Twin Studies Read online

  TWIN STUDIES

  A

  NOVEL

  © Keith Maillard 2018

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical — including photocopying, recording, taping, or through the use of information storage and retrieval systems — without prior written permission of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright), One Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto, on, Canada, M5E 1E5.

  Published with the generous assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Media Fund.

  Freehand Books

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  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Maillard, Keith, 1942–, author

  Twin studies : a novel / Keith Maillard.

  Issued in print and electronic formats.

  ISBN 978-1-988298-31-3 (softcover). ISBN 978-1-988298-32-0 (epub).

  ISBN 978-1-988298-33-7 (pdf)

  I. Title.

  PS8576.A49T85 2018 C813’.54 C2018-902941-2 C2018-902942-0

  Edited by Lee Shedden

  Book design by Natalie Olsen, Kisscut Design

  Author photo by Mary Maillard

  Printed on FSC® recycled paper and bound in Canada by Friesens

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  One

  1.

  2.

  3.

  4.

  5.

  6.

  7.

  Two

  8.

  9.

  10.

  11.

  12.

  13.

  14.

  Three

  15.

  16.

  17.

  18.

  19.

  20.

  21.

  Four

  22.

  23.

  24.

  25.

  26.

  27.

  28.

  Five

  29.

  30.

  31.

  32.

  33.

  34.

  35.

  Acknowledgments

  End Note

  About the Author

  Twin and twinlike relationships are valued and admired by nearly everyone, most of all by those lucky enough to have them.

  NANCY L. SEGAL

  Entwined Lives:

  Twins and What They Tell Us about Human Behavior

  I think many adults (and I am among them) are trying, in our work, to keep faith with vividly remembered promises made to ourselves in childhood.

  EVE KOSOFSKY SEDGWICK

  Tendencies

  ONE

  1.

  Bauer

  From: Jamiedevon Oxley-Clark [[email protected]]

  Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 11:18 PM

  To: Dr. Erica Bauer

  Subject: Website Email Form Submission

  This message has been automatically generated from the contacts section of the Interdisciplinary Twin Studies Program website.

  Name & Email:

  NAME: Jamiedevon Oxley-Clark

  EMAIL: [email protected]

  COMMENTS: Dear Interdisciplinary Twin Studies Program,

  We are identical twins and we very much want to be in your Twin Study. We read about it on the net. Our name is Jamie and Devon Oxley-Clark, we were born together on December 12, 1996, at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Our parents told us we are fraternal but we are identical. We google twins and visit all the websites and we wish we could be in a twin club or go to twin conferences. We think we are a very rare kind of identical, we bet you have never studied identicals like us, we hope you will study us. We are definitely monozygotic, we bet we had the same placenta too. We think something weird happened to our egg when it split, we hope you can tell us what, we bet we are really rare. Please read this letter all the way to the end and let us be in your Twin Study.

  We are going into grade 8 at Palmerston, we are in AP. Our best friends are twins, they are identical, nobody ever tells them they are fraternal. We think maybe we should have an operation to make us totally identical, then people would stop telling us we are fraternal but why should we have to do that? If people let us alone to be identical we would be happy. We hope you can help us, we do not want to be separated.

  We live with our mother. Our father lives in California so plus being twins we are double citizens. We are afraid he will split us up again. They bisected us when we were little. Our Mom got to keep Jamie and our little sister and the house and our Dad got to keep Devon, so Devon went down to California and lived with our Dad. It was not like in The Parent Trap, we always knew about each other, we always knew we were twins, we always talked to each other on our birthday, it was not a big deal. Last summer our Dad let Devon come to West Vancouver to visit, it was amazing, we were identical. Our parentals were like no no you are not identical you are fraternal. We were like who are you, are you on crack, we are identical, we were distraught. Devon went back to California, we talked online every night, our Dad found out and we were cut. We had to send letters in the mail, it really sucked. We can not tell you how cruel it was, it was depressing, but we talked on the phone in the dark of the night and decided if they were going to split us up forever we would have to commit suicide. Do you know other twins who got split up? Can you tell us about them and what happened to them? Did any of them commit suicide?

  Here is how we were going to do it, we were going to Home Hardware and get long rubber hoses and connect them to the exhaust pipes of the cars and run the hoses in the windows and seal them up with duck tape, like sit in the car, we know how to start a car, and talk on the phone and just go to sleep and our souls would fuse. Our Mom intercepted Devon’s snail mail about this, family drama to the max. Our Dad was like OK Devon can go back up to Canada for the rest of grade 7 and we will see how it works out, Devon is on loan. Mom is like we never should have split you up, no one is going to split you up ever again unless you do it yourselves but she can not say this to Dad because he has custody of Devon. We were so happy to be reunited, we can not tell you. We went to Palmerston, we did not have issues, we were not inappropriate, we got good grades, every body was amazed. We hope Dad notices this and does not split us up. We do not want to have to commit suicide, that would be really depressing.

