The Bad Twin

Two six-year-old girls, who look identical to each other, fought over a Barbie-sized doll. Rose Purdue, with a head full of ponytails and colorful butterfly hair bows, was dressed in a pink-laced dress. Violet Purdue was dressed identical to Rose, except she wore a purple dress. Rose managed to get the doll away from Violet, took a pair of scissors and cut the doll’s hair. Violet cried and ran looking for their mother.

Rose, with tears flowing down her face, walked into the living room and stood next to a handsome brown-skinned six foot man, Louis Purdue. Louis picked her up and wiped the tears from her face and in a soothing voice asked, “What’s wrong with daddy’s little girl?”

Rose sniffed a few times and batted her eyes at her father. “Violet cut my doll’s hair off.” Louis patted her on the back to soothe her.

Louis responded, “Don’t cry.  We’ll just have to get you a new one.”

As Louis hugged her, a smirk swept across Rose’s face, Violet observed this interaction from the doorway.  Rose stuck out her tongue at Violet and continued to bask in the comfort of her father’s arms.

Violet turned to walk away and ran smack into their mom, Pearle, who was an older version of the twins with a Creole complexion.  She was dressed in a floral housedress and apron.

Pearle shook her head and looked down at Violet. “Violet, remember what mama told you a few weeks ago. Rose is just being Rose, so we have to overlook some things. Okay?”

Violet, too young, to understand nodded her head in agreement.

VIOLET

“
How much do I love me, let me count the ways
?  I love that song. I know it sounds a little vain, but if you had to spend every day competing for your own identity because of your sister, you wouldn’t say that. Are you writing all of this down? Well, I hope when she reads this, she’s not too upset, but knowing Rose she will swear I only did this interview to embarrass her.  Where do you want me to begin?”

“First let’s start with the name Rose. Rose is such a pretty name representing a beautiful flower. Everyone sees Rose not only as this tall, beige beauty with hypnotizing sparkling eyes, but also as a woman with a heart of gold. Yes, Rose is physically attractive, but if you knew her true character, you would see her thorns. I’ll share with you several incidents to back up my statement.”

“Many would be surprised that Rose and I have issues with one another, because she makes us seem so perfect. When your magazine called to set up this interview, I was hesitant about doing it, but then it dawned on me; it’s about time the public got an inside look at the real Rose.”

“Anyway, back to what I was saying; our parents owned a landscaping company and named us Rose and Violet for their favorite flowers. Our parents were great parents, but growing up it seemed as if Rose was their favorite.   Fortunately before our dad died, he and I were able to make amends concerning the special treatment Rose got.”

“While growing up, Rose always came across as the good twin, and I was labeled the bad twin. She would do things and made sure I was to blame. I remember when we were around sixteen years old; she stole my Mom’s pearls, pearls that my grandmother gave her before she passed away.  Rose wore the pearls to school and instead of returning them to my mom’s jewelry box; she casually brought up the subject of pearls over dinner one night. The next day, my mom realized her pearls were missing; she searched the house and guess where she found the missing pearls? Rose had hidden them under my pillows. Although I informed my Mom that it was Rose who took them, she wouldn’t hear of it. I was grounded for two weeks. I missed my junior prom because of Rose.”

“I can’t count the times in which I got punished for some of the pranks she pulled.  She would cheat on tests by trying to look on my paper, teachers would think we were in cahoots together, and we both would be punished.  She would pretend to be me when she wanted to date more than one guy at a time, which caused my boyfriend and me to break up a few times.”

The interviewer changed the cassette in her tape recorder when Violet stopped to take a sip of lemonade. A hazy look flashed across Violet’s face as she continued to tell her story.

“I was married for seven years. I remember the day I met David. I was on my way up to a potential donor’s office. I worked at one of the community centers here in Los Angeles and my job was to raise money for the community center’s after school programs.   I was so nervous about meeting this client. While on the elevator, I met this friendly guy.  He stood over six feet tall with the sexiest grayest eyes I had ever seen. He had a milk chocolate smooth complexion, which somehow made me feen for a Hershey bar. Even in a suit he had a body like a Nubian prince. His smile brought me comfort as I waited for the elevator to stop on the fifteenth floor.  When I exited, to my surprise he was right behind me. I was even more surprised when I found out he was the man I was scheduled to have my meeting with.

 After we laughed at the coincidence, he gladly signed over a nice check for the community center.  As he walked me out, he asked if it would be okay if he called me and I said yes of course.  At the time, I thought he meant call me at the center for business reasons. When he called me two days later, he asked me out on a date.

We were inseparable.  My parents loved him, and even Rose liked him and she normally didn’t like any of the guys I dated. She would always find something wrong with them.

