“Alright, what’s your big announcement, Lynn?” Mom asked.

Lynn took out a sheet of paper. “I put what I’m going to say into Word and then printed it so I won’t forget anything. It’s sort of complicated.

“Kathy’s mom works at Redwood Hospital. I told her that my mom and dad are adopting Carson, and that I think he might have been born at Redwood Hospital, and I asked her if there’s a way that we can find out.

”She said that if he was born in Redwood Hospital it would be on file, but the information is protected by confidentiality laws. Once you’re Carson’s registered adoptive or foster parents you could show your adoption or foster parent paperwork and get the information.

“She said if you want a full birth certificate you can go to the state Department of Social Services website or our county website to order a copy. You have to pay a fee to get a copy.

 “She also told me that birth records are public information and that I might find it on a website, and there are a lot of them that have birth lists.”

We sat there looking at Lynn, none of us saying anything for a few seconds. Then Carson asked her, “And?”

Lynn grinned. “So I searched for it online on the California Department of Public Health Vital Records database when I got home, Carson. I found your birth listed. There is only one listing for Carson Ryan Evans. It says you were born on November 24th 1997 in Redwood hospital. Here, I printed copies.” She handed a copy to Dad and one to Carson.

“This means you were born the same day and in the same hospital as David. I think that means you two could be twins. To find out for sure Mom and Dad will have to get a copy of your birth certificate from the state and compare it to David’s birth certificate.”

Carson and I looked at each other.

“Twins?” he asked.

“Twins!” I shouted.

 “Wait a minute, here,” Dad said. “Mr. Hagen told us that he received documentation from CPS that says Carson was born at Kettering Hospital. Why would the records that CPS has for Carson when he entered the foster care system be wrong?”

“Well, isn’t there a chance that the CPS records might be wrong?” Lynn asked. “Why is there only one baby named Carson Ryan Evans on the list, and that one includes that he was born in Redwood Hospital on the exact same day as David? Why isn’t there an online listing showing a Carson Ryan Evans who was born at Kettering Hospital on that date? It’s a real stretch that there’d be two babies named Carson Ryan Evans born on the same day in the same hospital. That’s not that common a name. Regardless if it does or it doesn’t prove that they are twins, it’s worth checking, isn’t it?”

“Wayne Hagen told me that if Carson had been adopted when he was an infant, a new birth certificate would have been issued to his adoptive parents and his original birth certificate would be sealed and it would take a court order to get it.”

“But we’re talking about any birth certificate he has. Kathy’s mom said it would always show the hospital and the date he was born.”

“Lynn, the listings you’re talking about aren’t actual birth certificates, are they?”

“No, you have to pay to get the actual recorded birth certificates. The database has what it called an informational copy of the actual birth certificate.”

“Do they list the mother’s name?”

“Yes, but Carson’s didn’t have the mother’s name. Instead it said ‘redacted’ whatever that means.” 

“If Carson was adopted as an infant his adoptive birth certificate might not have his birth mother’s name on it anyway.”

“This website that has the listings of births could be wrong, couldn’t it.”

“Yeah, but it said it’s the official certified information even on the informational copy. But the CPS records could be mixed up too, couldn’t they.”

Dad shook his head. “That seems improbable.”

“But shouldn’t you check?” Lynn asked.

Carson turned and looked at Mom and Dad. “Could you check? Otherwise if my records are mixed up, it would be a problem for me later wouldn’t it?”

“Carson, that’s a good point,” Dad said. “Let’s do this. First, we’ll call Phil and ask him if such a mix-up is possible and how we can check on it. Then I’ll contact Wayne Hagen and see if he’s received the birth certificate from CPS. The birth certificate should have prints of your feet. I’ll talk to Judith Wilkes. She’s a neighbor who’s a lab technician at the County Sheriff’s office and works with fingerprint matching. I’ll ask her if they can be compared against Carson’s current footprints.”

“How can they compare my footprints when I was born against my current footprints? My feet are a lot bigger than when I was born.” Carson giggled. “That sounds so silly.”

“I assume they’ll take prints of your feet. I hope you’re not ticklish, Carson.”

