Thanksgiving Twin

It was midnight when I, Salina Wolfe, was in the bathroom looking in the mirror and hesitating. I am five-foot four in height. My hair is shoulder-length, auburn hair with side swept bangs to hide the scar over my left eye. My eyes are blue. I wore a t-shirt I received free at a restaurant that hasn’t been around for five years, black maternity pants with holes in them, and socks and tennis shoes that used to be white at one point and both have holes in them.

~What am I doing? Am I really doing this? Do I have a choice? Do I ever have a choice? ~I doubted my decisions, but I snuck into my three-year-old son’s room. Collin was the spitting image of his father. He has his curly, light-brown hair, and brown eyes. He was in his undersized dinosaur pajamas, and clinging on his favorite duck blanket, as he was sleeping. I picked up Collin and his blanket, and was thankful that he was able to sleep through the drug bust that happened across the street the previous week.

Floyd, his father, is six-foot, muscular, and was passed out on the couch with a half full bottle. I was hoping that the sleeping pills that I mixed in his dinner would keep him asleep, as I snuck out. The last hurdle was the rust bucket car that only worked half of the time. Luckily, after five minutes of trying, it finally worked, and we were off.

*** I, Serena Mcgee woke up from a weird dream, and had to stare at myself in the mirror. I haven’t had bangs since I was six, and I’ve never had a scar on my face. I washed my face, and went to the breakfast table where my parents were already eating breakfast. The smell of scrambled eggs filled the room.

“Morning, I had a weird dream last night.” I began, and told them how in my dream I had bangs, a scar, a son, and was driving a car.

“Hiding someone from us?” Dad joked.

“Well at least it wasn’t about aliens. My dream….” Mom started telling us about her dream, and teased dad by saying that he watched too much space exploration shows.

After getting ready, we went early to church. I wore a blue short-sleeved knee-length dress and blue flats, mom wore a flowery blouse, jeans and black sneakers, and dad had a dress-shirt, slacks and black dress shoes. Dad helps in the av for church, and mom and I are two of the greeters. Two single guys always greet me at the same time: Hye and Fumihito. Hye had dark-brown hair in a side fringe hairstyle, is five-foot three, and has brown eyes. He wore a grey polo-shirt, grey jeans, and white sneakers. Fumihito had small ponytail in his dark-brown hair, is five-foot seven, and has brown eyes. He wore a striped t-shirt, blue-jeans, and black sneakers. They are roommates; Hye was working on his Masters, and Fumihito was working on his Doctorate.

Hye smiled at me, I smiled back, and Fumihito dragged Hye to the sanctuary. After the service, they sat at the same table as me in the fellowship hall. Adult Ministry Pastor Monty, his wife, and two four-year daughters also sat with us. My parents sat with a group of their friends. Monty has blonde hair, blue eyes and is six-foot. He wore a blue suit without tie. He and his wife are in their thirties. His wife and daughter have light-brown curly hair, and brown eyes. His wife is five-foot two. They had matching flower dresses, and black shoes; his wife had heels, and his daughter had flats.

“So Tuesday we will have Young Adults with a Thanksgiving potluck.” Pastor Monty started, and explained the reason why we are meeting on the holiday week.

“You are just lucky that we seem to still be in town this time.” Fumihito laughed.

***Traveling by buses, trains, and rapid transit, yet I, Salina, still didn’t feel like we were far enough from that man. The money I had was quickly running out, so we had to stay in the next city. After a breakfast, I found a corner somewhere, and start begging. Collin thought that this was a game of hide. There was a bush that Collin would hide in, and I sat near a bag and a sign. A few people did donate, one person kicked the bag, one person bought us pizza, and a few people gave us cards that advertised places that would help.

When it was getting late, I counted the money, and we didn’t have enough for a night in a hotel.

“Come.” An elderly lady directed when she tugged at my sleeve. We followed her to an alley where a number of other homeless slept. I found a place near a wall.

“Mommy, I love you.” Collin yawned.

“Love you, too.” I whispered, and kissed his forehead. I decided to look at the cards for a while.

“I hate those things. Just throw them away.” A guy coughed.

“I’ll can take you to the food.” A lady offered.

“Thanks.” I replied.

The next day, we went to the soup kitchen. We accidentally separated from the lady who took us there, but I found a good place for my son and I to sit and eat. The moment when I had a roll in my mouth, a server was running towards me.

“HEY!!!! Serena, what are….. you’re not Serena.” The guy pointed-out. “I’m sorry, but you look a lot like my friend. I’m Hye by the way.” I still had the roll in my mouth. “Sorry, to disturb your eating.”

“I’M COLLIN!” Collin announced before Hye could leave.

“Collin? That’s a strong name. Do you like dinosaurs?” Hye asked. Collin started to pretend that he was a dinosaur.

“Now, he will act like that for the rest of the day.” I moaned. “I’m Salina, by the way.”

“I’VE GOT AN IDEA!” He proclaimed. “If you allow me, I could take you and your son to Young Adults. I know Pastor Monty would know how to help you two.”

“Does he know a lawyer who works for ten dollars?” I scoffed.