We married and were happily married up until that ill-fated day I decided to play hooky from work. I had it all planned out. I would go home, take a nice long bubble bath, cook David’s favorite dinner, chicken Alfredo, and put on our favorite Nina Simone CD. I had no idea I was going to be the one surprised. When I pulled up into our driveway, David’s car was home; he normally worked until seven. I called out his name a few times. When he didn’t respond, I ran up the stairs. As I got closer to our bedroom, I heard strange sounds. When I opened the door, I got a picture perfect view of him and Rose together wrapped around my favorite burgundy satin sheets.”

The interviewer had a shocked look on her face.

“Don’t be shocked.  I am used to her antics, because she’s always been underhanded.  I have to say out of all the things she’s done, that one hurt me the most.  Yes, how could you deliberately sleep with your sister’s husband? She knew exactly what she was doing.  She would stop by his office, posing as me, and seduce him.

According to David, this went on a couple of times before he realized it wasn’t me, but by then, he had gotten too caught up in it and continued their little affair.  When I caught them together, I almost lost it, but something inside of me made me walk away.  I haven’t laid eyes on either one of them since my divorce. I found out they were getting married when sweet little Rose sent me an invitation to the wedding.  What nerve! She’s a bold one, that’s for sure!

It took me at least a year before I could hold a conversation with her on the phone. The only reason why I communicate with her at all is because I promised my mom. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be talking to her. 

I really don’t have too many nice things to say about Ms. Thing. I guess this is not what you expected for your Sisters in Hollywood issue.  I’m sure Rose will be surprised with this interview, but she’ll probably find a way to weasel her way out of this story, she always bounces back.

To conclude our interview, I will say I will probably always love Rose, but I just can’t trust her.  I don’t want her anywhere near me.  My friend, Janice, is more of a sister to me than my own twin.”

The interviewer for Noir Magazine turned off the tape recorder and her face showed she was utterly surprised with what Violet had revealed. Violet could only think that she had opened her eyes to the real Rose Purdue.  As the interviewer prepared to leave, she turned around and asked Violet one last question. “Do you think you’ll ever be able to forgive your sister?”

As she walked the interviewer to the door, Violet responded, “You asked a million dollar question. Maybe one day, but not today.”

ROSE

Where is the mail? Noir magazine told my agent I should get my complimentary copy today. I haven’t talked to Violet since the magazine called me about doing their Sisters in Hollywood interview. I was hoping Violet would have called to let me know how things went on her end. But oh no, she couldn’t do that.  I’m glad she decided to do the interview though. Maybe this will help ease the tension between us.

I really do love my sister, but she’s just too… what’s the word, “Ms Goody two-shoes.” If I admitted it to myself, I might be a little jealous of her. It seems she’s so much smarter than I am.  She has the nerve to question why I do what I do. If I didn’t, I would just disappear into the background. I can’t have that.  I think I’m good at competing for and getting good acting roles, because I had to compete for our parent’s attention.

I do regret the last thing I did to my poor sister, but I just couldn’t help it. No one told David to be so sexy and wealthy.  I always wondered what he saw in my boring sister. I’m the adventurous one, and she is the boring bookworm. I felt like he needed a woman with a little passion. I didn’t mean for it to get to the point of marriage; but when she divorced him, I couldn’t let another woman get a hold of him.

Besides, after my mom lectured me about betraying Violet, I had to show her I really did love him. But, I sort of went about it the wrong way; I faked a pregnancy. Several months after we were married, David found out that I wasn’t really pregnant and he was livid. I asked him why he stayed in the marriage, if he didn’t love me. He had the nerve to tell me he felt like our marriage was his sentence for breaking my sister’s heart. I probably should divorce him, but I can’t come away looking like a failure. 

Rose located the magazine and threw the rest of the mail on the kitchen counter. She smiled as she admired the cover of her and Violet during happier times. She was too excited to sit, so she stood as she thumbed through the magazine to find the article. Her smile began to fade when she noticed the title to the section about her and Violet -
Roses are Thorns. The more she read, the more her blood pressure escalated.
She took a sip of water and almost choked when she read the part about how she slept with David.

***

I can’t believe Violet told them all of this. How could she violate our family secrets? How could she do this to me? If she didn’t have anything nice to say, she should have declined the interview.

 In the past, we have had our issues, but she’s always had my back in public. What in the world has gotten into her?  Doesn’t she know the public is fickle and they only need one piece of dirt to turn on you? Now I have to figure out a way to recover from the backlash this is sure to cause. She better hope this doesn’t cause me to lose out on this movie deal I’m negotiating or she will have hell to pay.