To many people Tom and Joey were a freak show. They'd get stares and gasps, people would shy away from them, but yet they still got work. It's easy when you are the oldest conjoined twins in the world. Conjoined at the hip from birth, they were self contained humans, but attached to one another since a time before safe surgeries. Despite their condition Tom was still the best accountant in town and had developed a faithful clientel.
Joey had spent most of his life as an attorney but age and the gradual onset of alzheimers lead him to abandon his practice shortly after his 86th birthday. At 95 his mind was mostly unchanged from 9 years prior which meant he could still care for himself, which was a burden he did not want for his brother. They were best freinds but also best enemies since they knew every last detail about each other. One of their running jokes was that Joey was a year older than Tom since he came out first. Corny as it may be it still worked to break the ice in most uncomfortable situations.
They both live in the same house they grew up in since the modified doorways, furniture, and appliances would all be to costly to recreate in a new home. The orchards used to surround the house for miles around, but time brought the sub divisions, tract housing, and large scale development. Everything started to change in the mid sixties when a blight ravaged the orchards and the trees were removed and burned in giant piles. Once the trees were gone the land was parceled out and over the years sold off to various developers.
Today Tom and Joey are moving out of the home that kept them safe from the world for their entire lives. The struggle of the two men to keep up with their personal care and the resposibilities of the home had gotten to much and they had decided to move into a local care facility. They stood looking at the house before leaving and Tom began to cry gentley.
"The house has one hell of a story to tell" Joey said softly.
"Yeah a story of pain, suffering, and loneliness" Tom responded.
"No, not at all. It would tell a story of love, family, freindship, with some suffering." Joey said as he looked at Tom.
"If you say so. Let's go. I think they have a buffet tonight."
This is my entry for Second Creative Writing Challenge: Task #2 put on by @steemfluencer. The details of the task are as follows:
Task #2: Tom and Joey
Using the phrases below, try to build a short fictional story.
There are few notes that [look like this].
Tom is still the smartest accountant in the town,
Joey is his best friend.
Tom is 94.
Joey is 95.
They both live in ...
This is a story of a friendship, love and drama [feel free to replace these or add more].
Everything has started [pick a time in the past when].
[Finish with]: Today Tom & Joey...
Additional notes: Obviously Joey and Tom are the protagonists.
Feel free to add more characters, to include retrospection and
whatever else you would like. You are totally free to write your
own interpretation. Use this type of freedom as an opportunity
to put your creativity under some pressure. If you'd like to present
the old men in a different way, please do so.
A short story means something that is minimum 300 words.
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