The expression of horror on Carson’s face was so funny we all busted out laughing.

“That’s not funny!” he shouted. Then he started laughing and that got the rest of us laughing again.

“Alright,” Dad told us, “I’ll get this started tomorrow by phoning Wayne. He’s putting together the adoption paperwork so he’s probably received the birth certificate. I’ll ask him for a copy. I’ll phone Phil and he can look at Carson’s full record at Redwood Hospital. I’ll phone Judith and find out if it’s possible to do a footprint comparison of a baby’s footprint to the footprint when the person is a teen. That’s enough for a start.”

Now it was Mom’s turn. “I’ve already told you that you shouldn’t talk about this twins thing. We don’t know anything yet. Carson and David, I don’t want the two of you to get wrapped up in the idea that you might be twins. The reason is that if it turns out that you’re not twins I don’t want you two to be disappointed. Remember that you two are brothers now. Whether you’re twins or not doesn’t change that fact. Being twins would be the cherry on top of an ice cream sundae. Even without the cherry the ice cream sundae would still be wonderful. Think about that.”

I looked at Carson and grinned. “Mom’s right, as usual. We’ll always be brothers.”

“That’s all I need, David.” He pulled me into a one-arm hug and I hugged him back.

“I’m not finished,” Mom declared. “Lynn, what I’ve said about not discussing this twins thing goes for you, too. Do you understand?”

“That’s fine with me. My job is done. I have the inquiry started. Now we will find out the truth about this twins thing. I have nothing more to say.” Lynn grinned. This was typical Lynn.

Carson walked over to Lynn and they hugged each other. I heard him whisper to her, “Thanks, Lynn.”

Mom suggested that we go out for lunch, and we all thought that was a good idea.

We went to my favorite pizza place. They make my favorite kind of pizza, real thin crust and weird toppings that are totally delicious. But the best thing ever is their strawberry shortcake. Mom ordered it for all of us. It has this cake with a real crunchy crust, loads of fresh strawberries quartered lengthwise all over the top of the cake, and then there’s a big spoonful of fresh whipped cream. It’s just about the best thing I’ve ever eaten. It was hard to wait until we finished our pizzas to see Carson’s reaction to the strawberry shortcake. He took one bite and looked at me and smiled, then closed his eyes and swallowed. He took a deep breath and looked at me with a smile that was reflected in his eyes.

“Oh, that is so wonderful! I love strawberry shortcake, and David, this is the absolutely best I’ve ever had. Oh, my god! This is so amazing!”

“I thought you might, maybe, perhaps like it.” I grinned then started laughing.

“Might? Maybe? Perhaps? How about absolutely amazingly wonderfully scrumptious?”

As soon as I could stop laughing I looked at him. “Those are much, much better ways to describe this heavenly shortcake. I think that it must be made by the angels, it’s so good.”

“I agree with you, David.” He resumed eating his strawberry shortcake.

“We all agree with David,” Mom said. “He was the first of us to order the strawberry shortcake here. When we saw it, it looked so delicious we all wanted a taste. David threatened to defend his shortcake by jabbing our hands with his fork if any of us came near it. ‘Order your own!’ he told us. So that’s what we did, we ordered one to share among the five of us. When David was finished with his we didn’t let him share ours because he had been so selfish.”

“That learned him!” Lynn added.

Barb started to giggle. “You said ‘That learned him’ and that is not correct English. Miss Farmer would give you a red check if you said that in class.”

“Who’s Miss Farmer and what’s a red check and why should I care?”

“Miss Farmer is my English teacher. She gives a red check in her grade book each time anyone in class uses incorrect English. You should care because speaking incorrect English shows that someone isn’t very bright.” She stuck her tongue out at Lynn and started to giggle again.

“I can speak correct English. I just don’t need to do so in social situations that don’t call for it.”

Mom gave Lynn one of her ‘looks’. “A social situation like having a meal with your parents and siblings doesn’t call for using correct English? What are we, unimportant?”

“No, Mom. I was just trying to be funny. I didn’t mean we’re unimportant.”

