Twin Tales (eBook)

Traveling with a twin

Ronald Allbee (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021 | 1. Auflage
200 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-0983-4834-2 (ISBN)

Infos

'Twin Tales' is an anthology series of biographical short stories. They illuminate the story of a poor Vermont farmer who grows up to voyage around the world. This is an examination of an identical twin born shortly after World War II, a time before ultrasounds. The twins would attend a one room school house and, following graduation for the University of Vermont, be commissioned in the U.S. Navy to serve in Vietnam.

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"e;Twin Tales"e; is an anthology series of biographical short stories. They illuminate the story of a poor Vermont farmer who grows up to voyage around the world. This is an examination of an identical twin born shortly after World War II, a time before ultrasounds. The twins would attend a one room school house and, following graduation for the University of Vermont, be commissioned in the U.S. Navy to serve in Vietnam. This is a memoir told in parables from moments throughout the life of a twin. The stories are punctual and funny as we see Ronald Allbee travel past places and people around the world, grow up in 1950's and 60's Vermont, and find an entrepreneurial spirit.

Textauszug

CHAPTER 1

TWINS

Bearing twins today is not as an uncommon occurrence as it was in years prior. A woman has about a 32 in 1,000 chance of having twins, but only a 3 in 1,000 chance of identical twins. Through the centuries, the overwhelming response to twins has been to regard them either as unnatural and monstrous or divine deserving of worship. Born as identical twins, we were indeed considered quite unique. Being an identical twin is a wonderful experience and has often not been properly explained to non-twins. Throughout life, you are compared and displayed for all to see. Many find identical twins confusing and react strangely to this uniqueness of nature. Being an identical twin presented us with great opportunities to foil those less twin knowledgeable and to experience instances where we were often confused. In school, we were not called Ron or Rog, only Twin. Our parents often could not tell us apart. When one misbehaved, we both ran for they often simply punished the first one caught. My sympathies were always with the caged animals at the zoo there for other’s viewing. We were treated as caged twins and gawked at and pointed to throughout life. People tend to assume because you look alike you are alike! This is simply not true. Identical looks do not beget identical personalities. Although we graduated with similar grades in high school and college, we were not similar. We looked similar and often acted similar, but we differed in many ways. As an identical twin, we struggled to establish our own identity. Finally realizing this dream when we graduated from college and went into separate branches of the U.S. military during the Vietnam War.

MY PARENT’S SURPRISE!

It was the end of World War II, and my parents were a poor Vermont farming family with a 7-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl. My mother was expecting another child and my father was earning hardly enough money to support the existing family. Ultrasounds or other devices did not exist to show a woman she was expecting more than one child or even the sex of the child. On a cold January night, my mother went into labor at the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. Early in the morning of January 9, Dr. Otis, our family physician, delivered a son (me). After the delivery, Dr. Otis informed my mother there was another baby and she was not yet done delivering. Approximately thirty minutes later, another baby boy arrived. It was the beginning of an identical twin relationship which would reward and challenge us. It is a relationship difficult to explain to others. We would tell people we were proof cloning should be prohibited! The total cost for our delivery was a mere $61.00. It was $11.00 more than my father brought home in a week!

CONFUSION

I JUST PREPARED YOU FOR AN OPERATION!

One late weekday evening when we were about twelve, Roger was experiencing pains in his side. My parents rushed him to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital where he was diagnosed with appendicitis. It was late evening, and they had taken him into a room to prepare for surgery. With nothing to do while my parents were waiting, I went looking for my brother’s room. As I was approaching the room, a nurse came to me and said, “I just prepared you for surgery, how did you get out of bed?” I told her I was feeling better and had changed my mind. She immediately went charging into the room only to see my brother lay prepared for surgery.

I AM RESIGNING!

The American Cheese Society annual meeting was held in Burlington, Vermont when my twin brother was serving as Vermont’s secretary of agriculture. He attended several sessions of the meetings and addressed the national group. My wife and I were attending a Saturday night reception with good friends. I was standing in line to check in and a young man came up and said, “Mr. Secretary, how are you tonight.” I told him I was not very well, and he asked why. I said I just returned from the television station, and he would see the news tomorrow. He asked about the news. I said I announced my resignation as secretary. He was a staff member of the agency and it did not take him long to tell the other members of the staff my brother, the secretary, resigned as secretary of agriculture.