  Now we are trying to be as identical as we can. There are lots of ways to be identical you would not think of at first, you have to think all the time. Mom is like you have an obsessive compulsive disorder and should be in therapy but it has got so bad these days the minute you walk in the office all they know how to do is reach for their prescription pads, she does not believe in kids being on medication like this drug that makes kids commit suicide, have you heard about it, so she gives up. Do you know any other twins who try to be identical? If you do, could you tell us what happened to them? We do not want to be in therapy or take some weird drug that makes you commit suicide when you do not want to.

  We do not know what else you want to know about us, please write back and tell us and we will tell you everything you want to know. Please let us be in your Twin Study. We do not want to be split up. We want to meet other twins and talk to them and find out
what happened to them, we hope we can find out what happened to our egg, we bet we are really rare, so you can see why we want to be in your Twin Study. Please write back soon.

  We are most sincerely yours,

  Jamie Oxley-Clark

  Devon Oxley-Clark

  5837 Skyview Drive

  West Vancouver

  British Columbia

  Interdisciplinary Twin Studies Program August 27, 2009

  Dear Jamie Oxley-Clark and Devon Oxley-Clark:

  Let me introduce myself. My name is Erica Bauer, and I am a researcher in the Interdisciplinary Twin Studies Program here at the University. I have sent to your mother, under separate cover, detailed information about the particular Twin Study I am conducting as well as a Parental Consent Form. I cannot interview you unless your mother signs the Consent Form. I am emailing you now, however, because your letter raised some concerns that I believe should be addressed quickly.

  It is important for you to know what twin type you are, but making the correct assessment is sometimes surprisingly difficult. If each of you had your own placenta, that, in itself, does not mean that you are fraternal twins. Doctors are often misinformed about this fact.

  Even though they have the same genes, identical twins are not exactly alike. From the moment that the egg separates, co-twins are subjected to different environmental events, some of which can impact them profoundly, making them less like each other. On the extreme end of the scale, it is possible for identical twins to be discordant in significant ways. Sometimes, for example, one twin will inherit a disease and the other one will not. What all this boils down to is that sometimes identicals can be strikingly different from each other.

  As you probably know, fraternal twins share approximately fifty percent of their genes. What happens with the other fifty percent is the luck of the draw, so, by chance, it might turn out that fraternal twins resemble each other very strongly just as singleton siblings can sometimes resemble each other very strongly. There have been studies of fraternal twins who were so much alike that even trained observers thought that they were identical twins.

  Parents are not usually good judges of twin type. The only way for you to know your twin type with absolute certainty is to have a blood test. If you enroll in my Twin Study, one of the first things we will do is have you tested at the University Hospital. This is a simple procedure which involves nothing more than giving a blood sample.

  Because you so clearly wish to be reared together, I am glad to hear that you have been reunited, but I am deeply concerned about your mention of suicide. If you ever again have thoughts of suicide, you must immediately talk to someone you trust. If you don’t want to talk to one or both of your parents, then consider talking to the counselor at your school, or, if you belong to a church, synagogue, or temple, please consider talking to someone there. If all else fails, you can always go into the nearest Family Services Unit and ask to speak to a counselor. But the important thing to remember is that if you ever have thoughts of suicide, you should talk to someone. Thoughts of suicide are not something that the two of you should try to deal with on your own, nor should you have to. There are trained professionals who can help you cope with the “dark” moments in your lives. If your mother consents to participation in my study, I look forward to meeting you. If, for whatever reasons, she withholds her consent, I wish you the very best. You should always remember that being a twin is a special blessing.

  Sincerely yours,

  Dr. Erica Bauer

  Dear Doctor Bauer,

  Thank you so much for writing back to us. We liked your letter a lot. We made sure our mother signed the Parental Consent Form, we watched her sign it, we took it and mailed it ourselves, you should have it by now, do you have it? We want to meet you and tell you everything you want to know. We are so excited to be in your Twin Study.

  We do not know if we had the same placenta. Our Mom does not remember. You would think your Mom would remember something like this but she does not, she is like I was off in lala land, give me a break. The doctor said we are fraternal, she is like it is obvious you are fraternal, we know we are identical. We are discordant identical, we are glad you told us this, we googled it. The kind of discordant identical we are is really rare, you will have lots of fun studying us and learn lots too. Thank you for telling us about dark moments. We have lots of dark moments. We do not go to a church except for Christmas and Easter, we do not think people at the church would talk to us, they do not know us, plus our school counselor hates us. Where is Family Services, we do not know about it, we googled it. Our Mom is like if you so much as set foot in Family Services I will never talk to either one of you ever again or drive you anywhere or give you a single cent even if you live to be a hundred and ten.