“Thank you for the clarification, Lynn. Now, let’s finish our desserts. Alan is coming home this afternoon and It would be nice if we’re there when he arrives.”

When we got home Alan had already arrived. Barb was the first one in the house, and she saw him sitting in the family room.

“Alan! You’re home! Hi!”

She ran to him and jumped on his lap.

“Oof! Barb, you’ve gotten too big to jump on me like this! How are you, kiddo?”

“Great! How’s Jen? Is she all moved in? What’s Cal Poly like? Did you see much of San Luis Obispo? What did you do while you were there? Did you have fun? Are you glad to be home?”

Alan was laughing too much to be able to answer her. And by then the rest of us were in the family room saying ‘hi’ to him.

“Well, hello to you all! And Barb, I don’t think I can remember all of the things you asked me. Good grief, when did you become such a motor mouth?”

Barb giggled. “I’m just glad to see you.”

“I’m glad to see you, too. But come on, I’ve only been gone two and a half days. Now get off me before I break!”

“Yeah, but you’re going to San Diego and we won’t see you for a long time. So I’m missing you in advance.”

Barb got off Alan’s lap and he stood up and hugged Mom, then Dad, then me and Carson and Lynn and finally Barb.

“We’re glad to see you, Alan,” Mom said. “I thought you’d be here later this evening.”

“I did too, but we got Jen all moved in on Friday, and we spent the rest of the afternoon on the campus tour for new students. After that we went on a city tour sponsored by the college, and went to dinner with some students we met on the tour. I was amazed at how many restaurants there are in San Luis Obispo, and the food was excellent at the places we ate. Afterwards we went to a movie, then on Saturday after breakfast we drove down to San Simeon and took a tour of Hearst Castle. Man, that place is so amazing. You guys have got to go. On the way home we ate dinner in Pismo Beach in a seafood place overlooking the ocean. The view was great, and the food was good. I had fish and chips and Jen had halibut. This morning we drove to the mall in Salinas to buy some stuff that Jen wanted for her dorm room. When we got back her roommate Leena finally arrived. She’s from Charleston, South Carolina, and she’s cute and nice. They seemed to want to get to know each other, and Jen was helping Leena get her stuff unpacked and put away, so I said my goodbyes and drove home. I got here about twenty minutes ago. So, where were you guys?”

“At lunch,” Mom replied. “We went to David’s favorite pizza place and Carson was introduced to their strawberry shortcake.”

“Darn! I wish I’d gotten here earlier. I love their pizza.”

“Did you have any lunch, Alan?”

“Nope.”

“Well, let’s all go in the kitchen and I’ll make you a turkey sandwich and we’ll tell you our news.”

Alan got his sandwiches, two of them, and thanked Mom. As he ate Dad told him the big news.

“We’re not going to become Carson’s foster parents.”

“Oh… I know, you’ve decided to adopt him. Am I right?”

Dad a sort of double-take. “How did you know?”

“I didn’t. I just guessed that’s what you were going to do when you said you weren’t going to foster him. Adopting him is what makes sense. That makes him a permanent member of our family. He’s a great kid and is a perfect addition to our family.”

Carson was sitting between me and Alan, and Alan reached over and hugged Carson.

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

“Thanks, Alan.”

“So, bro, I guess you’re getting my room, right?”

“I guess so.”

“He knows so, Alan. He’s just being nice,” I said, “He even has his new desktop computer set up in there.”

“Oh. Not only does he get my room, he gets a new computer to go with it?”

 “So you’d like him to have your laptop instead?” I smirked. Alan has this fancy laptop that can be used for gaming.

“Oh, no, definitely not my laptop.” He turned and looked at Carson. “You’re welcome to have my room. Or, more correctly, what’s about to become my former room. And don’t think you’re taking it away from me, Carson. It was my idea that you should have it back when we were talking about you becoming our foster brother. I’m going to be in San Diego for the next four years. If I move back here after that…” Dad groaned. “If I move back here after graduating from UC San Diego, you’ll be eighteen years old and heading off to university yourself. So what’s been my room I gladly give to you, and I expect that you’ll take care of it as well as I have taken care of it lo these many years.”

