Dad stopped, looked at us, and smiled. “I’m proud of you, Carson. That’s an intelligent way to think about yourself. And I’m proud of you, David, for agreeing with Carson. You two are normal, regular guys. And who you love is personal and doesn’t need to be, and shouldn’t be, labeled.”

“I have a point of view about sex, too,” I said. “I want to be free to pick and choose who I like no matter whether it’s a girl or a guy, and nobody our age cares about these labels as Carson calls them. It’s just the old fogeys who care about things like that. That’s true about who I like and about who I love. And love can mean who I have sex with but it doesn’t have to.”

Dad looked at me like he was having a hard time believing what I’d just said. “That’s quite a modern view of things, David. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks, Dad. So that means our little talk is over?” I asked sweetly.

Dad started laughing, and when he was finished he looked directly at me. “Oh, David, you try to be so sneaky and yet are so naive sometimes! This just validates exactly why we will continue our little talk and do so until we’ve finished.

“I know the next thing we’re going to talk about was covered in your Health class. And you might have talked about it with your friends. Okay, let’s assume that you decide you’re going to have sex with each other. Should you use condoms?”

I answered, “No! I mean, we can’t answer that. That’s too personal.”

“Why?” Dad asked.

“Huh?” I really didn’t understand what he asked.

“David, why is it too personal for us to talk about using condoms?” he asked me. “You know what they are, you know why they’re used, you might even know how to put one on. So, why is it too personal?”

I’m sure my face and ears were bright red. I could see that Carson’s were. “Because it’s embarrassing.”

“Why is the word condoms embarrassing? Don’t you agree that it’s important for you to know about them? Well?”

“I guess,” Carson answered.

“Yeah, I do too.” Then I added, “But that’s not something that’s easy for us to talk about with you.”

“So, David, if it’s too embarrassing to talk to me about condoms, who do you plan to talk to about them, and when?”

We ended up talking about condoms, including all of the most embarrassing parts like the different kinds and how to pick a size and other stuff like lubricating and condoms that were already lubricated. And there was a lot more we talked about, including some things that were much, much more embarrassing than just condoms, like when we should use them for health and cleanliness reasons. It didn’t take a half hour. It took over an hour. Carson and I were embarrassed all of that hour. Dad didn’t just talk about guys, but girls too.

Finally it was over and Dad told us to wash our hands and come down for dinner. “And guys, don’t say anything to Lynn and Barb about us adopting Carson. I want to make an announcement after dinner so don’t spoil their surprise.”

Carson and I flopped on our backs on my bed. I closed my eyes.

“I don’t believe that we talked about what we talked about with Dad and talked about it for so long!”

I turned and looked at Carson. “I’ve never been so embarrassed in my whole life. And we talked about things that are totally gross. Like… no, I can’t say it. I don’t even want to think about it. What do you think?”

Carson opened his eyes and looked at me. “What do I think? What do I think? I have no idea what to think. All I know is that there’s stuff I absolutely positively never want to think about or talk about or especially do. Ever!”

We were both silent for about a minute. Then Carson started to giggle. And I started laughing. Then we were both laughing. I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe.

“You are thinking about it, David!” Carson started tickling me on my side and stomach.

“Stop! Stop! I can’t breathe!” I managed to get out through my laughter.

Carson stopped tickling me. I turned and grabbed him around his waist. “You’re terrible! Starting us laughing. That was….” I couldn’t continue because we were both laughing again. Finally we calmed down to an occasional giggle.

“What was so funny, dufus?”

“I was thinking about how to pick the size of a condom, and picking my size and then going through the checkout line and having the girl at the cash register call out ‘one package of small size condoms’ and I’m standing there and everyone else in line is looking at me and smirking and….”

Carson laughed. “I don’t think there’s a ‘small’ size. They probably call them ‘normal’ or something like that. Don’t the packages have a size chart on the back?”

“I have no idea. I’ve never looked at a package of condoms. Have you?”

“No. I think that’s something we should do, don’t you, David?”

“Yeah. We can go to the drugstore together and just ask where the condom aisle is.” I giggled again. “If the clerk we ask is a girl, I can just see the expression on her face. She’d probably start laughing at us, or say something about we look too young, or something like that.”

“Probably not until we walked away, though.”

