The Two and Only Kelly Twins Read online

On October 31st, the costumes were ready. Arlene and Ilene put on their outfits and admired each other. It was better than looking in a mirror.

  The girls had arranged with other kids on their street to go trick-or-treating together after supper. Besides Monty and Joey, there was also a girl named Lucy who was in fourth grade and lived on the corner. There were two brothers, in fourth and fifth grade, named Hank and Mike who lived on the far end in the opposite direction. All together they represented two witches, a bride, an astronaut, a cowboy, a ghost, and a monster.

  Joey’s mom had agreed to accompany the children, and Mrs. Kelly said she would, too. Mr. Kelly was going to stay home to open the door to any other trick-or-treaters. Children often came from neighboring streets with bags they hoped to fill with candy. There was a box of treats waiting to be given out.

  “Seven children coming to a door at once seems a bit much,” Mrs. Kelly said when they were all together at the corner. “I think we should split up. Half of the children can come with me and we’ll do this street. And the other half can go with Mrs. Thomas around the corner. Then we’ll switch streets and ring the bells of the other people.”

  “Girls,” Mrs. Kelly said to her daughters, “I think you should split up. No need for two witches to arrive at someone’s house at the same time.”

  “Okay,” said Arlene. “It really doesn’t matter. We’re all going to the same homes, and we’ll all be getting the same stuff.”

  So Joey, Monty, and Ilene went off in the dark with Mrs. Thomas.

  And Arlene, Lucy, Hank, and Mike went with Mrs. Kelly.

  Off they went. At the first house, while Mrs. Thomas waited on the sidewalk, they rang the doorbell. A mother holding an infant in her arms opened the door.

  “Trick or treat!” the three children shouted.

  The mother was prepared. She dropped two miniature chocolate bars in each of the bags that were held out to her. “Just think,” she said. “In a few years, my little Peter John will be out trick-or-treating with you.”

  Ilene wasn’t sure about that, but she kept her mouth closed. By the time Peter John was four years old, she would be in sixth grade and in middle school. She might be too old to go trick-or-treating by then.

  At the next house, a short, bald man had a large bowl of pennies. He put his hand in the bowl and then dropped a few coins in each bag.

  “Pennies.” Ilene made a face as they walked away. “You can’t buy anything with pennies.”

  “It depends how many you have,” Monty pointed out.

  Soon the bags were filled with chocolates, miniature candy bars, small boxes of raisins, lollipops, coins, and chewing gum. There were other groups of children walking down the street, too. Because of the costumes and the masks that some of them wore, they couldn’t recognize one another. They didn’t live on this street, but it didn’t matter. Ilene’s group reached the end of the block just as Mrs. Kelly came with the trick-or-treaters she had been accompanying.

  “How much do you have?” Arlene asked her sister as they met up.

  “It’s great,” Ilene said. “Every single person opened the door.” She was remembering last year, when some doors had remained shut. Either no one was home or someone was inside but pretending not to be there. It wasn’t a very friendly way to behave on Halloween, but that’s how some people were.

  Mrs. Kelly waited on the sidewalk while Arlene, accompanied by the monster, the ghost, and the bride, rang the first doorbell.

  “Trick or treat!” the children called out as the door opened.

  The white-haired woman who answered looked at the characters before her. She put a candy bar into the monster’s bag, the ghost’s bag, and the bride’s bag. She didn’t give anything to Arlene.

  “You forgot me,” Arlene said.

  “No,” the woman said sharply. “You have enough. I can’t give you anything more.”

  “That’s not very nice,” Lucy the bride said to Arlene.

  “Maybe she’s running out of candy,” Arlene said. She made a point of pushing her way in front of the others when they rang the next doorbell.

  “You again!” said a teenage girl. She put a lollipop in each bag but ignored Arlene.

  “What about me?” asked Arlene.

  “Don’t be so piggy,” the teenager said, and she banged the door shut.

