Chapter 2

((JANUARY 5, 1968))

"Raymond?"

"Yeah, Katherine?"

"Are Mom and Dad home yet?"

"No, sis — not for a couple of hours. Why?"

"Do you like me, Raymond?"

"You're my sister, Katherine. Of course, I like you. What's brought this on?"

"I see how you look at Sarah Walker. She's got those big knockers that you boys drool over. I don't have those big boobs to get guys attention. Do you think I'm pretty?"

"You're my sister!"

"That's not an answer!"

"But I can't tell you that I think you're pretty. Isn't that incest or something?"

"It's only incest if we make love to each other, stupid. I'm not asking you to do that. Ewwwww! That's disgusting to even think about, Raymond."

"What? Sex with anyone or only sex with me!"

"Well, I haven't had sex with anyone, so I guess its disgusting, no matter who!"

"Katherine; to answer your questions, in order; Yes, I like you and Yes, I think you are very pretty, even beautiful."

"Have you ever kissed a girl?"

"A gentlemen doesn't kiss and tell!"

"Oh, come on — I'm your sister, Raymond. If you can tell anybody, you can tell me."

"All right, then, Katherine. I've made out with ... uh, Jennifer Small, Kimberley Johnson, Julie Sharp and Shannon Andrews."

"Really, That's interesting. I'm going to get a yearbook out and look at these girls. The only one of those girls I know is Julie. Say their names, in alphabetical order, by last name, please."

"OK, Shannon Andrews!"

"Just a minute. Hmm. She's pretty!"

"You think I'd kiss an ugly girl?"

"Next girl's name, please?"

"All right, Kimberley Johnson!"

"She's not as pretty as Shannon. Next?"

"Julie Sharp, but you know her."

"She was my best friend when we went to Junior High together. She took a boy I liked and stole him from me. And the last girl again, please?"

"Jennifer Small."

"Yeah, looking at her picture, hmm. She's rather plain looking."

"You know, sis. If I didn't know any better I'd say you sounded a little jealous."

"Jealous — of these ... whores?"

"Now, why would you call them that? That's not a very nice thing to say."

"I'm prettier than all of them, aren't I Raymond? You just said that you think I'm beautiful, didn't you?"

"I know I did, Katherine; but you're my sister. I certainly can't make out with you, can I?"

"We're all alone, Raymond. I've never been kissed by a boy before. You have experience, having kissed all those girls — those whores."

"Now, you're acting really strange, Katherine. You actually ... want me to kiss you?"

"Y-y-yes, Raymond. I would like you to kiss me, please? It's no big deal. All we are going to do is kiss, right? Those other girls; did you just kiss them, or did more happen than that?"

"Katherine! I can't tell you that. That's not fair to ask me that. When you're standing there, looking - like you do, right now!"

"How do I look right now, Raymond?"

"You got on that tight t-shirt and those real tight jeans that make your butt look so good. You ... look ... so — amazing to me and if I were to kiss you, I'm not sure I could stop before we did something really, really wrong!"

"Nobody will know, we'll go upstairs and close the blinds. Nobody will see. We'll lock the door. I really want to kiss a boy and you may be the only chance I ever get."

"Katherine ... there are so many things wrong with this idea of yours; besides you're pretty enough to find and kiss any boy you want."

"But, Raymond?"

"Yes?"

"I want you!"

"Just to kiss me, right?"

"Whatever you want, Raymond!"

"Let's go up to MY room, sis. You come in there all the time to ask me school stuff and other things. That would be less suspicious than me in your room."

"So ... you've thought of doing — kissing me before?"

"Yeah ... I might as well tell you ... I've had a crush on you for about five years, now. I was scared to tell you. Worried to do anything. If you look close, all of those girls I've kissed look just like you. It's you I care about ... it's you I love!"

"Holy Crap, Raymond! You love me? You love your little sister? I don't know what to say!"

"I'm sorry Katherine. I knew that you didn't feel the same way about me. I was kidding myself. It was just a crazy little fantasy I had ... to make love to my little sister and tell her how much I loved her. Just ... a fantasy!"

