The Twin Test

by Rula Sinara

  “You could, I suppose. How long did your dad tell you you’d be staying in Kenya?” She wasn’t fishing, but the mention of going home struck her. She knew they would be going home sooner rather than later, but she never expected to feel disappointed about it.

  “A month or two,” Fern said. “Here, give me your end while I tie mine off,” she told Ivy.

  “That’s a very pretty bracelet,” Pippa said. They’d made another “twin” band.

  “Hold out your hand,” Ivy said.

  “Me?” She held her arm out, and the girls wrapped the bracelet around her wrist and tied the ends.

  “We made it for you...so that you don’t forget us when we return home,” Fern said.

  Pippa couldn’t speak. Pressure built in her nose, and tears stung the rims of her eyes. She sniffed them back and parted her lips, but no words came out. She held her arms out and let the girls come in for a hug.

  Alim wasn’t the only one they had gotten to. Pippa was going to be crushed when they left.

  * * *

  DAX STOOD BEHIND the screen door and watched as his girls hugged Pippa. Their bowl of beads tipped over, but she didn’t mind. She lay back with her arms cradling Ivy and Fern, then the three of them spread their arms out on the blanket and seemed content to just soak in the moment. He’d been standing there long enough to see how good she was with them and how much they seemed to like her. They were happy.

  A lump rose in his throat, and he swallowed hard. He hadn’t seen the girls so content since Sandy had passed away. He wasn’t even sure how many moments like this one he’d missed because he wasn’t around to catch them.

  Is that what he was doing for them? Working to the point of missing out on their lives? Was dragging them along wherever he went really best for them, or was it a half-assed way to fulfill a promise?

  He pushed open the screen, and the three of them jumped up at the sound.

  “Dad!” Fern scrambled to her feet and was the first to give him a hug. Ivy was close behind. Pippa’s gaze met his, and for a fraction of a second, he imagined her being next, but he quickly shook the thought away.

  “You seem to be having fun,” he said.

  “Oh.” Pippa quickly began scooping up beads. “We weren’t wasting time. They finished their assignments and did them well so we—”

  “I didn’t mean it that way,” Dax said, holding up a hand to stop her.

  “Oh.”

  Smiles spread across Ivy’s and Fern’s faces. They hurried back to the mat, picked up the bracelet they’d made and brought it to him.

  “This is for you.” Ivy held it out, but little furrows formed on both of their foreheads.

  “Will you actually wear it?” Fern asked.

  Had he really become that serious and unapproachable? He held out his arm.

  “You bet I will. Tie it on.” They did and he held up his wrist and admired it. “You two do good work. I’m never taking this off. It’s staying right where it is. Right next to my pulse.” He glanced at Pippa, and her lips parted.

  “You know about that?” Fern asked.

  “You bet I do. Now, how about you help clean up out here? Wait a minute. What is that?” He stepped over to the blanket with the girls at his heels. Even Pippa looked back down at the beads in confusion.

  “What?” she asked, scanning the blanket for something odd and not finding anything he’d be particularly intrigued by.

  “That, right there. That’s no glass bead,” Dax said. They all leaned in. He snatched the last mandazi and ran out into the clearing, holding it high over his head between bites. Ivy and Fern chased after him, laughing. Laughter that sounded somehow different from ever before.

  Because it’d come from his own joy.

  * * *

  PIPPA SHOOK HER head emphatically at the twins. The past few days had gone by without any issue, but taking them on a campout was more of a challenge than she cared to take on.

  “Girls, you should spend your dad’s day off with him.”

  “We would be with him. That’s the point. If we’re camping, he can’t get distracted by his computer and work,” Fern said.

  “But I have things to do, as well. Like teaching at the villages.”

  “We’ve been going with you and you haven’t missed any lessons yet, so how far behind could one day make you? We promise to help you catch up at all your next stops. If three of us are teaching, you’d finish in less time, and then you could fit in more stops in a day. Besides, what could be more important than having fun with the two of us?” Ivy said, waggling her brows.

