Unexpected Turns

Close Friends Are All Here

A couple months past and the Reynolds twins and I became close friends. His family loved my family and the other way around. They still haven't met Gregory but I've told them much about him. He's still at law school and soon will be coming home. I'm looking forward to that day.

When I hang out with each of them, we do things differently.

Jerry and I are closer friends than Dick and I but I like them both, I don't pick favorites. When I hang out with Jerry, it is different than when I hang out with Dick.

Jerry likes to go to a diner to eat most times and likes to bring me along. We usually sit in a booth in the corner of the room and when a nice song comes on from the jukebox, he would make me get up and dance with him.

Lots of people would stare and he wouldn't care one bit.

"As long as your having a good time and I am too, why care," he once told me after I had asked him about it.

Sometimes we would go have a walk in my favorite park a couple blocks away from our houses. We would talk about random things, sometimes very funny situations or serious things. He was a very good listener and a very good storyteller. He could make me laugh easily but he usually didn't make jokes, not to say he was the serious type but the deep type. he loved to let himself out and expected that of me too. He always wants to be helpful with each problem and wants to know every thing going on.

Also he was somewhat emotional. Every time we would go see a movie together he would chose a romantic movie. We once went to watch Gone with the Wind for the first time and at the end he would tear up. It made me laugh which made him feel upset. Then he would hold his head high to show his manliness and says that, he just yawned and his eyes get watery when he yawns. I make him believe that I believe that excuse and he feels happy again.

-

When I hang out with Dick, he doesn't really like being around lots of people. He likes to bring me to the park, at a spot where it is very quiet and have a nice, small picnic. He likes things peaceful and calm, which resembles his attitude a lot. Instead of going to see romance movies, he likes to watch comedies, and instead of walking in the park, he finds walking around the neighborhood a lot more blissful. When he talks, he tries to make jokes out of everything and likes to tell small stories about other people in his life that he found very funny. He never fails to have a smile on his face that is very contagious and never fails to make me laugh. He is not only a comedian but the best listener in the entire world! What ever you tell him he will memorize it easily and you will be astonished.

Also, Dick is one of the smartest kids you would ever meet and is very hard working. He would tutor me a lot.

"You don't go to Danville High School, do you?" he asked me in the middle of our lesson.

"No, I'm home schooled," I reply.

"Why?"

"My mom is very protective knowing about the discrimination problems and all, she doesn't want any of that happening to me."

"She can't always protect you. Besides, I know a couple of Negros that go to my school and are fine and there are schools with majority Negros," he argues.

"She likes to believe she can and I won't argue with her even if I wished I were going to normal school," I sighed, "now math please."

"Oh yeah, slipped my mind. So, 9x + ..." he goes on.

-

But when we all hang out together, we go to this big tree in the park and have a picnic there. After that, Dick and Jerry climb the tree all the way to the top placing their foot carefully on each dent on the wood so they don't fall. However, I couldn't do it, being afraid of heights and all, so they would laugh at me as I sat below them near the trunk. Then they would feel bad and come down to sit next to me.

Sometimes we would go practice baseball, Dick wouldn't play but watch as an audience as Jerry and I took turn bating the ball. Then we would walk back home and talk.

Surprisingly, even though they're very different from each other, they have a couple things in common. They both have the same humor and are very good at making jokes even though Dick does it a lot more. They both are always smiling and the only way you can know when they are sad or mad, is if they are either faking a smile or having a blank expression. When something is wrong, they help each other to stand up against it. And everything that is valuable to them they keep close and protected no matter what.

-

One day we were walking back home after being at the tree and it was a nice windy day. We were talking and then Jerry asked a question that put the spotlight on me. Dick supported his brother and wanted to know the answer as well.

He had asked, "out of us both, who is your favorite twin?"

I scoffed, "I'm not going to answer that, silly."

"So you do have a favorite?" he laughs, "I'm absolutely okay with favoritism, as long as I'm the one you favor."

"Oh, I do not have a favorite. I like both of you the same."

"Now, now we know Pinocchio you're telling lies, your nose is growing longer," Jerry jokes, "it was as big as the fingernail of my finger, now it's as long as my arm."

"I really don't have a favorite. Jerry is a good person who is kind and understanding, and lets me inside, while Dick is a guy who is funny and I can always depend on to make me laugh."

"That's it, I'm not letting you inside or I'm not understanding?" Dick asks.

"Well no, you entertain to much that you don't really talk about anything serious going on. It's not a bad thing, Dick, you are very special to me just like Jerry. Plus every time I talk about something serious you like to make a joke out of it," I try to explain.

"Well, comic relief is good. Shakespeare uses it a lot."

"Shake-who?" Jerry jokes. I let out a smile.

"See comic relief, you smiled."

" I see your point there but, I would love it if sometimes you would stop trying to entertain me and show me the real you," I place my hand on his shoulder, "only sometimes, huh?"

"sure," he smiles with a shrug.

We reach my porch and I see a tall man in a tailored suit standing in front of the door, with two suitcases in both hands.

"Gregory!" I yelled surprised.

He looked back and smiled, "Mary," he said.