“And besides, I don’t think you’d need a small size.” I stuck my tongue out. That started a new round of laughter.

We were interrupted by Dad. “Hey, you guys were supposed to wash up and come down to dinner.”

“Okay, Dad,” I said as we got up, “we’ll be down in about two minutes.”

“Make it one minute. And no more fooling around. We’re waiting dinner for you.”

He left and Carson looked at me. “Is he mad at us?”

“Nah. Just irritated. You’ll see. Let’s get going.”

We washed our hands and walked downstairs as fast as we could without being called out for running. We sat down. Lynn and Barb were there; Alan was still in San Luis Obispo helping Jen move into her dorm.

I looked at Mom. “Sorry we’re late.”

She grinned. “I guess something was really funny. We heard you laughing all the way down here.”

“It was,” I replied, “it was just something very stupid.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dad look at me and shake his head in a ‘no’, then grin.

That was a way we used in our family to mean we didn’t want to say anything more about whatever it was we called ‘something very stupid’ and no one would ask anything about it.

We had roast chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans, and a green salad with tomatoes and avocado and garlic croutons. And cheese biscuits, too. It was delicious, and Carson complimented Mom for a great dinner.

As usual everyone talked about what their day was like. Since this was the first dinner Carson had eaten with just our immediate family, I could see that this was something new for him. We always took turns by age, so Barb was first. She talked about going ice skating with Donna and her sister and how much fun they had. Lynn told us about the movie she and Kathy watched. I talked about the pictures we took of each other, my classes at school and all the homework I’d been working on, and the birthday party on Saturday and that it would be for both me and Carson with our friends. Carson talked about how hard it was for him to choose what songs to download from iTunes, but how much fun it was doing it. Mom talked about what we’d be doing at Christmas. Dad talked about having the gardener cut back some of the plants in the front yard once the cold weather started, and now that Alan was moving to San Diego it would be my job to mow the lawn. Of course, we each talked about other things as well, everything except Carson being adopted and that he’d be moving in with us.

When dinner was over, and before anyone asked to be excused, Dad made an announcement.

“Lynn and Barb, your mom and I have something to tell you.” He and Mom stood up and walked around so they were in back of Carson’s chair. Dad put his hands on Carson’s shoulders. “We’re going to adopt Carson. He will be another brother for you two.”

As soon as Dad said the words ‘adopt Carson’ Lynn and Barb jumped up and pulled Carson out of his chair.

“Be careful of Carson’s arm!” Mom called out.

For the next few minutes the girls were hugging and kissing and laughing and congratulating Carson. It was easy to see that they were very happy about our folks adopting him, and about having a new brother.

After it died down, Lynn grabbed me and Carson and pulled us together. She stared at the two of us, and Carson and I laughed. It was pretty funny. You’d think so too, if someone you knew stared are you like she stared at us.

“I’m going to tell everyone that I have twin brothers. You two look like twin brothers. You two talk like twin brothers. You two act like twin brothers. So, I hereby declare that David and Carson Dempsey are twin brothers. Period. No arguments.”

Barb chimed in, “I agree! Period. No arguments.”

I put my arm around Carson’s shoulders and looked at him.

“What do you think, bro. Are we twin brothers?”

“Works for me. How ‘bout it, Mom and Dad?”

Mom smiled. “Well, since Lynn declared that you’re twin brothers, and Lynn brooks no argument, I guess you two are semi-officially semi-legally semi-genetically twin brothers.”

“Hey,” Lynn shouted. Then in her normal volume continued, “What’s all this ‘semi’ business?”

“Don’t shout in the house, Lynn. Well,” Mom continued, “it’s fun to call them twin brothers. But at school you shouldn’t say that to any of the administrators or teachers. They are not biologically twin brothers. And you know that, Lynn…”

Lynn tried to interrupt, but Mom held up her hand palm-out and continued. “…so we can treat it as something fun, and only as something fun, and only among ourselves. Do all of you understand?”

“But Mom, they might really be twins, and you don’t know if they are or aren’t.”

“Lynn, we know they were born in different hospitals, and they had different mothers.”

Lynn looked at us, and I heard her say under her breath, “I’m not so sure about that.”

“What about telling Alan?” Barb asked.

