A cute little baby boy was crawling past our door very fast. We watched him go. He was a little black baby with cute little curly hair all over his head. His diapered bottom wiggled as he crawled to the stairway. Then he stood up and walked down the stairs.

       Then a tall boy appeared at our door, panting. He had lots of red hair, lots of freckles, and goldish-amber eyes.

       "Have you seen my baby brother?" he panted at us.

       "That was your brother?" we both asked.

       "You've seen him? Quick, where'd he go?"

       "We just saw a black baby go down the stairs. Was that him?" we asked.

       "Oh! Yes!" he took off down the stairs and appeared with the baby.

       "All right if I come in?" he asked. "Sure." We abandoned our Monopoly game.

       "Are you all right, Rupert?" he asked the baby in baby-talk.

       "Rupert?" we said in unison.

       "Oh!" he laughed. "That's just his nickname. His name's Jake. I'm Zack A. Martin, Jr. You can call me Zam if you want. That's my nickname."

       Jake looked at him and then at us.

       "Where did 'Rupert' come from?" I asked.

       "His mama," he answered, unsmiling.

       "She meant the nickname!" Ben laughed.

       "It's a long story. Anyway, who are you?"

       "I'm Cristabel, this is Ben," I said.

       "Don't call her Crissi or she'll puke on you," he ordered. Zam laughed.

       "Before you ask, we're twins," we said together.

       "Before you ask, I'm adopted," Zam said.

       "Are you going to school here?" he asked.

       "Yes."

       "Wanna see my dorm?"

       "Sure."

       We walked down the hall to his dorm. It looked like ours. It had twin beds.

       "Is Rupert staying here too?" I asked, surprised.

       "Oh! No way! The youngest kid here is seven and the oldest is fifteen."

       He looked at us. "We're thirteen," Ben said.

       "Oh! O.K. I'm eleven," Zam said. He was taller than us but two years younger.

       We took a walk down to the office where our mother and Rupert's mother were. Zam handed Rupert to his mom.

       He looked at us again.

       "I used to have a twin," he said.

       "What happened?" we both asked.

"He died in a car accident when my dad, my real dad, was driving drunk. I was in the car, too, but, obviously, I survived."

       "That must have been so sad for you," I said.

       "Well, it was when I was seven, so it was a while ago."

       "So you're pretty much over it now?" Ben asked.

       "Yeah. And it really helps to have been adopted by someone who gives you a brother."

       "What about your mom?" we asked in unison.

       "She died when we were born. My twin's name was Brian."

       "Oh! I get it!" Ben said. "Bam and Zam, right?"

       "Correct!" said Zam.

       Our mother stood up and said "Well, I'm off! You're starting lessons tomorrow! I'll call you every day! Bye!"

       And she left. Like she couldn't wait to get rid of us. I bet her and Dad are going on vacation. Everything's a mystery with her!

       "Hey you guys, let's go exploring!" yelled Zam. "Come on!!"

[Notes on this: 1. I promise the "Zack Martin" name has nothing to do with Saved By the Bell. I thought it was weird when my sister started watching it later, though. 2. Why the hell does Zam know the age range of the kids, anyway? Who told him that? 3. Sometimes the paragraphs here don't indent. I'm reproducing it how I wrote it on the page, so it's intentional. 4. "That must have been so sad for you." Duh, y'think so, Cristabel? "So you're pretty much over it now?" Oh yes, Ben, people get over their twin dying lickety-split. It's also odd that he says the death happened when he was seven but that he's grateful that he was adopted by someone who gives him a brother; if this is a baby, the kid wouldn't have been born yet when he was adopted by them since it was four years before. 5. Why would Ben guess that Zam's twin's middle initial started with A too? And "Zam" and "Bam" isn't very clever. It's just stupid. 6. Zam introduces himself with "Jr." at the end of his name. Oddly enough later in the story it comes out that he was the second-born twin. Seems odd, that. 7. Yup, their mom just hopped up and left with no hugs. Not to mention she never did call them once despite her promise.]