“Why don’t you guys go upstairs and work on your homework tonight?” Mrs. Anderson said.

“Aww, Mom!” Todd griped. “This has been such a heavy-duty day, and our first week in high school. I’d rather play video games.”

“I agree,” I said.

“What do you think, Trish?” she asked my mom.

“I think Todd had a good argument for not working on homework tonight. They have the rest of the weekend for that. I say let them relax and crash some cars or shoot aliens or whatever mayhem the video games they decide to play offer up.” Mom grinned.

Mrs. Anderson took a deep breath, then grinned. “Okay, I’m overruled. Remember, Todd, your bedtime is eleven o’clock. Is that okay with you, Trish?”

“That’s Tony’s weekend bedtime too. You two,” my mom said, pointing to Todd then to me. “Eleven o’clock and no procrastination. Do you agree?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Yes,” Todd said.

We got up and started walking to the stairs when Mrs. Anderson stopped us and said, “Todd, we’ll let you know when we’re leaving.”

“And,” Mr. Anderson said, “be sure to let us know when you find out if that doctor will come over tomorrow or Sunday in the afternoon to talk about twins.”

“Okay,” I said. “His name is Dr. Sanderson. Hey, I just realized. If you drop the first letter his last name would be Anderson.”

“Weird,” Todd said, then he looked at me. “Wouldn’t it be funny if he looked like our dads?” We both burst out laughing.

“Go to your room, Tony, and take Todd with you. Scoot! Now!” Mr. Anderson shouted. That made him and the other adults laugh.

We started for the stairs again, and as I turned I said, “You know, our parents are really weird, aren’t they?”

“It’s in their genes, I think,” Todd replied.

“Upstairs!” my dad shouted.

Todd and I started running upstairs, and my mom hollered, “Don’t run!” so we slowed down and walked the rest of the way.

When we got to my room I shut the door and flopped on my bed. Todd flopped down next to me.

“That was fun,” I said.

“Yeah. Now, what do you want to do?”

“Can you install that software to get around the blocker-tracker program on our network?”

“Oh, yeah. I’d forgotten about that.”

“I know. Me too. Is it a big deal to install?”

“Nope. Let’s do it.”

Todd got his backpack and pulled out a sheet of paper. “The software is installed from the internet. It’s a proxy that lets you log on to a random website bypassing any list of blocked internet sites. When you want to use it, you tell it what country you want to appear to come from, and it randomly picks a location in that country, and you turn it on. Then the data you send is encrypted on your PC then unencrypted when it gets to the server, and vice-versa. When you’re done you just turn it off. So, it’s good to go.”

“There’s gotta be a downside,” I said.

“There are a couple. First, you’re limited to five hundred megabytes of data each month. So turn it on when you need to use it, like doing a search for anal-itical chemistry,” Todd smirked, and I laughed. “Then when you don’t need to use it just turn it off. It’ll show you how much bandwidth you have left each time you sign off. Also, when you have it turned on it will take longer to bring up a website. That’s because it’s going through the proxy server, and if the proxy server’s in some other country it takes even longer.”

“Five hundred megs of data doesn’t seem like much,” I said.

“It’s a lot if you’re not trying to do something like download pirated movies or music or too many porn pix. Or view high-bandwidth stuff like videos. If it isn’t enough, you can pay either $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year for unlimited access, and you can install it on two of your devices like your cell and tablet, or if you don’t have a tablet you can install it on a laptop. But you’d need a credit card to do any of that.”

“Yeah. I’ll just have to stick with the free version and watch how many megs I have left each time I use it. I think you should go ahead and get started with the install.”

It took Todd a little over ten minutes to download and install the software, and for me to enter my email address, a password, and my Twitter @ID. The service sent me an email and I responded and it was, as Todd said, ‘Good to go.’

Then Todd deleted the link to the program in All Programs. In the folder for Windows Accessories he created a shortcut with the Wilson High logo, and the display name Wilson High Info.

“You said there’s no icon or anything to flag that I’m using this… site? Server? Software? Whatever it is.”

“It is software that connects to a proxy server site. It will put an icon on your task bar when you’re using it, but I removed it from your All Programs list. What I did is create a shortcut to where the program’s located on your hard drive and gave it one of the standard Windows icons, a green file folder, and named it ‘Wilson High Sports Scores’ so it probably wouldn’t be found by your parents, and if they did it probably wouldn’t attract any interest.