Dad replied, “We’ll tell him when he gets back from San Luis Obispo tomorrow.”

“But where’s Carson going to sleep? Will he have his own room?” Barb asked.

“Yes, he’ll have Alan’s room when Alan leaves for San Diego.”

“But then where will Alan sleep when he comes home to visit us?”

“He’ll use the guest bedroom. Remember, he’s moving to an apartment in San Diego near the campus. He’ll be there for at least four years, maybe six.”

“Oh. Yeah. I remember now. Will we get to visit him at his apartment?”

“Sure, Barb,” Mom replied. “We’re planning on taking a family vacation to San Diego this summer. We’ll go to the zoo and the wild animal park.”

“And eat Mexican food!” Lynn added.

Barb grinned. “Oh. Then that’s okay.”

“Alright! Time to clean up the kitchen.”

We worked together to put the dishes in the dishwasher, wash the pots and pans, and clean the kitchen. Then Carson and I went upstairs to my room.

“You want to see your room, Carson?”

“You mean Alan’s room?”

“Yeah, but it’s his until he goes to San Diego in a couple of weeks. Then it’s yours.”

“Uh, he won’t mind that we’re looking at his room?”

“Nah. He’s already boxed up most of his stuff so it’s ready to move. The furniture will stay here. We’ll probably have to fumigate the mattress, though.” I grinned, and Carson finally realized that I was kidding.

“Dufus! Wait ‘til I tell Alan what you said about him smelling up his mattress.”

“He’ll just laugh. He knows I’m always kidding about him. And he kids about me, too. Come on, let me show you his bedroom.”

The only difference between Alan’s bedroom and mine was the furniture was a darker color. He had about the same bed as me, a king-size, a dresser, a bigger desk than mine, and a tall narrow bookcase on each side of his desk.

“It is like yours, David. I like it. It has a door into the bathroom, right?”

“Yeah. You and I will share the bathroom.”

He stood looking at me, then walked up to me and hugged me.

“You know, David, you have brought me such amazing luck. It’s like everything just fell into place perfectly.”

“Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, Carson.”

“Uh, David?”

“Yeah?”

“I have some questions. You know, this all happened so fast I just realized I don’t know very much about my new family.”

“Okay. Ask away.”

“What does Dad do, and where does he work?”

“This is funny. What with getting to know you and asking if you want to be adopted we’ve never told you very much about us, have we. Okay, Dad’s a consultant at Adobe Systems in San Francisco. He’s does special projects for their development lab. That’s how I got Photoshop and all the rest of the Adobe products.”

Carson’s eyes lit up. Really, that’s what it looked like. “Will I be able to get Photoshop too?”

“Sure. You’ll get the entire set of Adobe products. We should ask Dad later. But first we have to get you a new more powerful computer. The Adobe programs won’t run on a netbook. You can decide what you want, a desktop or a laptop.”

“What about Mom?”

“She writes stories for magazines. They give her a topic and she researches it and writes the story. She also writes short stories for a couple of websites for parents including one for parents whose kids have cancer and another for kids who have kidney disease. She does medical transcription for a couple of oncologists. They’re the doctors who do cancer treatments.”

“Where does Lynn go to school?”

“Hillcrest, same as me. She’s also a sophomore.”

“Will I have to transfer to Hillcrest?”

“It would be a lot easier since it’s walking distance from home. But maybe you should complete this semester at Riverview first. I think it would be tough coming in just as we’re about to have semester finals and stuff.”

“I’ll miss my friends at Riverview. But I’ll have built-in friends at Hillcrest. The guys from Hathaway House and you and Lynn.”

“Don’t forget Gary. And my other friends, they’ll be your friends too. You’ll meet them on Saturday.”

Carson smiled. “I guess I won’t be a total newbie at Hillcrest then. I used to hate being that because every time I’d get moved to a different foster family or group home or whatever I’d be in a new school. It’s just that I went through middle school and started freshman year with the same kids, and now we’re sophomores together. And I might have to change schools. What about Barb?”

“She goes to Parkside Elementary. She’s in the fourth grade.”

“Um. This is sort of personal. Do you guys go to church?”

“Sort of. We’re Catholic but we don’t go to church every week. For sure we go at Christmas and Easter. How about you?”