  “Spending time with you is priceless and at times an adventure in and of itself. You drive a hard bargain. However, I’m willing to bet your father is going to say no.”

  “What are you willing to bet?” Ivy said.

  “It was an expression. I’m not teaching you to gamble.”

  “So does that mean yes?” Fern asked.

  “You two are more persistent than Mosi.”

  “Who’s Mosi?”

  “A little monkey that lives at the Busara Elephant Research and Rescue camp where I live. He’s always begging for food. Just like his father used to when I was younger than you are now.”

  “Wow. You live with monkeys and elephants? Can we visit sometime?”

  “I’m sure that could be arranged,” Pippa said, remembering her aunt’s invitation.

  “But for now we want to go camping.”

  “Don’t you get scared?” Pippa asked. “There are noises that sound pretty menacing in the dark. Laughing hyenas. Lions roaring. The rustling of leaves as snakes slither by. Hungry eyes glowing in the moonlight—”

  “You’re not scaring us,” Fern said. They both folded their arms and tapped their right foot on the ground.

  “Well, then, maybe I’m the one who’s too scared to camp with you,” Pippa joked.

  “Let’s make a deal. That’s not gambling, right? If we can convince Dad to let all four of us go camping tomorrow, then...” Ivy made eyes at her sister for help.

  “...then we’ll...wash all that dried mud off your jeep when we get back,” Fern said.

  “I don’t wash my jeep in a drought. Water is too precious, even if it seems abundant at this lodge.”

  “Fine. Then we’ll clean out an elephant stall so you don’t have to.”

  “Smart. You’re ensuring that you get to go camping and you get to visit Busara.”

  They looked so proud. What they didn’t know was that Busara had plenty of staff and Pippa rarely, if ever, had to muck elephant poop.

  “You convince your dad, and we have a deal.”

  * * *

  DAX PUT ANOTHER log in the shallow fire pit he’d dug out and encircled with lava rocks. He watched Pippa walk back with the twins from collecting several more armfuls of wood and sticks to keep the fire burning through the night.

  An old acacia tree sprawled out its canopy to their left and he could hear Pippa warning the twins about the thorns that covered the trunk and branches. Ivy carried her bundle of sticks and went over to the tree for a closer look. Fern stayed next to Pippa, who waiting patiently for Ivy to rejoin them. The closer they got, the better he could hear them. Pippa was really in nature-hike mode, giving them all sorts of information on what they were seeing in the surrounding environment. Even Dax was interested and listened as he continued to set up their fire pit.

  They were only thirty minutes west of the lodge...close enough to head back if there was an emergency or someone got sick, but far enough for the twins to enjoy the experience. It didn’t take much to be in the wild, considering Tabara Lodge was fairly remote to begin with.

  Pippa had told them that Camp Busara was yet another thirty minutes to an hour west of here by the edge of the Maasai Mara and into Kenya’s Serengeti ecosystem. The amount of time she’
d been spending in daily commute said a lot about how much she wanted to build a school house. What did the fact that he commuted an hour north of Tabara say about him?

  Ivy climbed onto a small, rocky outcropping to their right and jumped off without dropping a stick. Fern looked a little nervous, but went ahead and made the climb and jump, too, before running to catch up with Pippa.

  “That’s looking good,” Pippa said, jerking her head toward his campfire. She set down her armful of wood and the twins followed suit.

  “I’ve done my share of camping. Not surrounded by lions, but I can start a fire and pitch a tent.”

  The lodge had access to family-sized tents for tourists. Rather than rent two, they decided to share one, letting the girls sleep in the middle so that Dax and Pippa could be on opposite sides.

