Grace has always been very smart for her age. So smart, in fact, that she was bumped up to the next grade and will be attending the fourth grade next year. She was a little worried because she’ll be the youngest kid in class at just 8 years old, but she had more important things to think about at the moment. Her birthday would soon be here.
Grace sat on the windowsill in her library and hugged her knees to her chest. She stared down at the large yard below, all her toys and swing set sitting unused. She often daydreamed about playing out there with a little brother or sister, or even a few friends. Grace didn’t have any friends. She was teased at school for being nerdy with her big square glasses and large front teeth. Her stringy blonde hair was a target of ridicule, too. The kids called her spaghetti head.
Her parents, Dr. and Mrs. Cooper weren’t mean. They just didn’t understand her. Father is a very practical thinker. Whenever she asked for a brother or sister, he would say very simply, “but they would be so much younger than you. You’d have nothing in common.”
A knock on the door made her jump. Her mother stood in the doorway smiling.
“Hello, sweetheart. A penny for your thoughts?” she came to sit next to her daughter.
Grace thought about it for a moment, and then she started to cry.
“I’m lonely, Mama.”
Mrs. Cooper looked very sad.
“I have an idea,” she said with a smile. “For your birthday this weekend, we’ll invite your twins!”
“My twins?” Grace asked, removing her glasses to wipe away tears.
“Yes, Pumpkin. The children who were born on the exact same day as you. We’ll put an ad in the paper for it. How does that sound?”
Grace smiled at the thought of meeting new friends. “I think I’d like that, Mama.”
Chapter 2: The Arrivals
As it turns out, there were three other kids in the area who’d been born on the same exact day as Grace, so when August 17th rolled around on Saturday, she could hardly contain her excitement. This was going to be the best birthday ever. She skipped around the house, prepared games in the backyard, and pestered her mom to the point of exhaustion.
At long last, the first guest arrived. In all her excitement, Grace ran to open the door, but she hadn’t realized it was locked and ran into it very hard, making a loud THUMP echo through the main hall. She fell flat on her back.
“Good grief, Grace! Are you okay?” Her mother asked. Grace sat up on the ground and fixed her glasses.
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
“Are you sure? Because you just ran into a solid oak door.”
Grace stood and straightened out her clothes. “Yes, I’m fine.” She opened the door to a very tall, thin woman with a shock of red hair, lots of freckles and a bright yellow dress. Standing next to her was a young boy who looked almost exactly like her.
“Hello,” Grace said.
“Hello,” the woman replied.
“Hello,” Grace’s mother chimed in.
“I’m not gonna do it,” the boy said, crossing his arms.
“Do what?” Grace asked curiously.
“I’m not gonna say hello after three have been said. This is uncomfortable enough as it is. I’m Phelix, with a ph, because my parents are mean.” Phelix flashed a smile at his mother, who was a little red in the face.
Grace smiled. “Hi Phelix with a ph. I’m Grace… um, with a G,” she said a little awkwardly. Phelix grinned at her, and Grace turned very red in the face.
“Please, come in,” Grace’s mother opened the door wide.
They’d barely gotten into the living room when the doorbell rang again.
“You gonna throw yourself at it again?” Phelix asked playfully.
“No, I didn’t …” but she stopped suddenly at the loud voices echoing through the house. It was a very chubby boy and girl arguing with each other.
“This the Cooper place?” The harassed-looking lady with them asked.
“Don’t be stupid, Myrna. Of course it is. Don’t you see the two idiots over there?” the boy pointed at Grace and Phelix.
“Yes, please come in,” Grace’s mother said a little uncertainly.
The boy and girl marched in and walked right up to Grace and Phelix.
“I’m Buz. This is my sister, Dana. Who are you, four-eyes?”
“Um, I’m Grace, and this is Phelix,” she said quietly. Phelix looked very angry.
“What’s up with you, freckles?” Buzz asked Phelix.