"Wait a minute. Wait just a minute. You've been crushing on me since I was 14? That's the year I got my boobs. And you've fantasized about making love to me, that whole time?"

"That whole time Katherine."

"We've wasted a whole half an hour talking about this. Let's go upstairs, to your room, and try each other out."

"You mean you want to... ?"

"Oh, Yes, Raymond ... I do want to."

"I'll lock the door. Close the curtain. If the phone rings, I'll get it."

"OK — lover boy. Kiss me! Oh, yeah, that's nice, Ray!"

"You taste nice, Katherine ... Oh, oh, oh yeah ... do that again with your tongue."

"Take off my shirt, Ray — take it easy ... I'll have to put that back on."

"Your boobs are yummy-looking. Can I kiss them, too?"

"You can kiss anything you can get your tongue on, Ray."

"Really, Anything?"

"I'm going to put my hand down your pants, Raymond!"

"Go ahead, Katie!"

"What'd you just call me?"

"Katie! In my fantasy, I call you Katie. Sorry Katherine!"

"It just surprised me that's all, Ray."

"You can call me Ray, and you can call me Jay."

"Will you shut-up? You sound like that stupid commercial that's on all of the time."

"Sorry. It's funny to me."

"Maybe the first hundred times it's funny, but it's getting old."

"Oh — Katie. You've got your hand ... on my boner. Whew, it feels so much better when you grab it."

"So you DO play with yourself? I thought I heard you a couple of nights ago."

"Give a guy a break, Katie. You were walking through the hallway with just a bra and panties on. A guy can only take so much of that. Take my pants off, please?"

"Sure, if you'll finish getting me naked, I'll return the favor."

"God you are so damn beautiful, Katie! Are you safe? If we had sex, are you on the pill?"

"Mom started me about three weeks ago. She said something about not wanting any 'mistakes' running around the house."

"Are we going to ... to ... have sex, Katie? I will if you want, and I won't if you don't want to."

"Mom put me on the pill just for this situation, Ray."

"I don't think she intended for her son and daughter to have sex with each other, though."

((FEBRUARY 17, 1968))(Five Weeks Later)

"RAY, Ray, come here, in my room for a minute?"

"What is it Katie?"

"I'm late!"

"What do you mean, late?"

"My period should have started two weeks ago. I've been very regular for the last three years."

"What does that have to do with me, Katie?"

"If I'm pregnant, it has everything to do with you!"

"Oh, shit, Katie — what will we do? Do we get rid of it ... tell Mom and dad, I can't think — my head hurts. Oh my god, Katie. I'm so sorry. If it were possible, I'd marry you and we would be together, but I just can't think straight right now."

"Wait a minute, Ray. We get access to our trust funds when we turn 20, right? We were going to wait a year to go to college; we get our money and go to college together, at a college that's in some other state. I won't be showing for about two to three months ... Let me see ... your birthday is in three weeks. How much is in your Trust Account?"

"Let me go get my statement. I just got one, today."

"OK, hurry!"

"Here it is, Holy Shit — I never paid attention to the dollar amount before. Five fucking million dollars! We can do it, Katie!"

"First, Ray ... let's find out for sure if I'm really pregnant?"

((OCTOBER 1, 1968))

"Those are two beautiful babies you have there, Mr. and Mrs. Michelson. You two are awfully young to have twins. I know a couple, who desperately would like a baby girl. Would you like to meet them? Their names are Kenneth and Lilith Patina. They've been trying to have a baby on their own for about five years. She just found out she is infertile. Their only option is to adopt."

"We'll talk about it, doctor. Give us a couple of days, please? What do you think Katie?"

"Twins, I gave birth to twins. Can we ever tell, our Mom and dad, Ray?"

"I don't think so, Katie. But twins — Wow! Can we afford to keep both? That's a lot of clothes, food, two of everything, strollers and such. I say, if there is a loving home for the girl, we should let her have it. We could give her adopted parents our names and phone numbers and a letter for her, for when she turns 25."

"Raymond, what do you think of the name George?"

