Sally sank to the ground and put her head in her hands.
"That's it. I've given up. Ooooh, my poor unborn baby, now it will
never know if its father is a homicidal maniac or village
idiot."
Tim however, was not to be beaten so readily. He was made of
sterner stuff. He hadn't risen to the ranks of his profession by
letting mere small complications stand in the way of success. He
patted Sally on her shoulder:
"Did I ever tell you that when I was a young lad, my mother once
took me to a hypnotist to see if all my emotional, physical and
psychological problems could be solved?"
"No", everyone answered, desperately looking around for something
else to do.
"Well", continued Tim," she did, and I was hypnotized into
thinking I was a duck. Have I ever told you about my special
collection of little yellow rubber duckies? I play with them in
the bath. Sometimes I still think I'm a duck you know. No one
understand us ducks.....", he concluded sadly.
"Hey!", he said
suddenly, "Did I ever tell you about this dream I had when......"
Tim kept on talking but no one was listening, because Sally was
also talking:
"I think I've found a solution. Why don't we find a hypnotist to
hypnotize J1 and J2 into revealing the truth?"
Darren's owner said:
"You are in luck. It just so happens that there is a hypnotist
working at this circus now. She can also read the future, eat fire
and stand on her head. I go and find her."
Some minutes later he re-appeared with a strange-looking woman who
said:
"I may be strange-looking but I can tell who is the
stupidest person here, and that would be you ( she pointed at Tim
who was still talking about his dream), and you ( pointing at the
twins), and....."
"Okay, we trust your credentials", said Sally, "What's your
name?"
"My name is Oliva. I'm a witch, black and white and I'm in
love. Good lord, isn't that the fool I hypnotized into a duck?
( pointing at Tim.) It was the kindest thing to do. Anyway, I
presume these two vomit-covered people are the ones you want help
with. Oh, my sweet baby Jesus, this is the man.
eh.. men I'm in love with."
J1 looked really ill and complained:
"I don't feel good. I want to rest in a dark quiet room. Not
being hypnotized."
"For once I agree with my brother.", said J2 looking even worse.
"But I want! Make me think I'm a blue rubber duck, or a green,
or a red with yellow feet", interrupted Tim, who took a brief break
from talking about his dream.
"Shut up!", was the words on everybody's lips but only Tom
actually said it.
Nobody took any consern of the conditions of the two J-brothers.
They all forced J1 to be hypnotized. Olivia looked J1 deeply in
his eyes and said:
"Look me deeply in my eyes and feel how heavy your arms and legs
are. Feel the weight of your eyelid, your eyes.... are blue, blue
like the sea water in a lagoon. Your body is like a dream and your
smile makes my heart melt, your...."
"Wait a minute", interrupted Darren's owner,"
she is not suppose to say that!"
With a heroic effort, and some aid from Darren, he manage to drag
Olivia away from J1's magnetic eyes.
An in advance doomed, attempt to hypnotize J2 ended up with Oliva
proposing to J2. After that setback they all had worried faces of
hopelessness, except Olivia who had a smile of felicity.
Sal turned to Olivia and asked:
"Which one of the two twins did you fall in love with? In other words:
Which is which, witch?"
"Me and names! I never remember the name of a person. Only their
palms."
"Palms?"
"Yeah, you know, life lines and that shit! I have just looked in
J2's palm, and he is definitely the man who stole my heart."
Sally twitched. Finally she could see some light at the end of the
tunnel. She said with eager:
"Your darling, J2, was he a homicidal maniac? Or was he a
village idiot?"
"No, No", Olivia got something dreamlike in her eyes," He was
the nicest and most intelligent gentleman on earth... No, in the
Universe."
"Are they three? Or is this just an immense case of that old
saying, that love is blind?", thought Sally as she felt the light
at the end of the tunnel was just about to be switched off.
Maybe", said Tim, "she is talking about their father."
No one of course paid him any attention.
"And maybe", he went on,
"we should go and visit their father
because I'm sure he could tell them apart."
Sally thought Tim was in pain because all she heard coming out of
his mouth were sounds like 'fjhdgfkjagfljhgajf'. Then Sally had an
idea and that light at the end of the tunnel started to flicker
again.