“I don’t go. The Adamsens went to Bethany Lutheran, but I’ve never been religious so I only went with them at Christmas and Easter, mostly for the music. So I guess we won’t be going to church Sunday morning?”

“No we won’t. Is that okay with you?”

“Sure. That’s typical for me anyway. I like to sleep in on Sunday mornings.”

“Yeah, me too. Do you play any musical instruments?”

Carson grinned. “The guitar. And I like to sing.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right. You told me already, and that’s totally cool since I play the guitar too. I don’t sing, though. You don’t want to hear me try to sing. I’m pretty awful.”

“Hey, if we’re twins like Lynn says you should have at least as good a singing voice as me. You should try some day, we’ll play some song we both like on guitar. I’ll start singing and you can join in.”

I guess he saw the expression on my face, so he added, “We can do it when no one else is home so you won’t be embarrassed.”

“I guess.”

“Come on, David. My music teacher last year said that everyone can learn how to sing.”

I grinned. “Okay, okay, you’ve pushed me over the edge. I’ll try. But if I shatter your eardrums don’t blame me. What other questions do you have?”

“What about grandparents?”

“Our grandma and grandpa, Dad’s folks, live in Davis. They were the ones you met at Thanksgiving. Our grandmother and grandfather on Mom’s side live in Laguna Niguel south of Los Angeles. They didn’t come up for Thanksgiving but they’ll be here for Christmas. Assuming we’ll have Christmas here. Maybe we’ll go to L.A. because we have a lot of relatives down there. If we do we’ll go to Magic Mountain and ride rollercoasters. Man I love riding coasters! You like riding them?”

“Yeah. The Adamsens took me to Discovery Kingdom a couple of times, and to Great America once. Great America has better coasters, and a lot more too. I love riding rollercoasters.”

“See, we must be twins. That’s something else that’s in our genes.”

“You told me you wrote stories. Can I read some of them?”

“Sure. I have them on my website. I’ll give you the link.”

“You have your own website?”

“Yup. I like designing websites. I did one for Lynn, and one for Barb, and one for Phil. He’s a friend of mine from school. Oh, and one for Gary, too.”

“Let’s see. What other questions do I have? I can’t think of anything right now, but I’m sure I’ve forgotten a lot of them.”

“I have one for you, Carson. Do you have a Facebook page?”

“Oh, yeah. That’s something I was going to ask you. Yes, I do have a Facebook page. But I’m not on Twitter.”

“I have a Facebook page too. It’s sort of embarrassing, but I don’t update it very often. I spend most of my time on my website and my blog. I like the blog better than Facebook. I mainly use Facebook to find out what my friends and relatives — our cousins — are doing, not to tell things that I’m doing.”

“So you have a blog too. I’ve never paid any attention to blogs. I’m not even sure how they work.”

“I’ll show you. I use Blogger. It’s free and it’s easy to use. My blog is open, that means anyone can see it. But I have it set so I have to approve posts so people can’t spam my blog with ads or inappropriate stuff.”

“What do you put on your website besides your stories?”

“I post my pictures on my site, and put some of them on my blog with a link to my site. I like photography and taking pictures. That’s why I have a digital camera, the one we used to take our pictures. That reminds me, we were going to set up your cellphone so we can print the phone number along with our names and address on the backs of the pictures we took. Let’s do that now. Okay?”

“Good idea. Let’s do it.”

It was easy to set up Carson on our family plan. All he had to do is dial the cell company and answer some automated questions. It told Carson to enter the numbers on the SIM card and on the phone, then turn on the phone. It rang, and he listened, keyed in a security number it gave him, and it was done. I wrote down his cell number and dialed him from my phone and that worked. Then he dialed my number and my cell rang. We were all set.

Next I opened Photoshop and Carson’s four-up image. I created a text layer and moved it above the original layer changed the opacity of the original layer to fifty percent so I could barely see the pix underneath in order to tell where I should put his name and address. I entered his information, centered it on the upper left image, and copied it to the other three images.

I hid the original layer so only the text was showing, and ran a test on the back of one of his prints. It looked good, so I printed the backs of the other eleven prints. Then I saved the text layer as a separate file.

“Okay, let’s go downstairs and do some cutting so you’ll have copies to give out.”

We went downstairs and checked Dad’s office and he was there.