  At first, Pippa had insisted she bring along a pup tent for herself, but the twins had been adamant about her sharing theirs. The said that they’d feel safer if she slept next to them. And Dax had to admit he felt it was safer for Pippa, too. He’d never forgive himself if something had happened to her in the pup tent. It wasn’t a question of her being able to take care of herself. She lived here. It was a matter of conscience and doing what was right.

  You can’t pick and choose which right and wrongs to follow. Are you doing what’s right with your job?

  “Are any of you hungry?” Pippa asked. Not only had she brought along a cooler that her mother and aunt had presumably packed for them at Busara, but Alim had also shown up when they were loading the jeep and handed Dax a bag of pastries from the lodge’s kitchen. All he’d said was, “For them. For breakfast,” and then he’d hurried back to his restaurant duty. Curious old man.

  “Not yet,” the twins said simultaneously.

  “There’s too much to do before dark,” Ivy added. “We want to hike down near the river.”

  “Not alone,” Dax said, standing up.

  “We’re not stupid, Dad,” Fern said.

  “No, you’re not,” Dax said. “Just a little too daring for my comfort.”

  Dax and Pippa exchanged a look. He was pretty sure the same thought had crossed her mind. Do we trust them not to disappear on us?

  “I tell you what. If we make sure the food is locked up and head out now for a short hike, we can be back with enough daylight left to get the fire going and eat dinner,” Pippa said.

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Dax said.

  The girls eyed them, and he almost missed the nudge Fern gave Ivy. They were up to something.

  “Sounds perfect,” they said.

  “No tricks out here, Ivy and Fern. I mean that. There are real dangers behind every tree,” Dax warned.

  “We’ll stick within an inch of you, okay?” Ivy said.

  Pippa laughed at the expression on his face.

  “I might trip over you. Make it a couple of feet.”

  “Wow. A whole two feet. You’re not as protective as we thought you were.” Ivy smirked.

  “Just wait until you try to bring boys home,” he said.

  “I’m so sorry for you both,” Pippa told the twins. She curled her lips in to keep from laughing, then trotted over to the jeep and grabbed her camera.

  “We can’t let you return to the States without photos of you out here,” she said. Why don’t the three of you go stand in front of that acacia? It’ll make a classic photo of you in Africa.”

  Dax followed the girls to the tree and put his arm around each one. Pippa snapped several shots, then lowered her camera.

  “I’ll make sure you get copies of these,” she said.

  “Would you trust me with your camera?” Dax asked. “I’d love to take one of you, Ivy and Fern.”

  The twins ran up to her and wrapped their arms around her waist. She hugged them back, then pulled her camera strap over her head.

  “Of course. I’d love a photo with them.”

  The twins grinned at each other, then pulled her over to the shade of the tree.

  Dax focused the lens. For a brief moment, he just looked at them through the lens and the idea that these were the women in his life...the three most important people in his life...hit him like a boulder. He blinked, then took a few shots. The three most important people in my life.

  “We know you were upset with us when we took your battery, but if we promise to be careful, can you show us how to focus it?” Fern asked.

  “You can be standing next to us,” Ivy added. “I want to try taking a photo of that scene.”

  She pointed beyond the tree to where the slender blades of savanna grasses glistened like threads of gold in the late afternoon sun. Boulders and jagged outcroppings dotted the landscape like crumbs, leading their eyes to a dry creek bed. A herd of gazelle stopped briefly, then bounded away when no water was to be found.

  “Did you see that?” Fern asked.

  “Those poor things were thirsty,” Ivy said. “Please, can we try the camera? What if more animals show up? I might get them in the photo.”

  Pippa looked pointedly at both of them.

  “You remember what I told you about the camera, right? You’ll respect it?”

  Dax gave them yet another look.

  “Of course we will,” Fern said. “Besides, you’re both standing right here.”

  “Okay, but if you fight over who goes first, no one gets to try it,” she said.

  “Here you go, then,” Dax said, handing over the camera.