DIFFERENT MILKMEN FOR FATHERS

Our mother drove to Brattleboro grocery shopping every Friday. Brattleboro was fifteen miles from our house, and a trip a week was the most we could afford. She purchased her weekly groceries at the A&P store located on Main Street. She often had other errands and let us visit the many stores on the street. We went into Woolworths, and two clerks asked if we were identical twins. We were amused when people asked such a silly question, for we were obviously identical. We came up with a very appropriate response. We told the clerks we were not identical and had different milkmen for fathers. It always caused an interesting response.

SHOE STORE WITH UNIQUE EQUIPMENT

Baker’s shoe store was located on Elliot Street in Brattleboro. My mother took us there to buy shoes. While one of us was fitted with shoes, the other would play with the store equipment. They had a foot x-ray machine. When you placed your foot under the machine, it would show an x-ray of all your foot bones. What a marvelous way to examine your foot. The store owners and users were not aware of the danger of x-ray’s in the early 1950’s.

HE IS ALWAYS IN TROUBLE!

I was in Telluride, Colorado on a fishing trip in 2013 when I went into a cooperative art store. Our fishing guide was an artist with his art exhibited at the cooperative. I noticed the cooperative manager watching me as I viewed the exhibits. She finally asked me if I knew Roger Allbee. She said I looked like the person she knew. I said I was often confused with the person and was aware he lived in Vermont and was always in trouble with the authorities. A strange look came over her face! I finally told her he was my identical twin brother. She was the cousin of my brother’s wife.

CALL THE GOVERNOR

My twin brother was serving as Secretary of Agriculture under Governor Jim Douglas. A new administrative assistant was assisting him. Roger was not in his office one morning and I walked in and asked her to call the Governor. At first, she thought I was Roger. She quickly replied, “if I had not just talked to him on the phone in Southern Vermont I would!

HE WAS DRINKING BEER IN GERMANY!

Roger was commissioned in the army and spent his Vietnam years in Germany assisting the British Army. I, on the other hand, spent many months on a carrier off the coast of North Vietnam. He told people I did not really serve in Vietnam because I was not on land but cruised the waters offshore. North of White River Junction , Vermont on Interstate 89, a rest area is named in honor of those who served and died in Vietnam. On my first stop, I approached the service desk and looked at the book listing service members. I noted my brother’s name in the book and told the people monitoring the desk his name should be removed as he did not serve in the conflict. They informed me they were service members who served during the Vietnam era. Those who actually served in Vietnam were listed on the marble wall. I said if his name was on the wall it should be removed. Fortunately, only my name was inscribed on the wall.

WHY NOT ME!

There are things twins learn about each other later in life. Much later, he told me about his religious experience. He told me of the experience after his heart attack. When he was twelve, God came to him and told him to devote himself to God and become a minister. Later, when I was serving as commissioner of agriculture, I asked one of my minister friends why God did not come to me? My good minister friend said, “Ron, doesn’t that tell you something!”

DID YOU SEE FIRE!

Most of us read or hear about near-death experiences. My father died from liver cancer in the fall of 1988. During the winter of 1988-1989, my brother and his wife were cross-country skiing with a church group in Ludlow, Vermont. While skiing, Roger passed out and was encouraged to ski back to the lodge. One skier went ahead and called an ambulance. At the lodge, he insisted he ride to the hospital in his car, but the person skiing with him insisted he ride in the ambulance. We grew up with some of the ambulance crew, and Roger started talking with them about other acquaintances when his heart stopped. Fortunately, it was a well-trained ambulance crew, and after fourteen minutes, while maintaining oxygen to his brain, they were able to restart his heart. He was still being treated and evaluated when I arrived at the hospital. His wife Anne and I stayed in the hospital all night while he was stabilized. We were invited to his room early the next morning. He said he suffered a heart attack. I said we were aware of the attack, but I wanted to know if “he saw fire!” He said he did not see the fire. He saw our father who told him it was not his time and he needed to return to help care for the rest of us.

Somewhat later, the hospital used his picture and information in a promotional advertisement. People who knew us would ask about Roger’s health condition. I would explain, telling them his heart had stopped for fourteen minutes. They always asked if he suffered brain damage. I always told them I...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.2.2021
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• ISBN-10: 1-0983-4834-6 / 1098348346
• ISBN-13: 978-1-0983-4834-2 / 9781098348342