the wind and the rain - 10 - the twins

by nick nelson

part 10 of ?


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harold brown and walter wilson were identical twins. but they did not have much in common. they met by chance one night at a small railroad station on the outskirts of the great city. the station had a small kiosk where coffee and donuts and other small pastries, and newspapers and magazines, could be purchased. but unlike some other stations on the line, no chewing gum or hard candies or cough drops were available. there was one small table with two chairs and walter was seated at it, reading a newspaper he had purchased at the kiosk, and sipping an anonymous beverage in a bottle he had not purchased there but produced from a battered brown briefcase that sat at his feet, which were encased in red running shoes with blue laces. the red running shoes were the only distinctive features of walter’s dress, or of his person. harold was the friendliest person in the world, and started conversations almost every day with complete strangers, impervious to any indifference or insults he might encounter, and delighting in regaling them with the most intimate details of his mind and his personal behavior. now harold stood behind walter wilson, reading walter’s newspaper over his shoulder. the front page of the newspaper had a headline declaring the outbreak of war between - do you mind, walter asked harold in his curiously booming voice, standing back a little way? you are standing in the light. oh but the light, such as it is, is directly overhead, harold replied innocently. i fail to see how i am impeding it in any way. well, since you are not perspicacious enough to take a broad hint, i will be blunt. i do not care for the proximity of your presence, walter thundered. but i was only curious as to the exact nature of the terrible tragedy unfolding on the other side of the globe, harold expostulated meekly. i believe the best way for you to satisfy your curiosity would be to purchase your own copy of this newspaper. they have to have a sufficient stack of them and to be in no danger of running out of them any time soon. if you are inconvenienced for funds, you might ask one of the other persons assembled here - not myself - to give you the necessary coinage. or, as a last resort, you might wait until the person at the counter has their back turned, and simply take one. all this walter delivered in a voice guaranteed to catch the attention of anyone within one hundred meters , including any dozers or sleepers. harold was in no wise nonplussed, and quite used to longer and louder and more threatening outbursts from persons he approached. come, sir, he continued affably, is it not a bit ridiculous and unseemly for us to bicker thus, when across the world our fellow humans are inexplicably blowing each other bits with flaming engines of steel - there is nothing inexplicable about it, walter responded in a somewhat more muted tone, it is what humans do. i bid you good day, sir, your company displeases me. a whistle announced the approach of a train. i wonder if that is our train, harold mused aloud.. being in possession of a timetable, i know that it is my mine, walter replied, folding his newspaper. next