"I like it, Katie. Is that what you want to call our son; George?"

"For Birth Certificate purposes, we need to name the girl as well. Our grandma's name was Martha, how about Martha Michelson for her?"

"It's beautiful, just like her mother is. Look at all that hair, Katie. She is going to be a stunner when she gets older."

((LATE NIGHT — OCTOBER 7, 1993))

"Let's get back to these boxes of records, George. There may be something in here that will tell us where to find my biological parents."

"OK, Martha."

I had come across a rather old envelope that had the name Martha Michelson on it. I showed it to Martha. She looked it all over very closely and then she decided to just open it. There was a handwritten letter.

"Oh my God, George! It's a letter from my biological parents written to me for when I turned 25. I'll read it out loud. It's dated October 4^th, 1968!"

"Dear Martha,

You were born on October First, Nineteen Sixty-Eight, which was three days ago. At the same time you were born, your twin brother was born. We're very young, and a doctor at the hospital told us about a couple that wanted a little girl very badly, after finding out that she was infertile. It isn't fair to you, to find out this way, but your father and I felt a letter to you as an adult, would be an appropriate means to pass on some vital information. Some of this information may be very difficult for you to read, but we both think it is necessary.

My name is Katherine Michelson and your father's name is Raymond Michelson. We were born to the same parents, which makes us brother and sister. I know that this probably disgusts you, but I'm sorry. We fell in love, and you and your brother were our 'love twins.'

Martha dropped the letter and started sobbing. I rushed to her and held her very close. We just found out that we were brother and sister, twin children of my father and mother, who are also brother and sister -- And We Are Pregnant!

I picked up the letter and continued reading.

"At some point in your life you may want to contact us, so included, is our phone number and our home address. We would love to meet you and find out what you've made of your life. We'd also love for you to meet your brother, I'm certain he will grow up to be as wonderful as you.

Love,

Raymond and Katherine Michelson

We dug through the boxes looking to see what else there was about this. Neither Martha nor I could look each other in the eyes without starting to cry.

"Do you realize what this means, Martha?"

"George ... it means w-we shouldn't have this baby!"

"Let's go to your OB/GYN and absolutely verify that you're pregnant! Then, we can proceed from there, OK?"

"OK, George. This is amazing. Our parents are brother and sister! We're brother and sister. And we're pregnant."

We found some more documents, including Martha's original Birth Certificate. It showed her name as Martha Michelson and her birth date as October 1^st, but you could tell how the handwritten number could have been misread as a 7. Well, that's how that happened!

Do we tell her folks anything? And my folks! They have no idea that my wife Martha, is my sister Martha, their 'love twins!' First things first, verify pregnancy!

The next morning we went to her OB/GYN and they assured us that she is, most definitely, pregnant. We made an appointment with a geneticist. We need to talk to our parents. We went by my ... our folks first. We knocked and yelled.

"Hello, mom ... dad, is anybody home?"

"Oh, hello you two, nice to see you. Is everything OK? Oh dear, why are you crying, Marty? Ray -- RAY, get in here. Something's wrong! What is it? Why are you crying, Georgie? Here you two, sit down."

"I came as quickly as I could Katie, what's going on? Hi kids!"

"Mom, we all need to sit down. We've good news and -- I don't know what to call the other news, maybe it's good. I'm not sure."

"Honey, Georgie ... you can tell us anything, you know that."

"Mom ... Dad — was I a twin?"

"Oh My God, George! How did you find that out?"

"Mom, that's not important! Were you two ever going to tell me, or were you hoping that I would never find out that I had a twin sister?"

"Son, can I ask how you found this out?"

"Yeah, Dad — here!"

I showed him the letter we found. He read it and gave it to my mother to read. She recognized her handwriting. She had started sobbing, and was literally shaking as she read the letter that she wrote over 25 years before. She grabbed my father's hand. He gave her a kiss on the top of her head, in an attempt to calm her down. You could hear him very quietly telling her to 'calm down, Katie.' After a minute of avoiding my and Martha's gaze, my Dad looked directly at Martha, and then me. His face went sallow, and he turned to my mom.