“Dad? Do you have a minute?”

“Sure, guys. Come on in and sit down.”

“Can we use your paper cutter again? We made some cards for Carson with his picture on one side and his name and address and email and phone numbers on the other. That way he can give them to his friends at school and at Hathaway House like a business card so they’ll know how to contact him.”

“Sure. You know where it is.”

We took the paper cutter into the kitchen and did the cutting on the kitchen table. Carson looked at the pix.

“They look great, David. Thanks. If I run out can we print more?”

“Sure. Now that we’ve got the Photoshop files for the front and back set up it will be easy.”

We took the paper cutter back to Dad’s office.

“Dad, thanks for letting us use the paper cutter,” Carson said. “Here’s one of my cards for you to have in your wallet. It has my name, address, and my new cell number.”

“Thank you, Carson. That looks very nice and very professional. I see you used Dempsey for your last name. You know that until the adoption is finalized that’s not your legal name. However, it’s fine for giving to friends and family. Okay?”

“Yes, I understand,” Carson replied.

“I assume you’ll give one of the pictures to your mom.”

“I will. And to Lynn and Barb and Alan, too.

“By the way, since you’re here there’s something I need to talk to you about. You need to have a physical exam in order for the adoption to go through. Have you had a physical in the past sixty days?”

“Yes, I had one the end of last month. The school needed it because I was going out for the tennis team. The Adamsens took me to Doctor Breir. His office is on Las Casitas across from Redwood Hospital. You should be able to get the results from there. I also have a copy of what was sent to Riverview High. Everything was fine.”

“Excellent. I assume that will be acceptable for CPS. They are the ones who need the information.”

“Dad, I have a couple of questions for you. First, David and I were talking about me going to Hillcrest High. Thing is, we both think that it would be tough to transfer right now because of tests and projects, and that it would be better if I stayed at Riverview High until the end of the semester. I was already doing that from Hathaway House, so maybe it’s all taken care of.”

“I’ll call Wayne Hagen and ask him what he’d arranged. I’m sure it will be okay, but it’s something that has to be cleared with both school districts. Your mom is going to take you to Riverview High Monday morning and make sure you’re all set through the end of this semester. Tomorrow after school she’ll pick you up and take you to Hillcrest to register you for spring semester.”

“I think someone will have to drive me to Riverview and pick me up every school day. Is that okay?” Carson asked.

“Yes. Again, your mom will do that.”

“You guys are fantastic. I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too, Carson.”

“The other thing I wanted to ask is that I need to get the rest of my clothes and stuff from Hathaway House. Can we do that tomorrow?”

“I don’t see a problem with that. If there’s a lot, we have a couple of rolling suitcases you can use. I’m sure David will be glad to go with you.”

I nodded, “Sure. Do you have much?”

Carson shook his head. “No. I think two suitcases are enough. There are books and CD’s and DVD’s, and some clothes, and some stuff in my desk. And I can give out my cards to the guys while I’m there.”

I suddenly realized something that we hadn’t discussed. “Dad, what about an allowance for Carson?”

“He will receive the same allowance that you and Lynn receive. That’s twenty five dollars per week. Is that okay, Carson?”

It was sort of funny. Carson just stood there for a few seconds without saying anything.

“An allowance? I’ll get an allowance?”

“Of course.” Dad grinned. “Everyone in this family gets an allowance. Except the parents, of course.”

“But… that’s over a hundred dollars a month. Are you sure I should get that much?”

“Carson, you will get the same allowance as David and Lynn. As the three of you get older your allowance will get a bit larger each year. In addition to your allowance, we’ll buy your clothes and what you’ll need for school. That reminds me, we need to take you shopping tomorrow for a computer setup. Why don’t you and David sit down and talk about what he has and decide what will be best for you.”

When we got back to my bedroom Carson fell on my bed.

“I can’t believe what’s happened to me, David. It’s like I’ve died and gone to heaven.” He sat up, smiling. “Okay, you’re the computer expert, tell me what I should get. I am so looking forward to going shopping for a computer. A real computer.”

“Okay, let’s start by looking at what deals BuyMart and some other stores are having.”

Carson pulled my guest chair over and sat next to me so he could see my display. He put his arm around my waist. That felt really good. Really, really good.