  It wasn’t until the third house, where again she was denied any treats, that Arlene and her mother realized what was happening. “Everyone thinks you’ve been to their house already because you look exactly like Ilene,” Mrs. Kelly said.

  “That’s not fair,” protested Arlene.

  “You’re right,” her mother agreed. “I’ll explain at the next house.”

  So she did, and Arlene got her share of candy but also a few suspicious looks.

  “People on this street don’t know you have a twin sister,” Mrs. Kelly said. “Maybe next year, you and Ilene can pick out different costumes.”

  In the end, everyone received a large assortment of candies. And even though Ilene had also been turned down by some people, Mrs. Kelly said the two girls should pool all their treats. Together they would have more than anyone.

  Instead of going off to still another street, Mrs. Kelly invited everyone to come home with her. The children sat down and examined the stuff in their bags.

  “Who wants to trade me their gum for this box of raisins?” asked Hank.

  Soon there was a lot of trading going on.

  Meanwhile, Mr. Kelly filled a tub with water. Then the children bobbed for apples.

  Before long there was a damp bride, astronaut, cowboy, monster, ghost, and pair of witches eating the apples they had succeeded in getting. Then, since it was getting late, they each took their bag of goodies to go home. At the door, Mrs. Kelly added a small tube of toothpaste to the contents of each bag.

  “This is a weird treat,” said the monster. The others all agreed.

  “Not at all,” said Mrs. Kelly. “You need to brush your fangs after you eat your candy,” she told him.

  When everyone was gone, Arlene said, “Next year I want to be a ballerina.”

  “Me too!” shouted Ilene.

  “I said it first,” said Arlene.

  “I said it loudest,”said Ilene.

  “I say get out of your wet clothes and get ready for bed,” said Mrs. Kelly. “Next Halloween is a long way off. You have plenty of time to figure out what you want to be.”

  “Soon it will be Christmas!” remembered Arlene.

  “I love Christmas!” shouted Ilene.

  “Don’t forget Thanksgiving,” said Mr. Kelly, walking into the room.

  “I love Thanksgiving,” said Arlene.

  “I love Thanksgiving!” shouted Ilene.

  “I said it first,” said Arlene.

  “I said it loudest!” said Ilene.

  “I said it’s bedtime,” said Mrs. Kelly. She said it first and she said it loudest, so the two witches went to get ready for bed.

  On November second, just two days after Halloween, Arlene woke in the middle of the night. She had a terrible pain in her stomach, and she felt like throwing up. She called out to her mother.

  “I’m sick,” she moaned.

  Ilene was sound asleep and didn’t hear anything at first. But as Arlene continued calling, Ilene gradually woke up.

  “Keep quiet,” she mumbled to her sister. “I’m trying to sleep.”

  Luckily, Arlene’s cries had awakened her mother as well as Ilene.

  “What’s the matter, honey?” asked a groggy Mrs. Kelly.

  “My stomach hurts,” Arlene said.

  “I’m not surprised. It’s all that candy you’ve been eating. Anyone would be sick.”

  “I’ll never eat a piece of candy again,” moaned Arlene. She jumped out of bed and went rushing to the bathroom. A moment later, she threw up.

  Mrs. Kelly took a damp washcloth and cleaned Arlene’s face. “You feel a little warm, too. I bet you have a fever.” She gave Arlene a cup
of water. “Rinse out your mouth. It will make you feel better.”

  “I feel awful,” Arlene said.

  “Do you need to throw up again?” asked her mother.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Here,” said Mrs. Kelly, taking the plastic wastebasket from the bathroom. “I’ll put this by your bed in case you need it. Just lie down. You’ll probably feel better in the morning.”

  Arlene lay down in bed, but she felt too terrible to sleep. She felt like throwing up, but nothing came out. She couldn’t remember ever having felt so awful in her whole life. After a few minutes, she went to her parents’ bedroom. “Can you dial 911?” she begged her mother. “I think I’m dying.”