“Okay, here’s how it works. First, open the program. To do that you have to click on the start button, then All Programs, then Windows Accessories, then Wilson High Info. Pick the country where you want to connect from, then click the On button. When you’re done, click the Off button. Next time you sign on do the same thing. If you want the same country it’ll still be there. Browsing and other things you do on the internet will be slower when the proxy is turned On.

“Now there’s one other thing we need to do. We need to encrypt one of your folders, the ones where you save any uh… let’s say, embarrassing files.”

“I don’t have anything like that on my PC.”

Todd smirked. “That’s ‘cause you can’t go to those kinds of websites. So, tell you what, let’s create a folder and name it ‘My Journal’ and set Windows to encrypt the contents. If you want to save anything and keep it from potentially prying eyes just put the files in this folder. You can create new folders in there too.

“I printed out the step-by-step instructions on how to use this, and how to create a backup of your security certificate. You should move it to a flash drive in case something happens to your PC you’ll be able to put the hard drive in another computer and access the files. If somebody steals your PC they won’t be able to access anything in that folder.”

“Jeez, that sounds real complicated.”

“It really isn’t. Just watch and follow along.”

That’s what we did. What was cool is that when a folder was encrypted its icon and name changed to green. I exported the certificate and moved it to a flash drive then put that in my desk drawer.

“No one will ever find it in here, I’ve got so much junk, including several other brands of flash drives.”

“Yeah, that’s about as secure as anywhere that I have at home. You have any questions, cuz?”

“Cuz? That is so funny sounding. Anyway, no questions. What you wrote out is totally straightforward. Now what I’m going to do is hide these docs somewhere safe from prying eyes.”

I found the perfect spot. I pulled out a box from the bottom shelf of my bookcase and held it out so Todd could see the title.

“Rama! Is that the same as the books by Arthur C. Clarke? I’ve got all of them.”

“Yup.”

“Damn, I didn’t know there was a video game for those stories.”

“There isn’t. This is a PC game, a really, really old PC game. Check the copyright. I pointed to the back of the box, at the bottom.”

“You’re shitten me! 1994? We weren’t even born then!”

I turned the box so he could see the system requirements. Windows 95? I never even heard of that. Have you tried it?”

“No. I bought it when my mother dragged me clothes shopping. There was a Dollar Only store, and I found this on their computer software shelf. It’s ancient. I want to try it, but I haven’t had time. Maybe we can try it tomorrow, ’eh?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

“For now, what I’m going to do is put these papers in the Rama box. It’s a great hiding place.” That’s what I did, then put the box back in the same place at the bottom of my bookcase.

“What do you want to do now?” Todd asked.

“How about what we said we’d do, play a video game?”

“Sounds good. What do you have? I know you told me, but I forgot.”

“How about Forza Motorsport? We can start with version 1. It’s a blast to play.”

“Okay, let’s give that a try,” Todd said.

We played that game for over an hour, then Mom came upstairs and knocked at my door.

“Todd, your folks will be leaving in a few minutes. You guys should come downstairs and say goodbye.”

“Okay, we’ll be down in a couple minutes,” I told her.

I put the game on hold and we put our controllers down, then stood up.

Todd made a “Hmm” sound.

“What’s that mean?” I asked.

“I was just thinking about us being cousins. You know what else that means?”

“Uh… we’re kissing cousins?” I suggested.

“Yeah, but there’s something else that we haven’t thought about. It’s a lot bigger than being kissing cousins.”

“I can’t guess what you mean.”

“My mom and dad are your Aunt Nora and Uncle Dennis. Your mom and dad are my Aunt Trish and Uncle Rob. That’s very cool!”

I stood there staring at him, then started laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“Just think what their reaction is going to be when your folks leave to go home and I say, ‘Goodnight Aunt Nora, Goodnight Uncle Dennis,’ as we get to the door and are saying our goodbyes.”

“Oh my god, yes! I’ll bet that our dads haven’t thought about that part of them being twins.”

“You ready?” I asked.

“That I am, I’m good to go.”