The room went very quiet, and Grace realized this was very clearly not going to be the best birthday ever.
Chapter 3: Payback
Two hours later, it became quite clear that the parents were either not around on purpose, or have fallen into one of the hunting traps Grace’s father keeps in the basement. In any case, the point was plain as day: They were on their own.
In the field behind her house, Grace and Phelix sat down behind the trunk of a large tree. They were both trying to catch their breath and remove dirt and bugs from various parts of their body. Buz and his sidekick sister, Dana, initiated a game of Manhunt and were taking the hunting part rather seriously. So far, Dana has thrown Grace into a muddy swamp and threw rocks at her as she tried to get out, and Buz sat on top of Phelix trying to force bugs into his mouth while smearing mud all over his face.
They were filthy and, quite obviously, losing this vicious war against the bigger, meaner kids.
“What were you thinking inviting them here?!” Phelix asked in an angry tone.
“I didn’t realize they’d be this mean,” Grace retorted tearfully. “I don’t have any siblings, and I don’t have any friends, so mom came up with the idea about a twin birthday, and…”
“Twin? Never mind, I don’t wanna know. Listen, Grace. There are always going to be people like that against people like us, so you have to be careful. You have to fight back.”
Grace wiped the tears and dirt from her face. “What do you mean?”
Phelix grinned widely. “I have an idea.”
Several minutes later, Dana and Buz were stomping through the field and trees looking for their prey. Every now and then, one of them would yell out a name, as if Grace and Phelix were dumb enough to answer.
Phelix’s idea was absolutely brilliant, and all Grace had to do was bring attention to herself. She came out from behind the big tree and stood in the middle of the trail.
“You guys are being very mean!” she yelled, with hands on her hips.
“This is MY house and MY party and I want you to stop being mean to us this instant!”
Dana and Buz came onto the path and stopped several yards in front of Grace. They both started laughing at her.
“You standing up to us pipsqueak?” Dana asked in her mean little voice.
“Yes, actually, I AM!”
“Where’s your little friend? Not here to protect you?” Buz asked as he started moving toward her slowly, looking very big and very mean.
As soon as Buz stepped on the line in the dirt Phelix had drawn just a few minutes before, Grace screamed, “NOW!” and fell down to her belly. She heard a loud WHOOSH of a long, leafy branch flying over her head and then…THUNK!
“Ohhh, ouch,” Buz groaned miserably from several hundred feet away from Grace.
“I think I broke my spleen,” Dana whined.
Grace stood up, dusted herself off and grinned back at Phelix, who was rightfully looking quite pleased with himself.
Chapter 4: The Truce
By the time Buz and Dana finally got off the ground and back to the house, Grace and Phelix had already had cake and were playing a video game on the television.
“No, Grace, the idea is to hold onto the remote control while bowling. Letting go of it does nothing except destroy things, as you’ve already done with that lamp.” Phelix said in an amused tone.
“I don’t understand why I have to hold it when the ball on the screen is moving too.”
“For someone so smart, you’re awfully dumb, Grace Cooper,” he said playfully. “And don’t think we haven’t noticed you two come in,” he added with a glance at the very dirty and sore looking siblings.
For a long moment, they just sat there and stared at each other.
“Do you, um, think we can play a little?” Buz asked finally in a quiet tone. Grace paused the game and turned around to stare at them. She was still a little angry about how they behaved today. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to forgive them just yet.
The sad and very ashamed look on their faces made her change her mind, however. Her mother always tells her that forgiveness is an Angel’s gift and that we should all strive to be as just and kind as Angels.
“Do you promise to be nice?” She asked.
“Yes,” Dana said, nodding her head.
Everyone looked at Buz, who was staring at the floor. “Yes, I promise,” he said finally. “That was a really clever move. I admire that.” Phelix and Buz slowly grinned at each other.
A truce and a bond seemed to grow between them at that moment.
“There’s cake in the fridge,” Grace said, and with that, she received three new “twin” friends, each as different as the next.