"Maybe", she said,
"the witch is referring to their father, who might be
the nicest and most intelligent of men.
Maybe we should go and pay him a
visit
because I'm sure that at least he will be able to
recognize them. What's wrong Tim?"
( Tim had a confused look on his face because he was sure that he
had heard those words somewhere before.)
"Well", said Olivia, "if we are going on a trip, I have to get
ready. Has anybody seen a cute green frog around and a black cat?"
Darren looked a bit embarrassed and started to turn red.
Darren's owner asked if anyone had seen the helicopter lately.
Darren looked even redder. Tim enquired of the whereabouts of Tom,
which made Darren turn purple, and he started to back away
muttering under his breath that he had to see someone about his
car insurance. Sally asked if anyone had seen Clara and Clementine,
as strangely enough they had seemed to vanish around the same
time as the cute green frog, the black cat, Tom and the
helicopter.
Then the two Jespers woke out of their vomit-covered nap and
started to cry and suck their thumbs. J1 announced in a loud voice
that his under pants needed changing and J2 demanded a mashed-
banana sandwich.
"Ah", said Olivia, "they have regressed back into their
childhood. They don't need a hypnotist but a psychiatrist."
"Did someone say 'psychiatrist'?", a man with grey hair a sled,
stepping forward, who for some time had been standing behind a tree
observing them and taking notes.
"I am Dr. X, but you can call me Alfred."
"Then why are you Dr. X if your name is Alfred?",
asked Sally.
"I can't remember what the 'X' stands for. Anyway my prognosis of
the situation is that you are all in need of some hug-therapy and
a little bit of love, except maybe for him - pointing to Tim - who
looks like a duck. He needs a pond. With my help you shall recall
the good times and the bad times, and to help, I shall play some
soppy 1970's music on my guitar. Any questions before we begin?"
Since, to everybody's surprise, nobody said a word, the
psychiatrist started to sing. He had just struggled past all those
strange words and reached the chorus of 'Give peace a chance',
when a bald man with both his two pinkies missing, interrupted
them.
"Who's that?", asked Sally turning to Darren's owner.
"That's ' Silly-Sam our clown. He is always dressed as 'Goofy'
when he is performing. A character suitable to his own intellect."
"Why did you hire a stupid man like as Silly-Sam?"
"He was the only man that Goofy's four-finger-gloves fitted!"
"Of course, stupid question of me.", said Sal knocking herself
on her head, which actually caused a lot of pain,
but she didn't show the
pain to the others, so they couldn't laugh at her.
When Silly-Sam saw one of the twins he spun around three times.
Then he made strange noises
while jumping up and down on his left leg. He shook his behind
wildly as he clapped his hands. Darren's owner stared at Silly-Sam's
act, then he asked:
"What are you doing?"
"Just our secret order salute to our Prime Minister."
"Secret order? Prime Minister?"
"Yes, the society: 'Bald morons with 8 fingers', where Jesper is
our President, or Prime Minister as we also say."
"Oh! That's why he said that he was the Prime Minister. I have
wondered how he could be a Prime Minister since 9.39."
"9.39, as in, 9.39 a.m., this morning?"
"No, 9.39 as in, page 9 line 39, this story!"
Silly-Sam interrupted:
"By the way, what's wrong with Darren? I just met him. He
seemed a bit out of color today. It looked like he had
swallowed a helicopter again!! It seems like he has forgotten his
very painful visit to the toilet the last time."
He then looked at the two J-brother's and stated calmly:
"So, Jesper has multiplied himself."
Then he started to look really worried and screamed hysterically:
"But who is going to be our president now?
We can't have two!!!"
After analyzing what Silly-Sam had said, Sally opened her mouth:
"According to Silly-Sam, all members must have 8 fingers. That
means that the genuine Jesper must have 8 fingers."
She eagerly counted J1's fingers.
"5 and 3, that's 8."
She then examined J2's fingers.
"4 and 2. 4 times 2 are also 8. Shit, they both have 8
fingers."
J2 smiled evilly to himself. Those persons would never unveil
him, if his missing fingers didn't. As a matter of fact, they
wouldn't have much time. Soon they all would be dead. Killed by
him. He felt that nothing could hurt him..... At least since the
very hungry dragon left.