"Katie, calm down dear! The worst is not over yet, is it George?"

"No dad, it isn't! Raymond and Katherine Michelson, brother and sister, I would like to introduce you to your 'love twins' George and Martha ... Michelson!"

At this point, Martha walked up to her mother with her arms outstretched. I walked up to my dad, and gave him a gut-busting hug. There was lots of crying and 'I'm sorrying' going on. Martha and I switched, so I was hugging my Mom and Martha was hugging her Daddy. The tears were still flowing, but not as much as before. There was one more shoe to drop. I got everyone to sit back down.

"That was the 'I don't know' news. Now for the great news -- Martha is pregnant!"

"Oh ... my ... goodness gracious, George! Marty ... Martha, are you going to keep... ?"

"Well, Katie ... Mom — I don't know. We just found out last night after three different home pregnancy tests. We went to my OB/GYN and he confirmed it. It's too early for him to tell us anything else. We've decided to talk to a geneticist to see the probabilities of birth defects."

"I-I-I'm so sorry, George. I had no idea you would meet and fall in love with your sister, like I did. And now, you two are pregnant! What are you going to tell the geneticist, concerning your mother and I?"

"Well, I'm not going to give them any names, but I am going to tell them the full gamut of our lineage. He can't disclose anything I tell him in confidence. No crime has been committed, I don't think. I've often read that adult sibling incest is considered a 'victimless crime.' I guess we'll find out, mom! I recommend we keep this to ourselves, until we find out what our options are!"

"Have you spoken to Marty's parents, yet?"

"No, Dad — we're going there directly from here, and tell them about us, being brother and sister. I don't plan to spring your real relationship to them, or to tell them yet, about our being pregnant."

"That was quite the understatement you made when you walked in here, about having good news and 'I don't know' news, son! Do you kids want us there, to help them get through what we all just went through?"

"Thank you, Ray ... Daddy. Talking to them will be tough enough. One good thing from all of this is that I now know that George and I can celebrate our birthdays together."

"That's my little girl, turning lemons into lemonade."

"Mommy, hold me for a minute, please?"

"Certainly, Marty, whenever you want!"

After about ten more minutes of hugging and crying, Martha and I got into our car and headed to her parents. Wow! This day has been a day of revelations, so far. I'm beginning to think we should tell John and Sarah about the baby, but we can't show them the letter!

"Martha, maybe we shouldn't tell John and Sarah 'anything' yet?"

"Why not, George?"

"All of our proof exposes Ray and Katie as 'our' parents. I don't want to put them through all of that yet. Can we wait until after the results of our geneticist appointment tomorrow?"

"I think, I understand George. I just want to tell them what we found, before ... before..."

"I know, honey. We can tell them everything, in a day or two. Call your mom ... Katie, and tell them we are waiting two days to tell John and Sarah."

"OK, George!"

((OCTOBER 4, 1986))

After announcing we were waiting to get married on October 7th, the plans started in earnest. Ray and Katie started making the arrangements for the wedding. They wanted to rent the Country Club Main Hall, but Martha and I quickly knocked down that idea, saying how we wanted something small and intimate. Katie, my mom, pooh-poohed 'small and intimate' out of hand.

I told her in very few words, that Martha and I could simply get a Justice of the Peace ... and get married with no frills or family at all. That knocked her down a few pegs, but she still got a hall, with a DJ, and all the accoutrements that are necessary for a wedding and reception.

Three days before the wedding, I went to get Martha for a pre-wedding dinner, just the two of us. I pulled up to her house.

"Hello, George. How are you this evening?"

"Fine, John! And how are your two lovely ladies doing this evening?"

"Sarah always said you were a smooth talker. I think she may have a little crush on you herself, George!"

"John — why would you say such a thing to our almost son-in-law?"

"Well, Sarah ... if I had met you before I met Martha, and if you weren't married to this big hunk of man, who knows."

"Oh, you. Marty's just about ready. Are you nervous about the wedding, George?"

"Actually, the wedding I'm OK with Sarah. Martha and I have ... waited, and I am quite nervous about the whole 'wedding night.'"

