Ivy and Bean walked slowly back to Pancake Court. Finally, Ivy spoke. “You’re right about baby sisters. They’re terrible.”
“Big sisters are worse,” said Bean.
“If big ones are bad and little ones are bad, that doesn’t leave much.”
“There’s twins,” Bean said. “I always wished I was a twin. Think how cool it would be, like having a friend in your house. It would be like you and me, only sisters.”
Ivy nodded. “But you can’t get a twin. You have to be born that way.”
“Wouldn’t it be great?” said Bean dreamily. “You could gang up on your older sister.”
Ivy frowned. “I don’t have an older sister.”
“But if you did, and you had a twin, you could gang up on her. You’d be able to play with her stuff. And for once in your life you might win an argument.” Bean thought some more. “Plus, it would be fun. If you and I were twins, we’d get to play all the time and every night would be like a sleepover.”
“Except we wouldn’t be us,” said Ivy. “Because we wouldn’t have our parents.”
Bean shrugged. “It wouldn’t matter! We’d have each other!”
Ivy thought about that. “Yeah. But it’s too late. We’re not twins.”
“Life isn’t fair,” said Bean gloomily.
But that night, Bean had an amazing idea. It was an idea that would fix Ivy’s spoilment and life’s unfairness at the same time. It was an idea that would make everything better. Plus it was an idea that didn’t need gods or electricity or magic to work. All it needed was nature.
Here’s how Bean’s idea went: Kids grow. Everyone knows that. All the time, they’re growing and growing. They get taller. Their feet get bigger. Even their heads grow, which is weird but true. What’s covering all these growing parts? Skin, that’s what! And what does that mean about skin? It’s growing, too! All the time!
So, let’s say you wanted to be a twin. Let’s say you wanted to be a twin with your friend. All you would have to do is tie yourself to her with string and wait. After a while, your skins would grow together, and you would become twins.
Easy-peasy!
Bean wanted to go over to Ivy’s house right that minute, to tell her the amazing idea. Bean’s mom said Absolutely not and It’s 10 P.M. and Why aren’t you asleep?
“Okay, okay,” grumped Bean, as she thumped back to her room. “But don’t be surprised when you have to buy more food. And maybe a bigger bed, too.”
Her mom looked confused. “What?”
“You’ll see!”
“It’s nature,” explained Bean the next day, as she looped string around her arm and Ivy’s. “Nature always works. We’ll be twins! Ha! Nancy’s going to freak!”
“And we won’t just be regular twins,” Ivy said. “We’ll be the joined kind, which is the coolest. Tie that knot tight.”
Originally, Bean had wanted to tape their heads together, so they’d be joined at the head, but Ivy had pointed out that they’d have to bend sideways for the rest of their lives. Plus, they’d have tape in their hair. Joined arms would be way easier. Bean had to admit this was true.
Bean tied the last knot. “Okay!” she said. “That should do it.” She leaned back against the wall of her puny plastic playhouse, and Ivy leaned with her (she had to). “We’ll be the three-arm twins!” After a moment, she said, “I can kind of feel our skin growing together.”
“Me too,” said Ivy.
“How long do you think it’ll take?”
“A month, maybe,” said Ivy.
“A month!” yelped Bean. “That’s a long time!”
“But in the end, we’ll be joined forever,” Ivy said. “Forever!”
“And then we’re going to rule the world!” said Bean. “Ha!”
“You keep saying Ha,” Ivy said.
“Let’s go show people!” Bean was too excited to sit still.
“People?” Ivy said. “I’m reading this really great book—”
“You can read later,” said Bean. “Maybe.”
It was pretty hard for them to squeeze through the tiny door of Bean’s playhouse, but finally Bean figured out that if she crawled backward and Ivy crawled forward, they could make it out. Still, their heads clonked together.
Nancy was sitting on her yoga mat on the other side of the lawn. One of her legs was crossed over the other and her head was turned the opposite way. “Don’t talk,” she said. “I’m doing yoga.”
“Now you’ve taken over the backyard too?” said Bean. “That’s not fair!” Ooh, she could hardly wait until she and Ivy grew together! Nancy wouldn’t know what hit her! Bean couldn’t help saying in a mysterious voice, “Pretty soon, things are going to be different around here.”
“I’m not talking to you,” said Bean. “Even though your life is about to change forever and you probably won’t like it.”
Nancy crossed her legs in the other direction.
“Does the word ‘twin’ strike fear in your heart?” asked Bean.
“No,” Nancy said. She opened her eyes and looked at Bean and Ivy. “Oh, good. You’re stuck together. Does this mean you’re going to move in with Ivy?”
“No!” said Bean. “Ivy’s going to move in with me! So ha!”
Ivy frowned. “I thought we were going to switch off,” she said.
Bean looked at her in surprise. “The plan was to move to my house.”
Ivy shook her head. “You didn’t say that before. You said it didn’t matter.”
Nancy made praying hands and lifted her face to the sky. “You two are only going to be half as annoying with one arm each.”
Bean looked at Nancy. Then she looked at her tied-up arm. “Let’s get out of here,” she said to Ivy.