  Both of Arlene’s parents sat up in bed. Mr. Kelly turned on the light.

  “She looks awful,” he said to his wife.

  “I feel awful,” said Arlene.

  “It’s two in the morning,” said Mrs. Kelly. “Can we call the doctor at this hour?”

  “Why not?” said Arlene’s father. “She won’t answer the phone. All the doctors have phone services, and they’ll advise us on what to do.”

  After a call to the service and a call back from the doctor, Arlene was in her parents’ car wrapped in a blanket and on her way to the emergency room at the hospital. Ilene, who didn’t have a stomachache, was also wrapped in a blanket in the backseat of the car.

  “We couldn’t leave you at home alone, honey,” Mrs. Kelly apologized. Ilene nodded. She was half asleep. She woke at the hospital and then curled up on a couch in the waiting area. It was lumpy, not comfortable like her bed. Still, she dozed off and on. When she woke, at six a.m., she didn’t even know where she was. The whole night had seemed like a dream to her.

  The whole night had seemed like a nightmare to Arlene. She was examined and given a couple of tests by the hospital staff. Then she was assigned a bed in the children’s area and had to wait for her doctor to come. It seemed Arlene had appendicitis and would need surgery.

  There was a discussion about whether one of her parents should take Ilene home for breakfast and to put on clothing. She couldn’t go to school in her pajamas.

  Ilene yawned. “Where’s Arlene?” she asked.

  “She’s waiting to see Dr. Clive,” said Mrs. Kelly.

  Ilene yawned again.

  “Why does Ilene have to go to school?” Mr. Kelly asked his wife. “She looks like she needs more sleep after the night we’ve just had.”

  So that day both Arlene and Ilene stayed home from school. After Mrs. Kelly called the school to explain her daughters’ absence, a rumor quickly went around the second grade. Identical twins Arlene and Ilene Kelly both were having their appendixes removed. It seemed amazing. They always did everything alike.

  But only Arlene had her appendix removed. And it was decided that she should remain at the hospital for at least a couple of days. That meant that Ilene slept in her room at home all alone that night. She had never slept in a room alone before in her entire life. Still, it was fun playing with both ferrets by herself. She wondered if Frankie missed Arlene. Maybe she was like all the humans they knew and couldn’t tell the twins apart, either.

  In his bedroom, her father was alone, too. The hospital had a special folding bed that Mrs. Kelly could sleep on so that Arlene wouldn’t be alone and sad away from home.

  The next morning, Ilene walked to school without having her sister by her side. She had never walked to school alone, or in fact done much of anything alone, in her entire seven years. The twins had never been separated before.

  Ilene wasn’t exactly alone. Her friends Monty and Joey walked with her.

  “Poor Arlene,” said Monty. “How is she feeling?”

  “I guess she’s okay now that the operation is over,” said Ilene.

  Even though Monty and Joey were friends of the twins, it felt strange to Ilene to be walking with them and not to have Arlene along, too.

  At school, she thought about Arlene all morning long. Her father had told her that Arlene would still not be home when school let out. At lunchtime, the second-graders were always permitted to sit with the children from the other second-grade classes. Every day Ilene and Arlene rushed to sit together. Today Ilene was alone. But right away, two girls from Arlene’s class came and joined her.

  “I guess you miss your sister,” said one.

  “What do you have for lunch?” asked the other.

  Ilene opened her lunch box. There was a tuna-fish sandwich and an apple cut into quarters. There was also a little box of raisins from her Halloween treats. Both of the other girls discovered they had boxes of raisins in their lunches, too. It made them laugh. They talked together, and Ilene stopped thinking about Arlene for a little while. The girls jumped rope together during recess.

  Just before dismissal time, a girl from Arlene’s class came to Ilene’s classroom. She delivered an envelope filled with get-well cards made by her classmates. Ilene stuffed the envelope into her backpack. She walked home with Monty and Joey.

  “Are you going to karate this afternoon?” Monty asked.