  Pippa proceeded to show them how to focus and which button to push. She handed the camera to Fern first and took a step back. She wanted Fern to feel confident. She wanted her to go first for a change. Ivy didn’t argue. She simply stood closer to Fern, looked over her shoulder, then whispered something in her ear.

  “No funny play,” Dax warned again.

  “We’re not. I was just telling her not to use up all the battery before I get a chance to take a photo.” The two of them took a few steps forward and began taking aim.

  Pippa went and stood by Dax.

  “They’ll be fine,” she said to him. “This is good for them. Maybe they’ll take photography up as a hobby. It’s a lot better than boredom,” she said.

  “Thanks for all this. The camping. Letting them use your camera. All of it,” he said.

  “I want them to have good memories from their time here,” she said.

  The sound of Fern and Ivy giggling had them breaking eye contact and looking at the girls. Fern was pointing the camera at Pippa and Dax. She took another shot. Ivy grinned. Pippa blushed. She hadn’t expected to take a picture with Dax any more than he had with her. He had a funny feeling the twins had planned it. In any case, he hoped it would be among the photos Pippa sent them.

  “This photography thing is great,” Ivy said.

  “I wish you could come home with us,” Fern said.

  “Yeah. Me, too,” Ivy said.

  Dax stuffed his hands in his pockets and didn’t comment. The twins had never said anything like that to their previous nannies. They were actually going to miss her. He understood why but it worried him.

  He knew he would miss having her around, too. And not just because of the girls.

  * * *

  PIPPA TRIED NOT to look at Dax through the firelight as he told the captivated twins a story. Firelight was too dreamy. It masked reality almost as well as darkness could. But she had to admit, seeing him so relaxed was nice. Scary nice, because she liked this side of him—too much. But he had made it clear that anything between them was impossible.

  She gazed at the embers popping and rising like startled fireflies. She hugged her knees close to her chest and listened as Dax described one particular week he’d been doing field research for his master’s degree. He’d been working hard on his thesis paper, and rather than putting his things away and crawling into his tent, he fell as
leep by his campfire. What he hadn’t realized was that there was a farm nearby, and by morning, the fire was fizzled out and a goat was finishing off the last bite of his thesis for breakfast.

  “So ‘the dog ate my homework’ excuse can really happen.” Fern chuckled.

  “Which is why we don’t have one,” Dax pointed out. “Knowing you two, that dog would be gnawing away at a couple of hundred dollars’ worth of electronics.”

  “Pippa, did an animal ever eat your homework?” asked Ivy.

  Pippa bit her lower lip and scrunched her face.

  “Once, when I was ten, I took the shared laptop we had at Busara that I used for homeschooling and brought it over to one of our biggest elephant orphans. I slipped it as close to his foot as I could and got him to stand on it.”

  Ivy, Fern and Dax stared at her in disbelief.

  “You did not,” Ivy said, with clear admiration in her voice.

  “I’m afraid I really did.”

  “What did your parents do?” Fern asked.

  “That’s what I want to know.” Dax grinned as he stoked the fire, but when he glanced up and their eyes met, something shifted in his face...something smoldering and daring.

  His smile softened and his gaze lingered a few seconds too long. The embers popped like a dangerous shot in the dark, then a burning log fell to its side as the twigs beneath it cracked and crumbled, throwing sparks carelessly between them. They were playing with fire.

  Pippa forced herself to look directly into the flames between them. Maybe the twins hadn’t noticed and would think Pippa and Dax had been staring at the fire all along. She picked up a small pebble from the dirt next to the log she sat on and rubbed it between her palms.

  “Don’t you remember?” Ivy asked.

  “What? Oh.” She cleared her throat and gathered herself. “They made me clean out elephant poop from the pens for an entire week.” Nothing like elephant poop to kill whatever she was sensing from Dax.

  “A whole week?” Ivy asked.

  “Yep. Not all of them, but enough of them to teach me a lesson.” It had been the last time she’d had to do that.

  “Thank goodness we only have to do one, once.” Fern made a face.