  We know that being a twin is a special blessing, we are so lucky, we feel sorry for kids who are not twins. We do not want our Dad to have custody of Devon, he could take Devon back any time he wants. We want to stay with Mom but it would be OK to go to live with Dad for a while, we just want to be together. Our Dad does not want both of us, he does not want Jamie. We have many dark moments about this. How could you want one of us and not the other one? Every body we talk to on the net says twins should stay together, we are glad you think we should stay together. We are so excited to be in your Twin Study, please write back and tell us when we can meet you, we hope it is soon!!!!

  Sincerely yours,

  Jamie and Devon

  Interdisciplinary Twin Studies Program September 7, 2009

  Dear Jamie and Devon:

  Thank you for your letter. Yes, I did receive the signed Parental Consent Form from your mother. I am looking forward to meeting you. I will make arrangements to interview you and I may also want to interview other members of your family who will consent to talk to me.

  Your mother did not fill out the Preliminary Questionnaire. Perhaps she found the questions confusing or intrusive. I don’t need the Preliminary Questionnaire filled out before I can proceed, although it would help, but I do need for her to return my calls. I have called your house several times, and I always get the answering machine. I have left a detailed message each time I called. If you would still like me to interview you, perhaps you might suggest to your mother that she return my calls.

  I am sorry if I was not clear enough in my last letter. I did not say that you are “discordant identicals.” I was only trying to tell you that sometimes identical twins can be very different from each other. I don’t want you to think that there is a twin type called “discordant identical.”

  “Discordant” is only a fancy word we use when we mean “different.” To find out exactly what twin type you are, we need to do a blood test, as I said before. I will arrange for this as soon as possible.

  If you are participating in my Twin Study, I could also arrange for you to see a counselor here at the university. No trained professional would automatically put you on medication, and you might find it very helpful to have someone outside your family with whom to discuss your problems.

  Sincerely yours,

  Erica Bauer

  Dear Erica,

  Boy, are we mad!!! We are so sorry Mom did not call you back. We thought she did, we bugged her and bugged her but she is like my life is nuts, it is out of control, what else is new. She did not fill out the Preliminary Questionnaire because she does not ever fill out anything like if she has to fill out anything she just throws it away, plus she is like if you want to talk to some crazy doctor this is fine, I give up, but one thing for sure I am not going to encourage any more of this crazy twin crap, this sucks for us. You can see us any time you want, do you want her to call you and tell you this? Do you want her to write this to you and sign it? It would be easy for her to send you an email, is it OK for her to send you an email?

  We do not know about the rest of our family talking to you. We know for sure Dad will not talk to you, he is deep unlisted. We will tell you about our Dad. He is like I am not Bill Gates but
I am doing OK, people pay him a million bucks just to put his name on their letter heads. When he and mom split up he went back to California, he has a new wife, she is the youngest wife yet. We have a little sister in California, her name is Avery, she is our half sib. Mom is sorry she ever let Dad have custody of Devon, she is like I must have been out of my bloody mind. Our Dad is supposed to talk to us on the phone but lots of times he is too busy, he does not want us to be identical, we do not tell him about being identical, he is like Devon you are coming back here for high school and don’t you forget it, you can see why we are glad he is in California and we are in Vancouver.

  For sure Mom will talk to you like no no I do not want to talk to any body but once she gets going she will not be able to help herself. We have a little sister, she is our full sib, she looks a little bit like us, her name is Paige, she is ten, do you want to talk to some body who is ten? She is a major drama queen, she goes to theatre camp, she is annoying, she takes ballet, she thinks she is so cool, she is inappropriate, she wants to be a hottie and have a boy friend, we do not know if she will tell you this. We have a brother five years older than us, his name is Cameron, he is our half sib, we only have a few genes in common with him, he does not look like us, he is very tall. Our Mom and Cameron’s Dad have joint custody but Cam lives with us because his Dad hates him. Cam is blowing off high school, he has issues, he is failing every thing, he is doing cocaine, Mom is like the flu my ass, how stupid do you think I am, do you think I can not see the blood running out of your nose. Cam is so random, we do not think Cam will talk to you.

  This is all of our family except for Mom’s boy friend, his name is Drew. Mom says Drew is part of our family but he is not our real family, you do not have to talk to him, he tries to act like he is our father, this sucks for us, he is always in your face, it is awkward. Mom is like you kids do not want me to have a sex life, this is not true we do not care if Mom has a sex life, we wish she would find a new boy friend to have a sex life, Drew is like if you keep on going with this crazy twin crap you will make yourselves into freaks of nature and no body will want to marry you and all you will be able to do is work in a circus, he thinks this is funny, we hate him.