  Ilene had never gone to karate class without Arlene.

  “Maybe,” she said. “Maybe not.”

  “We’ll miss you if you don’t come,” said Monty. “It’ll be bad enough that Arlene won’t be there. Please come,” he begged.

  “Okay,” Ilene agreed. It was nice that Monty wanted her to go with him.

  Karate was fun. Ilene learned a new movement that day. She would have to teach it to Arlene when she came home from the hospital. That way she wouldn’t fall behind.

  All the next day, Ilene wondered what time Arlene would get home. Would she come in the morning while Ilene was doing math? Or maybe she’d come home in time to have lunch with their mother. Ilene imagined her sister eating and talking and laughing with their mother. She wished she was there with them. Maybe they’d watch something on TV together when lunch was over. Or maybe they’d play a game. Ilene sighed as she did her math problems.

  When Ilene got home that afternoon, there was Arlene. She was sitting on the sofa in the living room and wearing new pajamas. They didn’t match any that Ilene had. Arlene also had several gifts: two new books, a puzzle, and a huge container of chocolate kisses. On the coffee table was a pile of get-well cards. How did so many people know that Arlene had been in the hospital? Ilene wondered.

  It all reminded Ilene of a book their mother had read to them when they were little. Madeline had her appendix out, too, and she also got lots of presents. But unlike the children in that story, Ilene didn’t think she wanted to have her appendix out.

  Monty came over with a plate of homemade chocolate-chip cookies. “My mom made these for Arlene, but you can have some, too,” he told Ilene. “When will Arlene go back to school?” Monty wanted to know.

  “Mom says I can go back on Monday,” Arlene told him.

  Monty looked at the new puzzle that Arlene had. “Can we do it together?” he asked.

  It seemed like a good idea. So Arlene and Ilene and Monty began work on the puzzle. It was a hard one. It had two hundred pieces.

  While they worked on the puzzle, the children ate some of the chocolate kisses. Even Arlene ate some, although just a couple of nights ago, she had said she’d never eat candy again.

  “Either you have a very short memory or you are feeling much better,” said Mrs. Kelly when she walked into the living room to check on Arlene.

  When it was time for Monty to go home for his supper, the puzzle was still unfinished. “I can come over tomorrow and help some more,” he offered. Then he looked at the two sisters and said, “You aren’t identical twins now.”

  “Yes, we are,” said both Arlene and Ilene together.

  Monty shook his head no. “You might look alike. You have the same hair and glasses and stuff, but you’re not identical anymore,” he insisted.

  “Why? Because we’re not wearing matching clothes?” asked Ilene.

  “No. Because Arlene is missing
her appendix and Ilene still has an appendix.”

  Both girls started laughing. They were alike and not alike at the same time. But the difference was a secret that no one could see just by looking at them.

  “I missed you,” Arlene told Ilene when they were in bed that night.

  “I missed you, too,” Ilene told her sister. “But,” she confessed, “I still had a good time at school and at karate.”

  “I made friends with a girl in the next bed at the hospital,” Arlene admitted. “Neither of us ate the string beans on our supper trays yesterday. Maybe when she’s feeling better, I’ll go over to her house to visit her.”

  “I made friends with two girls from your class,” Ilene said. “We ate lunch together and played during recess.”

  “Twins don’t have to do everything together every minute,” said Arlene.

  “I know,” said Ilene nodding in the dark.

  “Still, we’re lucky to have each other,” said Arlene.

  “Yes,” Ilene agreed. She put her head down on her pillow, and in one minute, she was sound asleep.

  And just alike, so was Arlene.

  www.candlewick.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2013 by Johanna Hurwitz

  Illustrations copyright © 2013 by Tuesday Mourning

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

  First electronic edition 2013

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2012947732

  ISBN 978-0-7636-5602-7 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-0-7636-6764-1 (electronic)

  Candlewick Press

  99 Dover Street

  Somerville, Massachusetts 02144