, I wanted to talk to Wayne Hagen first. Second, you’re not supposed to use your cellphones at school. Third, it would have been a big distraction while you were at school. Fourth and most important, I wanted to tell you all in person and at the same time.”

Barb: “Lucky question thirteen. Do we have to be listed as twins at school?
             Mom: “Yes. On the registration form I filled out for Carson there was a section to list siblings, their age, and what school they attended. Under relationship there are checkboxes for twins and triplets and a space for ‘Other’. Once we have Carson’s official birth certificate I’ll go to the school office and update the registration forms for both of you. I never thought to add Carson to David’s registration, but they might do it automatically. I’m not sure.”

Barb: “Question fourteen. Do we have the same blood type?”
             Dad: “Yes. O Negative. ”
            Carson: “That’s a rare blood type, isn’t it?”
            Mom: “Yes. You two are universal donors, that is you can give blood for transfusions to anyone. However, you can only receive blood transfusions that are O Negative. I suggest that you look it up on the internet to find out more.”
             David: “What percent of people with O Negative blood are there?”
             Dad: “I don’t know. You’ll probably find out when you Google it. Let me and your mom know what you find out.”

Barb: “Question fifteen. Is it okay if we kiss each other on the lips, like we did a minute ago or when we say goodnight or if we’re just happy to see each other?”
             Mom: “That’s up to you. I suggest that you don’t do it around other people, except your immediate family of course.”

Barb: “Question sixteen. Can we get haircuts tomorrow?”
             Mom: Sure. This has something to do with your dressing the same to see if your friends realize that you’re telling them that you’re twins, right?”
             David: “Yup.”

Barb: “Question seventeen. Is it okay if Carson and I help each other with our homework?”
             Mom: “I don’t see why not, as long as you do your own studying and your own homework first. Also, don’t ever change places at school to try to fool your teachers especially when it’s time to take a test.”

Barb: “Question eighteen. Do you know if we have any relatives from our birth parents?”
             Mom: “We did a search for relatives when we adopted David, and none were found. Both of David’s birth parents had been adopted, and because you’re twins the same is true for Carson.”

Barb: “Question nineteen. What happened to Carson’s birth parents? And I guess they’d be David’s, too.”
             Mom: “David’s father was a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan. David’s birth mother was killed in a traffic accident. They are your birth parents as well, Carson.”

Barb: “Question twenty. There’s no question twenty. Th… th… that’s all, folks!”

It was funny how Barb mimicked the Porky Pig ending on those old cartoons they show on the Disney Channel. I knew there were some more questions I wanted to ask, but at first I couldn’t think of any. Then I thought of one.

“Dad, when are you going to make an appointment for the other DNA test where they take our blood?”

“I already called and I’m waiting for a list of dates and locations that we can pick from to schedule taking your blood samples.”

“I can’t think of any questions that I haven’t asked,” I said.

“I don’t have any others either,” Carson said.

“Alright, all of you!” Mom announced. “It’s dinnertime and we all have to eat. So sit down and I’ll put it on the table. We’re having roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. I got a chocolate cake for dessert. So move! Now!” Mom grinned, so we knew she was mostly kidding. But just mostly.

Barb walked with me to the kitchen, elbowed me in my ribs, and grinned. “Okay, that will be sixteen dollars, cash money, please, for services rendered.”

“I don’t have my wallet. Ask me for it in the morning, okay?” I told Barb.

“Alright. Bring my payment with you to breakfast.” She waved four dollar bills. “I have change for a twenty, and I expect to see you in the morning.”

Dinner was chaotic, with everyone wanting to talk about what Carson and I would do now that we knew we were twins. Mom asked him when he would see Mrs. Adamsen, and Carson said he didn't know, and would phone her.

We helped rinse the dishes and put them into the dishwasher, I washed the pans and Carson dried them, and afterwards we snuck a chicken wing each and sat nibbling on them.

We spent the rest of the evening watching TV. Finally Barb got up.

“I’m tired of watching TV, and I’m just plain tired. I’m going to go to bed.”

“Night, Barb,” Carson and I said together.

“Night, everyone.” She hugged and kissed me, Carson, Dad, and Mom, turned and went upstairs. She was followed by Lynn who did the same.

I leaned my head against the cushion of the sofa and closed my eyes. I was really tired. In fact, I was totally exhausted. I heard some program on the TV start up. It was probably ‘Friday Night Lights’. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing that happened was Carson poking me in my ribs.

“What?”

“Time to go to bed, sleepyhead.”

“Huh?” I looked at the TV. It was the eleven o’clock news. “Oh.” I shut my eyes, and Carson grabbed my arm and tried to pull me up off the sofa.

“Come on, David. You’ll sleep better in your own bed.”

I shook my head to try to clear out the cobwebs.

“Okay.” I let him help pull me up and I took a deep breath and yawned. “Nite, Mom. Nite, Dad.” They both said, “Good night, David.”

Then Carson said, “Nite, Mom. Nite, Dad,” and smiled, a very happy smile. They both said, “Good night, Carson,” and returned his smile.

After saying goodnight to our folks, Carson guided me to the stairs and we climbed to the second floor and my bedroom.

“You want to sleep together tonight, David?”

“Yeah. Sleep good. David tired.” I put out my arms like I was a zombie.

“Stop messing around and let’s go pee and brush our teeth and get to bed. I’m tired too.”

We did all that, stripped down to our shorts and T’s, and climbed in bed. Carson rolled onto his right side so he was facing me. I rolled onto my left side, scooted up to him so we were pressed together, and I put my arm around his waist. I could just make out his silhouette against the light from the clock radio.

It’s hard to describe how I was feeling. A lot of it was love for my twin brother. A lot was happiness because we’d found each other. That reminded me to something I wanted to tell him.

“Carson, just think how amazing it is that we found each other after being separated for almost thirteen years.”

“True that, David. And think about it from the way I think about it. We were both adopted once when we were babies. You’ve been David Thomas Dempsey for about twelve years. I was Carson Evans for about a year, then in the foster system for almost twelve years. Now I’m being adopted again, this time to be Carson Ryan Dempsey, and most important to be with you, my twin brother, and with my new parents, and with my two sisters Lynn and Barb, and my big brother Alan.”

“We are gonna have a blast, Carson. We’ll make up for that time you were in the foster system.” I chuckled. “That will start on Monday when we show up at school with the same haircut and dressed the same. I’ll bet Rob figures it out first. Or maybe Gary. Then we’re going to be on the Hillcrest JV tennis team. And we’re going to be growing up together. It’s gonna be fun, Carson. Our life together is gonna be fun.”

Carson looked at me. “I love you, David.”

I smiled. “I love you too, Carson.”

I saw Carson close his eyes, and I closed mine and fell asleep holding on to my twin brother. My last thoughts as I fell asleep were that life is good and that Carson and I were going to take advantage of everything it offers.