We went downstairs. They were still sitting and chatting like adults seem to do all the time. Todd and I sat down and listened. In my opinion we didn’t hear anything worth remembering. Finally they finished, and stood up, and so did Todd and I.

We all walked to the front entry, and my folks said their goodbyes. Then Todd started getting directions from his mom.

“Be sure to brush your teeth and take a shower before going to bed. Remember that eleven o’clock is your bedtime. No staying up late playing video games.”

Of course, my mom had to chime in with, “And the same goes for you, Tony.”

‘Yeah, yeah!’ is what I thought, but that wouldn’t have gone over very well, so I just replied the same as Todd, “Okay, Mom.”

Finally they finished their last-minute chat, and Todd’s folks said, “Goodnight, boys. Goodnight, Trish and Rob.”

My folks said, “Goodnight Nora and Dennis.”

Todd said, “Goodnight, Mom. Goodnight, Dad.”

I said, “Goodnight Aunt Nora and Uncle Dennis.” I stood there, smiling sweetly.

It got exactly the reaction we’d hoped.

“What did you say?” my dad asked.

Uncle Dennis stood there staring at me for a few seconds then started laughing.

“We’ve been upstaged by our sons, who are now cousins. They realized that if they are cousins, then we are their aunts and uncles and they are our nephews.”

“That’s true,” Mom said. She looked at me. “Who figured that out, Tony?”

“Todd did. We think it’s very cool.”

“Yeah, Aunt Trish. You know, it’s a lot easier for me to call you Aunt Trish and Uncle Rob than Mrs. McKinley and Mr. McKinley. It’s more personal, too.”

With that my mom grabbed Todd in a hug. “That’s a wonderful thing to say, Todd. It is more personal for you and for us. I like having a nephew. You’re the only nephew who lives near us.”

“Yeah, Tony and I think it’s very cool we’re you guy’s nephews.”

“Well,” Uncle Dennis said, “we need to get going. We’ll see you tomorrow afternoon if Dr. Sanderson comes over tomorrow. If he comes on Sunday we’ll let you know in advance, and see you then.”

“That reminds me,” Mom said. “Todd, since you’re staying over both tonight and Saturday night, we decided you might as well stay over Sunday night as well. You can go to school together Monday morning.”

“Thanks,” Todd said. “I’m glad you thought about that.”

“Oh! That reminds me of something Todd and I wanted to ask but didn’t because of all of the twin stuff going on. We’d like to do a Tuesday and Thursday stay-over every week. Todd will come home with me on Tuesday after school and we’ll do our homework and study for tests together and he’ll stay overnight and we’ll go to school together Wednesday morning. Then I’ll go home with him on Thursday after school and so on. Is it okay if we do that?”

My folks looked at us, then our moms looked at each other. They nodded, and Aunt Nora said, “Let’s give it a two week trial. If it works out it’s fine with me. Doing this will ensure that your homework gets done, and you should both do better on tests in the classes you have that are the same.”

“I agree,” my mom said.

“I think this is something we’ll leave to the mothers, and it sounds like they’re in agreement,” my dad added.

Todd and I looked at each other and grinned.

“Thanks!” we said simultaneously.

“We’ll bring some clothes over for Todd,” Aunt Nora said.

“You don’t need to do that,” I said. “Todd and I wear exactly the same sizes, so I’ll loan him whatever of my clothes he wants to wear.”

“Is that okay with you, Trish?” Aunt Nora asked.

“I don’t see why not,” Mom replied. “It might even let us cut our clothing budgets a little.”

“Or increase them,” Uncle Dennis said, and he laughed.

All the goodnights were finally over and Todd and I went upstairs to return to Forza Motorsport 1 and played for about a half hour. I stretched and yawned, then so did Todd.

“I’m tired of this,” Todd said. “Let’s test out the proxy software I installed on your computer.”

“Yes! Actually we should have done that when you installed it. But there’s no time like the present. First, test that the blocker software is still working.”

We sat down at my desk, and I woke up my PC.

“Go to the internet and do a search on ‘analytical chemistry’ and see what happens.”

The Google browser is my home page, mostly because it’s simple and doesn’t distract me, and because I do a lot of Google searches. I keyed ‘analytical chemistry’ into the search bar and pressed Enter.

I read the message on the screen, ‘Site unavailable.’

