The problem with fraternal twins, their mother reflected, was that they weren’t alike. Or, rather, they may be alike in their needs and desires, but not in their—

“Robot!”

“Human!”

“Robot!”

“Mo-o-o-om! He’s doing it again!”

Kendra pulled the rest of the wash from the dryer and carried the basket upstairs. “Dustin! Keith! Both of you, go to your rooms!”

“It’s not fair!”

“I never—”

“Do I have to count again?”

The boys knew the look on Kendra’s face, and went quietly to their separate rooms. Neither of them even slammed the door this time. School vacations always started well, but by the end, Kendra was always desperate to get the kids back into school again.

It didn’t help that the boys were so different. When people met them on the street, they assumed Dustin wasn’t hers. The parts of Dustin that were inherited from Kendra were more psychological, she supposed. She was folding the laundry now, trying to sort what seemed like dozens of socks, but a persistent banging drew her attention.

Was it Dustin, or was it Keith? Both?

Kendra stood up and opened the door to Keith’s room. The boy was on his back on the bed, kicking at the wall. He looked up guiltily. “I wasn’t doing anything.”

“Knock. It. Off.”

“But Dustin—”

“No. And if I hear one more peep out of you for the next ten minutes, no video games for the whole day. Got that?”

Keith let his feet fall to the bed. “Got it.”

“Good.” Kendra closed the door and knocked on Dustin’s. No reply. She pushed it open and closed it behind her. Dustin was in the chair at his desk, hugging himself. So much bigger than your typical eight-year-old… Dustin never had it easy. She smiled. “You okay?”

“He was kicking out H-U-M-A-N in Morse code.”

“How do you two know Morse code?”

“Boy Scouts.”

“Oh.” She nodded. “He didn’t mean it. He just wanted to get your goat.”

“It’s not fair.”

“I know. But he’s your brother, and he loves you. The same way you love him. Believe it or not, every set of brothers fights this way. It’s called sibling rivalry.”

Dustin shrugged.

“You want me to leave you alone for now?” he nodded. “Okay. Dad’ll be home soon. We’ll play Monopoly, okay?”

“Okay.”

Kendra was still folding laundry when her husband came home. “Hey, babe. You look exhausted. Want to order Chinese?”

“Yeah. The kids might like that. They’ve been fighting all day.”

“About what?”

“What do you think?”

David shook his head. “This has got to stop. Maybe we should go to a family counselor. I’ll check online tonight, see if the insurance covers it.”

“We knew it was going to be tough when we got married, hon. I didn’t know how tough it would be. The kids. They’re so different.”

“They’re both ours, Ken. No matter how they look, they’re both equal parts of you and me. Dustin and Keith.”

“I know.” She smiled. “The Human-Robot family. The Cyborg Bunch.”

The LCDs in his eyes flashed. He loved the way Kendra smiled.

Copyright 2008 Amy Frushour Kelly. All rights reserved.

Reproduction by any means prohibited without prior written consent.