dontravis.com blog post #597
Last week, we had the first instalment of Mark Wildyr’s story of triplets, two identical and one fraternal. We heard from Yip (one of the identicals), who seems to be a malcontent. Today we hear from Yap, the peacemaker among the three peas in a pod.
By Mark Wildyr
YAP
I dunno what’s going on with
Yip and Yup these days. Seemed like everything was okay, and then Yip went off
on a tear. I know identicals—IDs, I call us—are supposed to finish one
another’s thoughts, but maybe if the thought processes involve the “three peas
in a pod,” the magic doesn’t work.
All I know is, Yip’s turned
nasty lately. Last night, when Yup suggested he and I go on a double date, I
thought my ID was gonna go gorilla on us. Made threats that didn’t even make
sense. I know the thing with Cindy’s a thorn between them, but seems like I’m
getting to be one too. Don’t want any part of that. They’re both my brothers,
and that’s the end of it. I’d give up my life for either of them. Not
willingly, you understand, but in a pinch. Aw, you know what I mean. We’re
close… or were.
Mae Lin takes up a lot of my
time these days. I never thought of girls as “delicate” until I caught sight of
Mae Lin when she transferred in last year. She’s from one of those families
that came over after the Korean War way back in the 1950s. So she’s as
Americanized as any of us, but with a difference. She still managed to stay
“delicate.”
Native-born American girls have
their own delicious way about them, but I don’t believe delicate has any part
in it. I didn’t say that right. Mae Lin’s native-born like all the rest of
them, but she still has her ethnicity, I guess you could say.
Anyway, Mae and I finally did
go on a double date with Yup and Cindy. Had a good time at the movie, the
soda shop afterward, and a really good time parked out on the mesa after that.
Almost—but not quite—made it to Nirvana that night. At any rate, when we pulled
into the driveway, Yip was waiting with a baseball bat. He whacked on Yup’s car
a couple of times, and I really believe he was working up to applying it to our
brother when Dad came outside to see what the ruckus was and put an end to it
all.
Now I’m—along with Mom—known
as the family peacemaker, but there wasn’t a thing I could do to calm Yip down.
He went to bed seething that night. Yup, up till then, was just puzzled over
it, but he’s beginning to get his back up too.
I think that was the night I
started to believe there was something more to it than just sibling rivalry…
even sibling rivalry of the romantic kind. Triplets are supposed to be closer
than the three musketeers, right? All for one and one for all. And we were for
a long time. When I tried to pick the puzzle apart, it became clear right off
the bat that Yip and I had no problem between us. Same goes for Yup and me. I
love—and like—both my brothers equally, or as well as I can judge something
like that. You know how it is. One or the other of your bros does something to
tick you off and you momentarily move closer to the other, but the thing
generally balances out. I’m beginning to wonder if this one will.
Can it be something as simple
as Yup doesn’t look exactly like Yip and I do? He used to, but as we’ve grown
up, his features took their own path. Yip and I can still fool other people
into thinking we’re our brother—our ID brother. Everyone except family and Mae
Lin and Cindy, of course. But why would Yup looking different put Yip’s nose
out of joint?
Then I had a thought that
jarred me right out of my sneakers. Maybe Yip’s jealous because Yup looks like
his own person, whereas Yip looks like… well, me. If he’s jealous of Yup, is he
resentful of me because my kisser mirrors his own?
Yip almost got thrown off the soccer
team because every time Yup played goalie, my ID’d kick the ball straight at
him, not even pretending to be trying for a score. We used to have great fun
playing driveway basketball till Yip started playing dirty. He’d stomp on Yup’s
toes, kick his shins, butt him into the brick wall. He put a dent in the garage
door a week ago when he shoved—not butted—Yup into it.
Things are escalating, and, dammit, I don’t know what to
do about it.
****
Well,
if the peacemaker among the bunch is worried, so should we all be. Let’s see
what Yup, the fraternal brother, has to say next week.
Stay
safe and stay strong.
Now my
mantra: Keep on reading and keep on writing. You have something to say…
so say it!
A link
to The Cutie-Pie Murders:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ambxgy7e5ndmimk/CutiePieMurders%5BThe%5D.zip?dl=0
My
personal links:
Email: don.travis@aol.com.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/donald.travis.982
Twitter: @dontravis3
See you next Thursday.
Don
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