“He most likely knows how to find one that would help you.” He stated. Eventually, I was convinced to join this Young Adult event.

*** I, Serena, spent most of the day getting ready for both the Young Adult’s potluck and our family’s Thanksgiving. Mom had her dishes to make, I had two sets of dishes to make, and dad was at grandmother’s house helping her with whatever she needed help with. I was wearing a Young Adult t-shirt, sweatpants, and black sneakers The last dish wasn’t cooperative, and I knew that I would be late to Young Adults. I would bring a plate of pasta, and a dinosaur toy.

“Why do you have that toy?” Mom inquired as we were in the van. She would drop me off, and come back to pick me up.

“Not sure, but maybe Pastor Monty will know what to do with it.” I replied. She dropped me off, and I hurried to the door. The men were arguing over something, and I heard a child cry.

“Sorry, about being late, but…” I started. Silence swept the room quickly as I said that. I stopped talking when I saw the new lady, who was trying to calm her son. After laughing a bit, I offered the dinosaur to the boy, who stopped crying, and claimed “Not every day you see a twin stranger. My name is Serena, and you are?”

“Salina.” She answered. “Thanks.”

“Now, what was this argument that I interrupted?” I enquired as I looked at the men. Hye just smiled, Fumihito was laughing, and the five other men were trying to figure out the twinning situation that we had.

“I am so sorry. I really thought that Hye, Fumihito, and Serena were trying to mess with us.” Pastor Monty apologized.

“You really need to stop arguing with Fumihito.” I chastised.

“Technically, I was arguing with Hye.” Pastor Monty corrected. He went to discuss things with Salina. I smiled at Hye, and he smiled back. The rest of the Young Adult meeting included eating, playing a game, and the bible study.

“So, Salina, do you have a place to stay?” Pastor Monty questioned when it was near time to go.

“No, not really.” She answered while holding her sleeping son.

“I’ll see if I can offer.” I voiced, and texted my mom. Pastor Monty had a four-passenger car, but he had to drive four of the men to the rapid transit. Fumihito and Hye only had room in their car for the two of them. The last man came by bus. “Mom says that our guest room just needs to be prepared, but they would be delighted to have company.”

“Are you sure?” She wondered.

“Yes, and if you stay, on Thanksgiving you are welcome to join the family celebration.” I added.

“Are we invited, too?” Fumihito pleaded. Hye was behind him, and smiling at me.

“Oh! I wondered about you; you were too quiet today.” I needled.

“You need to answer.” He responded.

“I’ll have to see.” I informed. He and Salina smiled at each other. Wednesday, my mom, Salina, Collin, and I went shopping for some new clothes for Salina and Collin.  

***I, Salina, couldn’t believe that Collin and I would be attending a family Thanksgiving. It was years since I had celebrated anything. Especially since I was estranged from my own family, and Floyd never mentioned anything about his. Collin wore dinosaur t-shirt, jeans, socks and sneakers, and I wore a green short-sleeved knee-length dress.  Serina’s mom wore a flowery dress, her dad wore a suit, and Serina wore a blue t-shirt and sweatpants.

 The Thanksgiving was held at the community center at the park. She has a brother, three uncles, two aunts, a grandma, six cousins, three of her cousins had spouses, and the married cousins two had toddlers, and the last was pregnant. They were mostly welcoming, and a few joked about us being long lost twins.

Sabrina, one of Serina’s cousins, had curly shoulder-length, auburn hair with choppy bangs, her eyes are brown, she is five-foot five, and is tan. She wore a pink polo shirt, a pink poodle skirt, pink heels, and pink rimmed glasses. Her daughter has dark-brown curly hair, brown eyes, and is tan. She wore a pink dress. Her husband has dark-brown hair, brown eyes, is six-foot one, and muscular. He had a blue suit, bow tie, and black rimmed glasses. Sabrina sat next to me, and chatted about everything until she had to leave to prevent her daughter from doing something.

Hye and Fumihito did show up. Hye had a blue suit and a bolo tie with cross slide. Fumihito had a green suit and a green straight tie. After they filled their plates, Hye found Serina quickly, and Fumihito sat next to me.

“You do know that I’ll need to divorce my husband, and will need some time before I’m ready to flirt with another man.” I revealed while looking at my plate of food.

“Isn’t there a saying ‘good things come to those who wait’?” He asked while looking at his plate. I giggled at that.

“YOU DIRTY DOG!!!!” Floyd bellowed announcing his presence, and grabbed Sabrina’s wrist.

“HEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPP!!!!!!” Sabrina screeched. All of the children were ushered away by Serina’s aunts and uncles.

“GET AWAY FROM MY WIFE!!!!” Sabrina’s husband hollered, and pushed him away. Floyd fell to the ground, and started to sit up.

“Looks like you don’t know your wife very well.” Serina sneered. Most of her family surrounded him.

“Salina?” He guessed as he compared both Serina and Sabrina in confusion.

“No, but you will not be finding her anytime soon.” She retorted. Hye had already called the police, and Fumihito had his arm around me and was ready if he needed to spring into action. When the police came, Floyd was arrested. That Thanksgiving I was thankful for my new family, and my son’s and my new freedom. The End.