"Well, George, I've been married once before I married Sarah, and I understand your nervousness, completely -- There she is!"

"Hello, George. I'm sorry you had to wait for me. I was finishing up my hair."

"You look magnificent, Martha. Well, folks ... we have a reservation, so we need to get going, Bye. Love you both!"

"Bye, Georgie! See you soon."

"Not if I see you first!"

I went back to Sarah and John. I hugged John and gave Sarah a big kiss on the lips, then I left them, and went back to Martha, who wiped her mothers lipstick off my lips, and giggled. We went to Cask 'n' Cleaver and had a magnificent dinner. We discussed some upcoming issues.

"Martha ... you and I both live with our parents still, but I have a pre-wedding gift for you; Here!"

"What are these keys for, George?"

"Our own apartment, Martha. You want to go there after dinner?"

"Wow! Of course I do, sweetheart!"

We finished up our meal and got into the car. Part of my routine, when I'm with her, is to give her a kiss every time we're going somewhere together in the car. I traveled to a relatively new apartment complex and took her to it, covering her face with my hand as we walked up to the front door. I opened it.

"Ta-da! Open your eyes."

"Oh! George it's beautiful. It's got one ... two ... bedrooms and a nice kitchen/living room! And it's all furnished. How are we affording this, George?"

"My Dad loaned me enough money to rent it for one year. He's got me on a payback plan, with no interest. It will take three years at my current income to pay him back. How do you like it, beautiful?"

"That bed is huge, George!"

"It won't feel huge in three days, lover!"

((OCTOBER 7, 1986))

The wedding was marvelous, most of the people who were there, neither Martha nor I knew, except Ray and Katie, and John and Sarah. My Dad was my best man and Sarah was Martha's Matron of Honor. The DJ played music during the wedding and then kicked off the reception with the song 'Can't Help Falling in Love With You, ' the Elvis version, of course. We did all the traditional stuff; cutting the cake, the garter toss and the bouquet toss. I danced with Sarah, and Martha danced with Ray, and then John and Katie joined us and we all had a wonderful time. When we were about to leave, my Mom came up to us and handed us a basket of envelopes.

"What's all this, Katie?"

"Well Marty, our friends think that gifts are nice but cash is king! Each of them gave you cash or a check to help you get started. I know what Ray has done for you, regarding your apartment. My gift to the both of you is this."

"What exactly is in this envelope, Mrs. Michelson?"

"I told you not to call me that, anymore, Marty?"

"OK, do you want me to open it now, Mom?"

"Please do, dear!"

"Oh, Oh -- my goodness, George — look what your mother gave us?"

"I've had a trust fund that I 'never' get to use, you two. It's the least I can do for my son and daughter-in-law."

"Sixty thousand dollars, mother? I-I-I don't know what to say! I'm ... I'm speechless. I love you, mom. Just when I thought I had figured you out, you go and do something amazing like this. Wow! Shit — sorry! My head is full of ideas on how to spend this, but I'm sure Martha has some ideas of her own."

We went back to our apartment, and like old Scrooge McDuck, we immediately opened up all of the envelopes, with Martha keeping track of who gave us what, to send everyone thank-yous. Twenty-seven envelopes were opened, and when all was said and done -- there was twenty-nine thousand dollars. So, a total of Eighty-Nine Thousand Dollars. Wow! We immediately decided the first thing we needed to get was to replace the 15 year-old car I'd been driving with something newer ... not necessarily brand new, but newer.

We decided on a two or three year old Honda or Toyota. My Dad taught me to be frugal with money, so we put forty thousand of our new money in a high-interest account that we couldn't touch for a year without incurring a large fee from the bank. We replaced most of our clothes, and my one indulgence was to get my wife a necklace, and some matching earrings.

((OCTOBER 8, 1993))

We went to our early morning appointment with the geneticist, and gave him our situation, mostly using a hypothetical scenario, advising him that we just found out we were blood brother and sister. We asked if there was anything, genetically speaking, that would keep us from having children. He took our blood and skin cells and told us to come back the next day.