der than her twenty-four years, but the doctor said
nothing, letting her spill out her emotions in words.

"We'd talked about it before, you know--as soon as the obstetrician found
out that I was going to have twins. And Jim ... Jim said that we shouldn't
name them alike unless they were identical twins or mirror twins. If they
were fraternal twins, we'd just name them as if they'd been ordinary
brothers or sisters or whatever. You know?" She looked at the doctor,
pleading for understanding.

"I know," he said.

"And Jim was always kidding. If they were girls, he said we ought to call
them Flora and Dora, or Annie and Fanny, or maybe Susie and Floozie. He
was always kidding about it. You know?"

"I know," said the doctor.

"And then, when they _were_ identical boys, he was very sensible about it.
'We'll call them Martin and Bartholomew,' he said. 'Then if they want to
call themselves Mart and Bart, they can, but they won't be stuck with
rhyming names if they don't want them.' Jim was very thoughtful that way,
Doctor. Very thoughtful."

She suddenly seemed to realize that she was crying, and took a
handkerchief out of her sleeve to dab at her eyes and face.

"I'll have to quit crying," she said, trying to sound brave and strong.
"After all, it could have been worse, couldn't it? I mean, the radiation
could have killed my boys, too. Jim's dead, yes, and I've got to get used
to that. But I still have two boys to take care of, and they'll need me."

"Yes, Mrs. Stanton, they will," said the doctor. "They'll both need you.
And you'll have to be very gentle and very careful with both of them."

"How ... how do you mean that?" she asked.

* * * * *

The doctor settled back in his chair and chose his words carefully.
"Identical twins tend to identify with each other, Mrs. Stanton. There is
a great deal of empathy between people who are not only of the same age,
but genetically identical. If they were both healthy, there would be very
little trouble in their education at home or at school. Any of the
standard texts on psychodynamics in education will show you the pitfalls
to avoid when dealing with identical siblings.

"But these boys are no longer identical. One is normal, healthy, and
lively. The other is ... well, as you have seen, he is slow, sluggish, and
badly co-ordinated. That condition may improve with time, but, until we
know more about such damage than we do now, he will be a