“I promise that I’ll take care of the room as you would have if you weren’t moving to San Diego. When are you moving to San Diego, Alan?”

“Humph!” Alan exclaimed. “So now you’re trying to get rid of me as quick as you can, eh?”

“No! That’s not what I meant…”

“Gotcha, Carson!”

Carson blushed, and turned to me. “Is it this way around here all the time?”

“Mostly. Especially when Alan’s here. So it’ll be nice and quiet once he moves five hundred miles away.”

“So, now my other brother is conspiring with Carson to get rid of me! Mom, Dad, do something before I find myself sleeping in my pup tent in the back yard!”

“Sorry, Alan,” Dad replied, “you’re on your own. Keep your mother and me out of this, please. Just so you know, your pup tent is in the garage in one of the storage bins.”

Alan grinned then started laughing. “Okay, okay, I give up. Carson, how ‘bout I give Chez Alan Dempsey to you to do with as you please, and do so when I leave on Wednesday? That’s when I have to leave anyway so I can get settled in our apartment and to be at school on time for orientation this coming weekend.”

Carson hugged Alan. “Thanks, Alan. You’re the greatest!”

“Hey,” I moaned, “what about me? I thought I was the greatest.”

“Shh,” Carson stage-whispered to me, “once Alan moves then you’ll be back as the greatest.”

“Well,” Alan said, “I’ve heard all about Carson. What about the rest of you? Let’s start with Lynn. What did you do over the weekend?”

Lynn looked at Mom, and she just shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes just like she knew what Lynn was going to talk about. I also guessed what it was.

“Well, first I went to Kathy’s and we watched a movie.”

“What movie,” Alan asked.

“We watched ‘The Kids Are All Right’ which was a really good movie. You ought to see it if you haven’t.”

“I heard that it was a chick flick, but Jen wanted to see it so we did. It was a good movie.”

“Second, Kathy’s mom works at Redwood Hospital so I asked her how I could find out if Carson might have been born there. I was wondering because I overheard Dad tell Mom that when Carson was being checked in to have his broken arm put in a cast they told Dad they already had a record of him in their file. I went online and found one birth record for a Carson Ryan Evans who was born in Redwood Hospital on the same date as David. So I convinced Dad to check it out because it would be so cool if Carson and David were twin brothers.” She saw Mom’s stern expression. “But they probably aren’t which is okay because they’re going to be brothers anyway, even if they aren’t twins.”

Alan looked at Carson then at me. “Stand up, guys, and stand next to each other.”

We did. Alan looked us over. “Yup. Twins are a possibility. Certainly not identical twins, but maybe fraternal.”

I could tell Mom wanted to say something, but she didn’t. After all, Alan was leaving on Wednesday.

“Hey, David,” he asked, “you’re next. What have you been doing over this long weekend?”

The discussion continued with each of us telling about our weekend. Me, then Carson, then Barb, then Dad, and finally Mom. When we were finished Alan stood and stretched.

“How about some football now that I’m finished with Mom’s delicious sandwiches.”

Dad grinned. “Sounds good to me. Let’s go see what’s on. Or we can watch David’s favorite channel.”

“What’s that?” As if he didn’t know.

“It is,” I replied, “the NFL RedZone.” The four of us, the men in the family, sat down in the family room and I turned on the TV and selected the RedZone cable channel.

After dinner Carson and I went upstairs to my bedroom. I saw Alan walk to my door and look in.

“Hey, guys.”

“Hey, Alan.” I replied.

“How you guys getting along?”

I stood up and motioned Carson to stand. We hugged for about ten seconds.

“That is how we’re getting along,” I told him.

“What David said,” Carson told him.

“I figured as much. I’ve been so preoccupied with Jen’s move to Cal Poly, and my move to San Diego, that I’ve ignored the two of you. Tell you what, I’ll be back for Christmas break, let’s plan on having one day just for the three of us. What do you say?”

I grinned. “Could we go into San Francisco? That would be so cool, to see the stores with their Christmas decorations and the crowds of people. Maybe we could do some Christmas shopping too.”

