The Day the Twins Turned Ten

It was known forever in our family as 'the day the twins turned ten', and nobody who had been there could suppress a shudder when they spoke of it. It's one of those stories that passed into family legend. "Grandma, tell us again about the day the twins turned ten."

Well, it happened this way.

The twins decided to give each other a surprise on their tenth birthday. It was significant, after all, double digits. The thing is, each sister got the same idea. Double digits meant double everything.

And each sister worked on this secretly, with her own set of friends and cousins to aid and abet her.

Double what, you ask?

Double decorations.

Double food.

Double presents.

Double invitees.


And when you double the double, you get

Four times the decorations

Four times the food

Four times the presents

Four times the invitees.

All this to be handled by ONE pair of very tired parents, who had only an inkling of what was being planned, since each sister kept the secret well, wanting to surprise her twin.

So anyway, it started with the minions of Twin #1, taking the balloons to the living room. At 6 AM, so that they could decorate without anyone there.

Except that the minions of Twin #2 were already there, putting up streamers in the exact spots Twin #1 had earmarked for the balloons.

The twins themselves were in their bedroom, each pretending to be asleep so that there would be no suspicion of the activity in the living room.

The tantrums of the minions woke the parents.

They rushed to the living room, the father brandishing a golf club in case it was burglars fighting there.

It took half an hour to understand the scenario, in the midst of which the twins, pretending to have just woken up, arrived.

The parents played arbiter and divided the decorations and had them placed.

The twins looked innocent.

At 8.30 when twins, minions and parents were eating burnt toast and undercooked oats for breakfast, the mother stiffened suddenly. "Was that a sound in the bedroom?"

The twins looked innocent.

"No, Ma, you heard my toe banging against the table leg."

Long story short, there were more minions (how do twins get so many people on their team?) in the bedroom, having sneaked in by windows left unlatched on purpose, delivering presents. Great loads of presents, most of them home-made craft items that got between the feet or hooked on the furniture.

It was 10.30 before the presents were sorted and stacked. Dad had left for office, muttering something about being late for a client meeting.

"Can you smell something?" Mom asked, as she put the last of the presnts into the cupboard.

The twins looked innocent.

Mom RAN down the stairs, "My kitchen, my kitchen."

The decoration-minions were now food-minions and had to get all the food ready quick, so all the flames / settings had been set to 'high' and everything was burning.

It was noon by the time the last charred mess had been scrubbed and chucked out.

Mom sent everyone, twins, minions and all, to the neighbour's house to get a bit of peace. She called her sister. "Can you come over, I'm all a dither, would like a quiet lunch. Pick up some takeout on the way here."

She was soaking in the tub when the doorbell rang. Her sister, with takeout!

She didn't wait to dry herself, she just wrapped up in the towel and ran down the stairs again. She flung the door open.

"Thank goodness - " she began, and stopped, clutching the towel to herself.

"SURPRISE!" shouted forty voices on the doorstep.