The New Sense

Friday, July 12, 2002

B— called me at the bar this afternoon, very excited because he received his adoption documents from BC. He told me that he discovered something really cool.
Olga was in a bitch of a mood. I guess her stomach's playing up again, because she came back from seeing her doctor and ordered a double. I tried to joke a bit about it and get her to lay off it for a day or two, but she just snapped my head off. She only cheered up a bit when this guy came in and ate lunch sitting at the bar with her. He was kind of charming and she warmed up to him in no time. After he left she told me that he had just moved into one of the apartments upstairs.
I only just managed not to puke in front of her at one point. This morning sickness is getting out of hand.
When I got home B— was almost like a puppy he was so pleased to see me. He had the documents in his hand and grabbed me and made me sit down in the kitchen. He said that he couldn't believe how easy it was to get the information, and wished he'd made the effort a long time ago.
He showed me what he'd received. It was pretty cool. There was his mother's name, her address at the time, and his name when he was born. I'm so pleased his real name's Ben! It suits him so much more than Brad. I don't think he even realised that he was giving away his secret, he was so excited. It was only when I pointed it out to him that he sheepishly asked if I minded still calling him Brad while he’s incognito. The thing he was so excited about was the section that showed he was one of twins. There was no information about the other twin, just the letter T. The other thing I noticed was that he's been lying about his age the whole time. He's actually 23! When I brought it to his attention he kind of grinned at me. I asked him what had happened in the missing three years of his life story, but he just said that he had done some travelling.

I can't imagine what it must be like to find out that you're a twin. I asked him if he'd always felt like part of him was missing or anything like that, but he said no. There's nothing on the birth certificate to indicate whether the twin is identical or not. If it isn't, there's a good chance that he or she doesn't share B—'s sense. Of course B— was incredibly excited about the probability that there are not only family members who could share his sense, but another version of him, who almost certainly would share it.
He told me he was tempted to go to Vancouver to try to find his birth mother. I wondered why he wouldn't, but he told me he was worried that Sean might be there. This was the part I didn't really get. He's been living like a hermit for the past few weeks because he's sure Sean's in Montreal, so how could he be in BC at the same time? I think B— saw the logic in what I was saying, because he leapt up and phoned the bus station to find out the times of the Greyhound to Vancouver.

[I didn't write this in my diary at the time because I couldn't be sure that B— wouldn't read it, but on the Saturday morning while B— was in the shower I took his papers to the pharmacy and photocopied them. I don't really know why I did it at the time, but I'm glad now that I did. You can see them in the Documents section, by clicking here. I didn't write any more entries for the rest of the weekend, I think because I was wondering about all this stuff and was afraid to put it in the diary for fear that he might read it. I guess I was also feeling a bit guilty about copying his personal papers.]

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posted by Sara