'You'll have to explain that too, Professor,' urged Hal. 'What's the difficulty about these twins?'
The Professor had the air of climbing on to his hobby-horse. 'There'll be certain basic differences between the two. One will be right-handed, the other left-handed. Their personalities will complement each other: one extrovert, one introvert. Together they form one single unit and will operate as such. They will understand one another better than any other two human beings.'
'So...' prompted Hal, not seeing any great problem.
The Professor smiled. 'I'll go back to my last case. From the moment of their birth, these childien had very specific requirements. If you placed one child on the wrong side of the other, they were extremely distressed. The left-handed child has to be laid on the correct side of the right-handed child. They're in actuality two halves of one entity and when they're placed correctly one can observe it in their physical contact a oneness, which is unique. Every doctor and nurse in the country will want to see it.'
'No! The birth of our children will not be turned into a circus,' Hal burst out, fiercely protective.
Karen leaned over and pressed his hand reassuringly. 'It's all right, Hal. It won't hurt them and it's something we should give, so that others can understand.'
'Thank you, Mrs Chissolm,' the Professor jumped in quickly. 'I cannot stress too much that if what we suspect eventuates, and your twins are mirror imaged, you must be prepared psychologically. They will act as one unit. There's every reason to believe that such twins can sometimes be telepathic with each other.'
'Good God!' Hal was aghast. Karen could barely suppress a smile. 'I'm afraid so, Mr Chissolm,' the Professor insisted. 'I'll give you a few examples. At one time we separated one set of these twins and offered one a chocolate biscuit. Sbe ate it and the other twin knew nothing about it. We offered ber two chocolate biscuits and the other twin immediately came running. The twin with the biscuits had communicated with the other telepathically, letting her know there was a biscuit for her.'
Karen giggled over the memory.
Hal frowned at her. 'It could have been coincidence,' he argued.
'There were too many such coincidences, Mr Chissolm. And one of the most telling examples ... the twins sat for a maths test. They were seated
at opposite ends of the room. In every prior test they had the same questions right and the same questions wrong. No deviation whatsoever. But this time one received a higher mark than the other. It resulted in the only known time in their lives that the twins fought--after the test one tore into the other. When they were finally separated and calmed down, one accused the other of shutting her out, refusing to give
her an answer in the test.'
'Kirrsty wanted to come first,' muttered Karen, recalling the hurt she had felt.
'What?'
Karen turned a wry smile to the Professor. 'I'd given Kirsty the answer to the previous question, but she shut me out on the next one and beat me by one mark. We were seven at the time. You've been talking about my sister and myself, Professor.'
His mouth dropped open. 'My God! Then you must be Karen Balfour! Do you realise that you and your sister were my last case of mirror imaged twins in this country? The last ones recognised and documented!'
'You and Kirsty?' Hal gasped beside her.
She turned reluctantly, not wanting to recall the argument she had with Hal over Kirsty, the argument which had laid bare the festering sores of their relationship. Yet she desperately wanted his belief in her. 'I did tell you I knew, Hal, about Kirsty's death,' she said softly. 'As we grew older we shut each other off, but in times of intense stress, we knew. We ... we connected.'
She heaved a sad sigh. 'I know it's difficult for others to understand, that's why Kirsty and I kept it to ourselves. But it's true ... what the Professor says. We were different, yet so close. So very close that she could start a sentence and I could finish it for her exactly.'
Hal was shaking his head, but not in disbelief. His eyes held in awe and pain and understanding. 'The wrong mirror,' he murmured, half under his breath. 'So clear to Kirsty, so meaningless to me.' Karen had no time to question the strange words.
'Extraordinary!' the Professor exclaimed. 'This will certainly make medical history. One of the Balfour twins! For you, a mirror image twin, to give birth to mirror image twins ... a chance in millions. Billions.' He recollected himself in an abrupt change of manner, dropping his voice tn mournful regret. 'And you say your sister has died, Mrs Chissolm?'
'Yes. Quite recently,' Hal answered for her.
'That must have been extremely traumatic for you,' the Professor murmured sympathetically.
Karen drew in a deep breath and faced him again. 'Yes. Yes, it was. I doubt that anyone else could understand. You surprise me, Professor. I didn't know anyone had compiled a case history on us,' she added questioningly.
'If was not intended that you know. Your parents insisted that you were to lead a completely natural life, and I agreed with-them. It was most important. I advised them on facets of your upbringing and they reported back to me, right up until their deaths. After that ... well, I honoured the agreement made that you were never to be bothered with experiments, or made to feel odd in any way.'
His mouth twisted into an ironic smile. 'I doubt that I can advise you, Mrs Chissolm. You know more about such cases than I do. I would be most grateful if you'd enlighten me on certain points, particularly about the ..'
'Not today, Professor,' Hal cut in firmly. 'My wife has been under great strain this last week, worrying about the baby. The babies,' he corrected himself with a feeling sigh. 'Now that we know that everything's all right and under control, I'd like to take her home.'
'Of course,' Professor Bellamy agreed promptly.
'We'll be seeing her again soon. This is tremendously exciting, isn't it, Doctor?'
'It certainly is,' Dr Grayson declared with enthusiasm. 'We'll be wanting you to come here for weekly check-ups, Mrs Chissolm. My nurse will give you a card with your appointments. Do you want to know the sex of the babies?'
Karen looked anxiously at Hal. 'That's up to you,' he said softly. 'I'd rather wait until they're born.'
He nodded and turned back to the doctor. 'There is one point I'd like clarified...' He hesitated, then plunged on determinedly, 'Can my wife and I have sexual intercourse without causing a problem to the babies?'
A tide of hot blood flooded up Karen's neck and scorched into her cheeks. She couldn't look at Hal. Did he want her? Did he really want her when she was so lumpy and undesirable?
'You would have to be very careful the last two months. Penetration should not be too deep, but apart from that there's no problem with having sexual intercourse. I would suggest that the safest method is on your side, with you behind your wife.' The Professor turned to Karen with a smile. 'By the way, Mrs Chissolm, do you want a photograph of your babies?'