EXCERPTS
Soon it was Christmas, and the store was closed for the holiday. The boys were invited to Henrys home for the Christmas feast. They walked several blocks through the snow from the inn where they were still staying. They had purchased a small to take along to give to Mrs. Williams.
The house was an ordinary-looking wooden frame building, badly in need of paint. They were heartily greeted at the door by Henry, who invited them in out of the cold. The smells of the food cooking inside were wonderful. He called to his family to meet the twins. He introduced his wife, Helen, who the boys greeted. Then their attention went past her to three young girls in the room.
Henry introduced his two daughters. Enid, 14, had curly blond hair, blue eyes, and was a very pretty little thing, with the fresh beauty of a new flower and the exuberance of a young colt. Gwen, 18, was tall, with straight brown hair, a high forehead, a wide mouth, brown eyes, heavy eyebrows, and slightly pock-marked cheeksa combination that was much plainer, but still attractive. Enid was very friendly and outgoing, while Gwen was somewhat reserved and serious.
Their cousin, Amanda Green, was also introduced. She was the daughter of Richard Green, a Virginia planter, who was Helens older brother. Amanda, who was visiting the Williams for the holidays, was a beautiful, bright, vibrant girl of 18, full of life and fun. She and the Williams girls made a delightful trio.
Needless to say, the cousins were very happy to have the two attractive young men at the house. They bubbled with excitement and conversation, trying to find out everything at once about these identically good-looking fellows. The twins, who were not complete strangers to the charms of the fairer sex, enjoyed the attention and the teasing and flirting that ensued.
Amanda told them a little about Virginia, where she had lived all her life. She was her fathers only child, and he had been a widower for several years. The plantation, called Greenfields, was not far from Alexandria, and although small for the area, consisted of several hundred acres. The main crop was tobacco, which was grown with the help of the field slaves.
The dinner was a great feast and tasted even better than it smelled. The meats were wild turkey (which the boys had never tasted), ham, and fish. This was accompanied by potatoes, maize, yams, and cranberries; most of which the boys had barely sampled before; and finished with apple and pumpkin (which was also new to them) pies. All was washed down with cider, pressed from trees in their yard. When they were finished, they were all as stuffed as the turkey had been.
After the dinner had settled a bit, the seven of them all gathered around the pump organ in the parlor, and while Enid played, they sang the old familiar carols. Enid had a fine soprano voice; Amanda was an alto, and Gwen a contralto. The twins were baritones (although sometimes James slipped down to bass). They retold the familiar Christmas stories, both from the Bible, and from English tradition.
It was clear from the beginning that Amanda had taken a liking to James. The two sisters, on the other hand, competed for the attention of John. Henry and Helen sat back and enjoyed the interplay of the young people, remembering times when they were those same naive ages and everything seemed possible.
One of the subjects of conversation was the latest gossip, both about those in and around Boston, but also in other New England towns, and (even though it was a bit out-of-date) the doings and scandals in Bristol and London. The twins were better informed on the latter than the former, although it had been six weeks since they left Bristol and several months since they had been in London. They recounted doings in George IIs court and the continual warfare between King and Parliament. They also told what they knew about the always-turbulent affairs on the European continent.
Before they left the Williams, the boys were invited to church the following Sunday, to a holiday dance the night before, and to a New Years party the next week. When they gratefully accepted the invitations, the girls smiled and laughed.
Far away in west-central Africa, a young Negro prince named Kioko Kunchabi, would, a few years later, have a profound effect on the twins lives.
|