“Now try it going through the proxy service.”

“Okay,” I said, “First, I pick where I want to be from.” I picked Canada. “Now I click the On button.” I clicked it. I waited for a few seconds. “Nothing happened.”

“Oh, yes, it happened. Close your browser then reopen it and do a new Google search for analytical chemistry.

I closed the browser and reopened it, then like before, I keyed ‘analytical chemistry’ into the search bar and pressed Enter.

I couldn’t believe it. This time I got the first page of Analytical Chemistry results. At the top it listed: ‘About 34,600,000 results (0.22 seconds)’

“It worked! Look, it worked. You’re a genius, Todd!”

“Wait a minute. We need to do one more search to make sure that it’s working. Let me key in something and we’ll see if it’s really getting around that block on your internet connection.”

I moved the keyboard over to where Todd could use it. “Okay, keyboard is all yours.”

He opened a private browsing window, then he typed ‘teen sex stories’ and it brought up a page filled with links to sites I’d sure as hell call porn. And it was certainly something I never could have accessed before.

“Oh my god! Shut that off now!”

He closed the private browser window, then the regular window, and signed off from the proxy service and closed it.

“You won’t find that site in your history or cookies because when you close the private browsing window all that is deleted permanently. You need to remember to always use a private browser window when you go to sites you don’t want your folks to find out about if they get on your PC. Cool, ‘eh?”

“I guess.”

“You guess? I give you access to all of the sex stories you could ever want to read and you guess it’s cool?”

“Okay, it’s cool. But it doesn’t mean that I’m going to go to those sites even if I can. They look way too explicit,” I said. It actually meant that I might go to some gay story sites and I wouldn’t want him to find out because then he’d know that I’m gay.

“Yeah, as if!” Todd said, smirking.

“Huh!”

“What do you mean by Huh?”

I grinned. “Now I know why you’re so interested in the sex education class on Monday.”

“Yeah. So?”

“You’re hoping it’s going to be like a porn site!”

“No way! I want to find out everything there is to know about sex, all of the details.”

“Yeah, as if!” I said, smirking just like he had earlier.

“Well, I’ll show you, mister!” With that he tackled me and I fell back on my bed with him on top, kneeling on my arms. He started tickling me, and my immediate reaction was to begin squirming around trying to get out from under him. I pulled my right arm free and started tickling him. He tried to stop me by grabbing my right arm, but that let me pull my left arm out and tickled him in his armpit. We were both laughing, and I guess making a lot of noise. Dad pounded on the door and then opened it and came in.

“What’s going on in here?”

Todd rolled off me and we laid there laughing.

“A tickling fight,” I said, after my laughing slowed down.

“Well, keep it down. We’re going to bed now, and it’s after eleven so it’s time for you two to do the same. Todd, do you want an air mattress or a sleeping bag?”

I looked at Todd, then motioned to my bed. He nodded.

“My bed is big enough for the two of us, so we’ll sleep together.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Dad said. “We want you to go to sleep instead of trying to tickle each other all night.”

“We’re good, Uncle Rob,” Todd said. “I think we’re too exhausted now to do anything other than go to sleep.”

While he said that I yawned, a real yawn and not for my dad’s benefit.

“I agree, I’m tired,” I said, then turned to Todd and yawned again then stretched my shoulders. That made him yawn, and we both giggled.

“Why do I yawn when I see someone else do it?” Todd asked.

“I have no idea,” Dad replied. “Tony, that’s something your mom might be able to answer for the two of you.”

Todd turned his head and looked at me. “Let’s remember to ask my aunt Trish tomorrow.”

I grinned because of the way he said it. “Yeah, good idea. If we forget we’ll remember on Sunday when we ask her about the bones.”

“What’s that got to do with yawning?” Todd asked.

“The jawbones are used when we yawn,” I replied.

“I’m going to bed,” Dad said. “You two get ready and please be in bed with the lights out by eleven-thirty. Okay?”

“Okay. G’night, Dad,” I replied.

“Goodnight, Uncle Rob,” Todd said.

“Goodnight, guys,” Dad said. He left my bedroom, leaving the door open.

“Did you notice we got an extra half hour before we have to go to bed?” I asked.

“Yeah, that worked out great.”

