Double Gina
Needless to say they were virgins and on Sundays they were twice as nice because they dressed in white and wore clean pink gloves to church services. It could have just as easily been a couple of Bobs or double Bobs, (if you like the terminology) but the twins turned out to be girls at birth so they were named Gina. The parents figured it was such a lovely name that they used it twice.
Mom and dad, usually referenced as the Wells family by friends, family and town folk, were practical that way. Any time they wanted to get the attention of the twins they would yell, “Gina” and Voila! two heads would turn in the direction of the sound and both girls would come running and respond simultaneously and respectfully, “Yes mommy” or “Yes daddy.”
As it turned out, the twins were identical down to the very last molecule of their pretty little souls and bodies from head to toe and back again. You honestly could not tell them apart in the light of day or at night time as a matter of fact because even their voices were identical in pitch and tone and timbre.
Most people in the region feared Mr. Wells. It turns out that he is very small and young looking for his age. He looks like a little boy of about nine or ten years old at best. In addition to that peculiarity, he appears to be the smartest and oldest man who ever walked the Earth. People naturally fear what they can’t understand. Robert Wells appeared to know so much about history dating back to before the time of Christ that you would swear that he actually was there in the flesh living that experience in real time.
Everything about Penny Wells, his wife, was simple and normal, that is with the proviso that she named her kids Gina and Gina respectively. That idea never settled well with the people of the community. They thought it to be an odd concept from the start and remained perplexed moving forward.
The girls are now thirteen and they instinctively take after their dad more than their mom. Both sisters are smart as a whip. They like to invent and build unusual machines like their dad. He has a large red barn in an open corn filed near their cozy mansion. No one in the house does farming so the corn just keeps on growing on its own. It is so quiet in the night that you can actually hear it making growing noises and groans. It is like a slight muffled crackling sound that is pleasant to the ear.
Bob uses the barn for books, thousands of books from all over the world and you can be sure that he has read every one. Many of them are first editions. There are hundreds of antique editions on a whole host of topics ranging from religion and medicine to quantum mechanics and modern space science. There might even be a first printing of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Marquez from 1967 and many hand crafted leather bound books that date back many centuries.
He keeps them safe and secure on perfectly aligned oak and cedar shelves that he made himself. The center of the structure Is utilized by him and the girls to build and craft whatever their hearts desire. They desire to construct robots that can serve them and they are quite accomplished at the task.
Penny does the food and supply shopping in town because she is the normal one in the family according to most sources who know about such things. It seems as if they accept her in her simplicity, with the caveat that it is understood by all, the company she keeps gives them pause, namely her family, scares them to the core.
Women and men of the community ask her from time to time why her husband does not keep tractors and farming equipment in his barn like everyone else. She simply shrugs her shoulders. Her eyes glaze over with the complexity of the inquiry. Eventually she goes about her business again, humming a mindless tune and smiling the smile of reason only she understands.
Fortunately the church they attend is situated just outside the village between their estate and the town proper. Every Sunday the Wells family arrives early dressed in their finest attire and well groomed. They never sing the hymnals or speak a word. They do go through the motions of genuflection in the beginning and end of services. They stand, sit and kneel in regimented robotic fashion at the appropriate times. Some individuals have even mentioned they observed the family reading along in the prayer booklets, which had the effect of sending shock waves through many of the congregations members.
It was a rare event when the Gina twins would go to the village. When they did they stuck together like glue and tried their best to avoid eye contact with anyone and kept all conversations to a minimal as they were shy by nature. When they spoke they would use common words and as few syllables as possible as instructed by their dad.
On this one eventful day Gina and Gina had to buy and pick up some unique scientific equipment and supplies for their experiments at a couple of different locations in the village. They could not trust their mom to acquire the products in question for them because of the dangerous, sensitive nature and complexity of the items. This was a backwards community so most of the materials were shipped from far away lands and had to be signed for and picked up in person by the originators of the orders. Two angry old men with nasty beards, holding loaded shot guns, approached the twins while they were loading up the van with their goods. One of the men said, “Where’s your pa?” The Gina closest to the smelly beast said, “My father is at work.” The other guy shouted, “Your papi doesn’t have a job.” “He does the devils work up there in that satanic old barn!” The other Gina yawned and continued loading.
Bob Wells was a very well to do man. Price was never an obstacle when it came to making his girls happy. The townsfolk speculated that he was rich because he has lived for centuries according to the local lore and he has probably been around forever so it was easy for him to acquire wealth over so many life times.
The girls kept their words and activity close to the vest, ignoring the dirty old men as best they could and departed as quickly as was possible. The robot androids were nearly complete. They only needed their voice box adjustments and electronic blue fluid installed to the frontal lobe and cortex of the mechanized brain to activate them.
As the girls stood center stage of the barn figuring out the last steps in the construction of their mechanical men, (They were actually female androids made in the exact likeness of Gina and her sister Gina.) they heard a loud explosion outside that seemed to be hitting their structure with an astounding force. The ground shook and many books flew from their shelves.
Two gigantic Exocet missiles struck the barn with their full ordinance impact. These flying bombs can do significant damage to any target within their reach. Why would anyone want to harm such sweet innocent little creatures just playing around with their toys in their daddy’s barn?
Mr. Wells, looking more like every minute of 10 years old and nothing like a 9 year old boy, came running from the mansion at full speed. He told his daughters to run inside and then went to inspect the side of the barn. There was no damage to the structure as suspected, only fragments of the missiles on the ground beside it.
Bob had great vision. He could see things that no one else could see. He pointed at the men hiding behind some bushes on the near by hill and summoned them with his index finger to approach. There were five strange men dressed in old military uniforms charging after him with their AK-47 rifles and bazookas blasting. Mr. Wells was forced back against the wall of the barn as the discharged weapons struck him rpetedly but none of the fire power harmed him. He stood up shaking his index finger from side to side in front of them saying, “Tsk tsk tsk.” “Shame on you for trying to hurt my little girls and me.”
At that moment Gina and Gina walked calmly outside with their mother. Mr. and Mrs Wells stood together hand in hand in a stately manner, flanked by their daughters on either side. They looked directly at the men with the weapons in their hands, still firing at them like demons from Hell. All of a sudden a bright blue laser like light emanated collectively from the eyes of the Wells family. They looked up simultaneously and then focused straight ahead in front of them. The bad men were evaporated in an instant by a burst of fire and smoke as they disappeared into nothing but a heap of smoldering ash. The family members then focused their attention on the hills just out of reach and fired again with their blazing eyes destroying the rocket launcher, small army of men, all of their trucks, equipment and much of the surrounding forest which too was leveled to the ground in a thunderous roar.
It is speculated by some that the neighbors will now have something new to talk about in the foreseeable future.
The mom and dad went back to their afternoon tea and the Ginas activated their new machines. They called them Gina Bot One and Gina Bot Two because they are such lovely names. Don’t you think so too?
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