A Twin Like Me...cont'd.

As I mentioned last month, I'm sharing a few essays I've written for a non-fiction project. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing each one.

Lip Sync

        One afternoon in the middle of October, many years ago, I sat on the front porch of my home with my twin sister and daughter. That day, like the other days before, that year, brought in a crisp winter wind. My twin and I huddled at one end of the wicker bench where the sun shone directly onto our faces. The mild warmth my skin received did not eliminate the nipping of the cold on my face. My thick hoodie, sweatpants and wool gloves completed the job on the rest of my body. However, my face, bare and alone suffered silently. My daughter sat across from us, covered in a small quilt my twin made and smiling as I related a story from that morning. Every so often, her gaze switched from my face to my twins.
       As my story progressed, the transferring of her gaze increased until it nearly bounced. I paused and slid a glance toward my twin. Her mouth is frozen partially opened, while her gaze swept from my own mouth to my eyes. Her eyebrows lifted once her gaze met mine as thought to question my pause. I blinked, then continued telling my story to my daughter. Slipping a peek at my twin as I spoke. Her mouth moved as I spoke. In fact, her lips formed my words as I spoke them. No sound emitted from her, yet she followed my speech. My daughter's grin widened and after raising her for twenty-eight years, a bubble of laughter hung on the precipice. Her wide eyes and exposed teeth from her large smile, duplicated the same behavior she'd started when she was just a child. I stopped, faced my sister and tipped my head to the side. 
        "What are you doing?" I asked.
    Her eyes widened, her mouth dropped open farther and she responded. "What?"
        "You're mimicking my words."
        "I am?" She asked.
     My daughter laughter split the otherwise quiet morning and my gaze jerked toward her. "Is that what you were watching?" My daughter nodded, still laughing. "How long?" I ask her. She paused in her giggles and said, "Ever since you started, she's been mouthing your words."
         I stared at my twin. "Why?"
         "I didn't even realize I was doing it," she said.
        "It's okay," my daughter interrupted. "You two do this all the time. It's cute."
        I leaned back and frowned. "What do you mean?" 
       "Both of you lip sync each other’s words. You've been doing it for a long time now."
   My twin and I face each other. "I didn't know that." We say simultaneously.
      I point to my sister. "Stop." She nods. There is no reason to tell her what to stop. She knows. I turn toward my daughter, continue talking and she continues smiling as she glances between my sister and I. She's doing it again. I slide another glance at my twin. Yep. She's doing it again. "Stop," I say. "You're doing it again." She presses her hand to her mouth and nods.
       "I don't know why you bother, mom. You do it to her."
Hmm. I cross my arms, staring down at the small peeling gray paint chips of my porch near my feet. We lip sync. How odd. Or is it odd? How is it possible for her know what words I'm about to say in time to form the letters at the exact same time as I say them? We cannot read each other’s minds. Not really. I mean, after all these years, I can read her face easily enough. I do the same with my family members I'm close to. But, no one ever synchronizes their lip movements with my words.
      Only she does. Only my sister. My twin.