Richard Powers - The Echo Maker

I know that. But we’re supposed to be learning about you.

Uh, what better way to learn about me?

Let’s try the next question.

So you’re saying, if I get the next question right…?

Well, not exactly.

Let me ask you a sister question: Where’s mine? Can you talk to the authorities, please?

But she won’t. She won’t even tell him the twins answer. She says if he comes up with anything, let her know. It bugs the crap out of him. The question is so supremely fucked up it keeps him awake at night. He thinks about it, in his little room in the Cripple Home. He just lies there, in the bed they’ve made for him, thinking about the twins who claim they aren’t twins. Thinking about Karin, where she might be, the truth about what has happened to her, the facts that no one will mention. The docs say he’s got a syndrome. The docs must be in on the con.

Maybe it’s some kind of sex riddle. You know, like: Want to meet my sister ? He tries it on Duane and Ruppie. Duane-o says: It may have something to do with Parthian Genesis. Are you familiar with Parthian Genesis? Also known as the phenomenon of virgin birth.

Rupp busts Cain’s chops. You been eating mad cow? It has no answer, Rupp declares. And he’s one smart bastard. If Rupp can’t figure it out, it’s unfigurable.

Maybe you’ve confused the question, Duane-o suggests. There’s a phenomena called garbling. It’s like the game of telephone…

Chill, Potato Head, Ruppie blasts him. Too much mercury ingestion. You’re in a tuna-fish fog. The game of telephone! Christ .

I’ve got Collapse on my cell, Mark says. Used to be great. But somebody screwed with my settings.

Look, Rupp says. It’s simple logic. What’s the definition of twin? Two people, born of the same parents, at the same time.

Just what I said, Mark says. How come they don’t examine you, too?

Rupp gets upset. What’re you complaining about? You’re living la vida loca , man. Maid service, hot meals. Cable. Skilled women giving you workouts.

Could be worse, Duane agrees. You could be one of those Afghani terrorists down in Gitmo. None of them going anywhere, anytime soon. How about that American they captured? Was that guy high, drunk, crazy, brainwashed, or what?

Mark shakes his head. The whole world’s on crack. The therapists, working overtime to get Mark to think there’s something wrong with him. The fake Karin, trying to distract him. Rupp and Duane, as clueless as he is. The only one he trusts is his friend Barbara. But she works for the enemy, just a lowly guard here at Sing Sing Lite.

Rupp is deep in thought. Maybe they’re two test-tube babies, he says. Those sisters. Two different embryos, implanted…

Remember the Schellenberger twins? Duane-o asks, all stoked. Anybody ever have sex with them?

Rupp scowls. Clearly someone had sex with them, Einstein. Didn’t one of them go away to foal, senior year?

I knew it had something to do with sex, Mark says. You can’t have twins without sex, right?

I meant anybody of the three of us, Duane-o whines.

Rupp shakes his head. I wish that Barbara Gillespie had a twin. Can you imagine? What you call your twofer!

Duane-o howls like a coyote. That chick’s old , man.

So? Means you don’t have to teach her anything. The woman’s killer, I tell you. You gotta know she’s got some deep waves going, under those still waters.

She does have a great walk. If they gave an Oscar for walking, she’d have a shelf full of little bald homonculi. You two are familiar with the concept of the homunculus?

Then Mark is raging. He’s shouting, and can’t stop himself. Get the hell out of here. I don’t want you here.

He frightens them. His friends — if they are his friends — are scared of him. They’re all: What? What did we do? What’s got into you?

Leave me alone. I’ve got things to figure out.

He’s on his feet, pushing them out of the room while they try to reason with him. But he’s sick of reason. All three of them are shouting at one another when Barbara appears from nowhere. What’s wrong? she asks. And he starts spraying. He’s sick of it all. Sick of being kept in this holding tank. Sick of the deceptions, everybody pretending things are exactly normal. Sick of trick questions with no answer, and people pretending there is one.

What questions? Barbara asks. And just the sound of her, coming from that moon-round face, calms him a little.

Two sisters, Mark says. Born at the same time, to the same parents. But they say they’re not twins.

Barbara sits him down, and she’s soothing his shoulders. Maybe they’re two-thirds of triplets, she says.

Rupp smacks himself on the forehead. Brilliant. The woman is brilliant.

Duane waves his hands in the air for a timeout. You know, I was thinking about triplets. Right at the beginning. But I didn’t say it.

Of course you were, latent boy. We were all thinking about triplets. It’s obvious. Face it. You’re a idiot. I’m a idiot. The whole human race is a idiot.

Mark Schluter tenses under the woman’s arm, fighting rage. So why am I the only one locked up?

Two days later, Barbara Gillespie comes to take him for a walk.

Don’t I need to check with my parole board? he asks.

Very funny, she says. This place isn’t that bad and you know it. Come on. Let’s go outside.

Outside is not exactly to be trusted. Much wilder than before his bang-up. They say it’s April, but one confused April, doing a pretty good January imitation. The wind cuts through his jacket and his skull freezes, even underneath his cap. His head is always cold now. His hair takes forever to grow back; something to do with the feed here.

Barbara practically pushes him out of the foyer. Watch your step there, sweetie. But once they’re out, all she wants to do is hang around the bench by the parking lot.

Fine, he says. The Great Out of Doors. I give it five stars. Can we go back inside?

But Barbara keeps him out, teasing. She takes his arm as if they’re an old couple. Which would be okay with him. In a pinch.

Five more minutes, friend. You never know what might come along and surprise you, if you wait long enough.

Tell me about it. Like this terrible accident I apparently had.

Barbara points her finger, all excited. Well, would you look who’s here!

A car rolls up to the curb, as if by chance. Unmistakably feeb Corolla, with the big dimple on the passenger door. His sister’s car. His sister , at last. Like rising from the dead. He jumps up and starts shouting.

Then he sees through the windshield, and crashes again. He can’t take it anymore. It isn’t Karin, but the not-so-secret agent who has replaced her. There’s a dog in the passenger seat, pressed to the glass, clawing at the top of the window to make it go down. Another border collie, like Mark’s. Smartest breed there is. The dog sees Mark through the window, and it’s frantic to get at him. It bursts through the door the instant Barbara opens it. Before Mark can move, the pretty creature is all over him, herding. Up on its hind legs, muzzle skyward, letting out these pathetic yips and howls. That’s the thing about dogs. There isn’t a human being in the world worthy of any dog’s welcome.

The actress Karin comes out of the driver’s door. She’s crying and laughing all at once. Look at that, she says. You’d think she thought she’d never see you again!

The dog is leaping dead vertical into the air. Mark puts out his arms to fend off the attack. Barbara braces him. Would you look who’s here! Barbara says. Look who has been dying to see you. She leans down and nuzzles at the dog. Yes, yes, yes you are — back together! The dog yips at Barbara, that border collie — crazed affection, then assaults Mark again.