“Let’s go get ready. You want to shower now or in the morning?”

“Morning,” Todd replied. “I’ll use a washcloth and go over my face and pits. That’s enough for tonight. Oh, and I’ll brush my teeth, too. I brought my toothbrush and toothpaste. Do you have some mouthwash I can use?”

“Sure.”

I took off my shoes and socks, my jeans and my shirt. Then I pulled off my T. I saw Todd did the same. We both wore boxer briefs. Mine were grey, his were black.

“Did you mean it when you said we could share clothes?” he asked.

“Absolutely. There’s no reason why not. I think we’ll find that our taste in clothes is pretty much the same, and we’re exactly the same sizes. So no problema, right?”

He grinned. “Right. Now, where do your dirty clothes go?”

“Our house has a chute in the hall. Grab your clothes that you want washed and I’ll show you where it is.”

We walked out of my room and down the hall to where the chute was between the bathroom and guest bedroom doors.

“Here it is.” I pulled it open and dropped in my clothes, and held it open for Todd as he dropped in his.

“I never heard of anything like this. Where do the clothes go?”

“The laundry room is directly below us. There’s a big clothes basket under the chute, and it’s next to the washer. When we put ’em in here they drop straight down and fall into the clothes basket.”

“That’s fun. Too bad I live in a one-story house.”

“Come on, let’s get washed up.” We went into the bathroom and I closed and locked the door.

While Todd peed, I filled the sink with hot water, wet my washcloth, and wiped everything above my waist. Todd came over, wet his washcloth, and wiped his face and neck. I dropped my boxer briefs and kicked them out of the way, then I wiped everything between my waist and my knees. When I finished I saw Todd do the same.

“What do we do with the washcloths?”

“Rinse them, then wring them to get most of the water out, and keep them for tomorrow morning. Is that what you do at home?”

“Yeah, more or less. I usually shower before I go to bed, and I put the wet washcloth and towel in the wash. The laundry room is just down the hall from my bathroom.”

“Do you want a clean washcloth to use in the morning when we shower?”

“Nah. Not necessary.”

We both brushed our teeth, then I walked over to pee. When I finished I turned and saw Todd leaning against the sink, grinning.

“What?” I said, and grinned.

“I’ve never watched myself pee. It’s interesting.”

“Interesting? To watch me pee?”

“Yeah. You do it a little different than I do. You hold it with your left hand, I hold it with my right.”

“As long as you were going to perv me, maybe I was just giving you a better view.”

“Why would I want to perv you? Now, if you were bigger than you are it might have been interesting.”

“Then you’d also be bigger than you are. Come on, let’s get to bed.”

I knew if this conversation went on any longer that I’d embarrass myself. I pulled on my boxer briefs and Tony pulled his on too.

When we got back to my room I closed the door.

“Do you have a lock on your door?” Todd asked.

“No, unfortunately.”

“Which side of the bed do you normally sleep on?”

“The left side, as you’re lying in bed. But I don’t care. You’re the guest, so you can choose either side.”

“The right side is fine, especially because it’s the default. That way you won’t be rolling on top of me. What do you normally wear to bed?”

“I usually sleep in boxer briefs if the weather’s warm, and wear a T if it’s cold. I never need anything more because the furnace will turn on if it’s really cold. Uh, how do you sleep?”

“Boxer briefs, too,” Tony replied.

“I should have known that without asking, shouldn’t I,” I said.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he replied. “I think there’s been too much going on today to keep us in synch.”

“When my dad’s talking about one of his classes not catching on, he says he changes his approach, and that changes the dynamic in the class. I think finding out that we’re cousins instead of thinking of ourselves as brothers changed the dynamic about how we’re relating to each other, so we’re over-thinking things and aren’t as in synch with each other. Or at least it’s that way for me.”

“I agree with that,” Todd said. “Changing the dynamic. That’s a cool thing to say. I’m gonna have to remember it and use it somewhere. Hey, I know! I’m supposed to set up a blog in my Computer Tech class. I’ve been wondering what to call it. ‘Changing the Dynamic’ is perfect!”

“That’s a great name for a blog,” I agreed. “It sounds sophisticated, sort of adult, and not something that’s being written by a thirteen year old kid. Will I be able to read your blog?”