“Sounds like a plan, my man! That okay with you, Carson?”

“Absolutely. I love San Francisco at Christmas.”

“Hey, what about Jen? Won’t you be seeing her at Christmas?” I asked.

“No, Jen and her folks are going to Minneapolis to visit her grandmother for the holidays.”

“That’s too bad. Is her grandmother okay? Didn’t she break her hip or something like that?”

“Yes, she did, and she got a hip replacement and she’s better than before. They haven’t seen her for a couple of years, so this is a good family trip for them. Okay, guys, I’m exhausted from driving over six hours today. I’ll sleep in tomorrow morning, so I’ll see you when you get home from school. Goodnight, guys.”

“Okay, Alan. ‘Night.” I said.

“Goodnight, Alan.” Carson added.

I flopped down on my bed. “School. Ugh.”

“Hey, come on, David. School is important, and it’s fun, too. Don’t tell me my almost-twin brother doesn’t like school!”

“Nah, I like school. I’m getting mostly A’s. But having these three days off seems too short. I remember when I was in middle school we got the whole week of Thanksgiving off. Then they decided we weren’t getting enough days of school, or they had to move them, or something.”

“We only got two days off, Thanksgiving and the day after. You also got the day before. So you don’t have much to complain about.”

“Why didn’t you get the same as us, Carson?”

“Different school districts, slightly different schedules.”

“Whatever, it’s still too few days off. I can hardly wait for Christmas break.”

“You know, David, we have midterms coming up right after Christmas break. Do you have the same midterm schedule at Hillcrest?”

“I think so. Do you get two weeks off for Christmas?”

“Yes, the two weeks starting the week before Christmas. We go back on January 2nd. It’s weird this year with Christmas on a Sunday. Wow, that means if Alan is going to take us to San Francisco we’ll have the pick of any day during the whole week before Christmas, including Christmas Eve on Saturday, to go Christmas shopping with him. I sort of like the idea of going on Christmas Eve. The crowds will probably be huge, and it should be a lot of fun. And a lot of sales, too. We can go early and have breakfast and lunch in the city.”

“I like that. The only problem is getting up early enough to have breakfast in San Francisco. Maybe we should scratch that and plan on just having lunch there instead.”

“By then we’ll have enough practice getting up to get to school on time that getting up early enough to have breakfast in the city should be easy.”

“You know, speaking of school, now that you’re living with us you’re in our school district and Hillcrest is the high school you’ll have to attend. You’ll probably have to switch at the beginning of next semester.”

“I didn’t think about that. I guess that blows my being on the tennis team.” Carson looked unhappy.

“Look, Mom’s going to take you to school and pick you up after. Why don’t you come to Hillcrest and I’ll set up a meeting with our tennis coach.”

“Who’s the coach?”

“Mr. Kim. I know him, he’s been pushing me to go out for tennis. I think he’d love to have you on our team.”

Carson got a really nasty grin. “Tell you what. I’ll go out for tennis at Hillcrest if you go out for tennis, too. We might be twins, so we might as well be on the same sports team together as if we are.”

“Oh, that is so nasty, Carson! You heard me say why I didn’t want to go out for tennis, it will take too much of my free time, including time to be with you…” I suddenly realize what I’d said. “I mean…”

Carson interrupted. “So this means that you and I will be together more, going to practices and meets. Should be fun.”

“Damn!”

“Oh, David, you just swore!”

“Yeah. So what!” I growled at him. But I couldn’t keep from smiling, and we both started laughing.

“All right, all right. I’ll go out for the tennis team. But remember, I might not be good enough to make the team.”

“Well, that just means we’ll have to practice together so you’re almost as good as I am, and that means you’ll be a shoo-in to make the team.”

“What! I’ll have you know that I’m not just ‘almost’ as good as you. I think you’ll find me a very tough competitor on the court, Carson. In fact, you might be very, very surprised.”

“That’s the spirit, David. Deal?”

“Deal, Carson. Let’s go tell Mom what we have planned for her tomorrow after school.”