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looking in a mirror. I see the face and I hear the voice; it's familiar, and yet it isn't. There's nothing beyond the image." He paused. "It's like seeing me and not recognizing myself." |
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Charlie sat down beside him. "Being what we are gets in the way. When I was in the service I read a lot about how it is with twins. The resemblance stuff is all on the surface; inside it's all quite different. But that's just part of the problem. You were what Father wanted me to be, and I couldn't. Because I looked like you, he expected me to be like you. When I wasn't, he was disappointed, so disappointed that he didn't know how to react to me, how to accept me for what I was inside. I guess the only thing he ever really understood was that I wasn't you." |
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Theodore studied the man he called his brother, the man he had all but forgotten existed. Was it possible he was wrong? Was it possible that Charlie really did care, cared in a way he couldn't understand? If that were true, there was a great deal of catching up to do, secrets to probe, questions to ask. There were things about the man he needed to know. |
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They sat that way for a moment, each lost in his own thoughts, each looking at but not seeing the wellspring of their legacy. |
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Finally it was Charlie who shattered the uneasy tranquility when he stood up. "Well," he sighed, "I came here with a specific mis- |
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