“Anyone will be able to read my blog because it’s going to be open. It’ll be on WordPress.com, the hosting is free, and we have to make our blogs open to everyone on the internet.”

“So no sex stuff, ‘eh?” I asked, then grinned.

“No, that’s part of the deal. It’s gotta be G- or PG-rated.”

“Have you thought about what’s going to be on your blog?”

“I was thinking about having two subjects. One would be about what my friends and I do at school and at home, the other about Wilson High sports, you know, schedules and scores and stuff like that. The high school sports reports in the newspaper suck big time, and there’s never anything on TV except the state championships. So I figured I’d solve that, at least for Wilson High. I was also thinking I could go to the games and take pix and post them. My dad’s an attorney so he can help me with the copyrighting of my pix and what I write myself on my blog.”

“That sounds great. I’m impressed,” I said.

“You can create your own blog. It’s easy.”

“Is doing the blog a project for the Computer Tech class every semester?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Then maybe it’s better if I wait. I’m going to take Computer Tech next year and I’ll have to create my blog for that class.”

“Of course, if you create one now you won’t have to spend time doing it for the class. Just saying.”

“So if I already have a blog I can say, ‘Here it is’ to the teacher and that’ll be okay?”

“That’s what he told us, as long as you’ve been posting to it regularly. Then you can use the time you’d spend on creating your blog to do an extra credit project in class.”

“Well, that’s interesting. Can you teach me how to create a blog?”

“Sure. And there are cheap books on learning WordPress you can download for your Kindle app.”

“Okay, you’ve sold me. I’m not in a hurry, so maybe after you get your blog running is a good time for you to start helping me.”

“You know, so you can get a feel for it, why don’t you volunteer to be a beta tester for my blog? Mr. White said we have to do that, and give him the name and email address of who it is so he can have you fill out a survey about your experience using my blog and what you like and don’t like about it.”

“I like that. I’ll be able to learn about creating a blog from the point of view of a visitor to your blog.”

“So it’s okay if I give your name and email address to Mr. White on Monday?”

“Yes!”

I yawned, and Todd had been looking at me so he yawned too. That made me laugh, then he laughed too.

“Time for beddy-bye?” he asked.

“Oh, my god! I haven’t heard that since I was a little kid,” I replied.

“Then, let’s hit the sack.”

“I wonder where that’s from,” I said, not expecting an answer.

“It’s an old English idiom,” Todd told me. “Mr. Stafford had us do a search to see who could come up with the longest list of old English idioms that are in common use here in America today. I liked that assignment because it was fun and it let me try different search engines and find the websites that had lists with lots of idioms.”

“Did you get an A on that assignment?”

“Yeah, everyone who turns in a list of idioms gets an A. If you don’t turn in your homework then he’ll give you an F for the assignment.”

“Everyone knows that in advance?” Todd nodded. “But what would’ve stopped me from finding like just one or two idioms and turning it in for my A?” I asked.

“Peer pressure. He’s going to hand them out so each of us gets someone else’s paper. He’s going to give us a few minutes to read through the idioms on the paper we’re given, then he’s going to have each of us read what we think is the best idiom. I’d do it like, ‘Tony McKinley listed 23 idioms,’ and then read one of them.”

“Teachers here seem to use that method, handing things back so you get someone else’s. It’s cool, and you have to be sure you do your assignment or homework.”

I yawned, twice, then laughed. “I guess that I am tired. Like my mom says, ‘No more procrastination! Time for bed.’”

Tony yawned, a really long yawn, and then sighed. “I know I’m tired. It’s been a long day with a lot of stuff that happened to both of us.”

I walked to the door and clicked on the switch that turned on the lamp on the nightstand next to my bed, then clicked the other switch to turn off the ceiling light.

I walked around my bed to the left side and climbed in. Todd got in on the other side. I reached over and turned off my lamp

I turned so I was lying on my right side, facing him. “Goodnight, Todd.”

He was lying on his left side. He moved his pillow so it was right next to mine, then scooted over so we were pressed together, face to face, body to body. He put his right arm around me, then kissed me on the lips. It was a soft, long, sensuous kiss.

“Goodnight, Tony.”

I put my left arm around him, took a deep breath and let it out slowly, closed my eyes, and fell asleep.