Today I would like to introduce you to Henrietta and Virginia, the two main characters in my current novel. I thought it would be fun to do a little interview and see what these two are up to.
“Excuse me, did you just call me Henrietta? Only my Mom calls me that,” Etta says as she sits down across from me.
“Yeah, we go by Etta and Gina. Virginia? Wow, only my twin calls me that and only to annoy me,” Gina says and she sits down next to Etta.
“I’m very sorry. I will remember from now on. Shell we start with an easy question first?” I ask them. The nod and giggle. “Etta, what is Gina obsessed with?”
“Oh, that’s easy — boys.”
“That’s not true,” Gina says, interrupting. “Cute boys!”
“Sorry, cute boys,” Etta says. “I forgot.”
They playfully bounce against each other. “Gina, what is Etta obsessed with?”
“Duh…baseball!” Gina answers.
“That’s right. I’m going to play pro, you know? The first woman to play for the St. Louis Cardinals!”
Etta raises her hand for a high five, Gina responds with a hard slap. “She’s amazing…we play together and I’m okay, but Etta is just phenomenal – I have no doubts she’ll play pro.”
“What do you want to do when you grow up?” I ask Gina.
Gina looks up at the ceiling and then down at the floor, “I have no idea. What do you think?” she asks Etta.
“Probably run a whole country,” Etta says, throwing her arms around her friend’s shoulder. “This girl is organized, brilliant, and can basically tell anyone what to do.”
“Wait, are you calling me bossy?” Gina says, giving Etta some serious side-eye.
“Yeah, kinda.”
I’m worried they are going to start fighting so I interject, “Etta, is it easy for Gina to admit she’s made a mistake?”
“Sometimes. It depends on the mistake. She owns up when she hurts someone’s feelings, she apologizes and tries to make things right.”
Gina leans forward and says, “Etta is stubborn though, she won’t admit anything.”
“That’s not true!” Etta yells.
“Remember when we were 10 and you accidentally broke my favorite plate and you tried to blame it on our dog?”
“It was the dog!”
“Etta,” Gina says slowly, “we didn’t have a dog!”
“That’s not my problem,” Etta says and then they both start laughing.
“Ok, I have a question,” Gina says and grabs the little microphone I had sitting on the table. She shoves it into Etta’s face. “Etta, who’s your current crush?”
“Ew…boys are gross still,” Etta sticks her tongue out and shuts her eyes. “They are good to play against but crush? No thank you.”
“Seriously? No one? We have such cute boys at our school!”
“Name two?” Etta asks Gina, taking the microphone from her hands and putting it into her face.
“Easy…Todd and Mikey.”
Etta rolls her eyes so hard, that I think she’s now looking at her brain, which just makes Gina laugh. Which in turn makes Etta start laughing. She puts the microphone back on the same table between us.
“Ok, I have a question for you,” Etta says again pointing toward Gina.
“I’m an open book.”
“Does Libby sometimes annoy you?”
“Of course,” Gina says, flipping her hair back behind her, “she’s family – we all get on each other’s nerves. Don’t start about Libby, not here – we’re being interviewed.”
“Who’s Libby?” I ask.
“She’s my cousin – we are only a few weeks apart so she’s always around. Our mothers are sisters and very close. Libby is an only child and most people call us the Templeton triplets instead of twins because we’re in the same grade. I think teachers would get us confused except that we look nothing alike.”
“She’s always around. ALWAYS!” Etta says crossing her arms. She reminds me of a toddler when she does this. Gina matches her arm for arm and huffs.
“Do you have another question?” Gina asks, but I’m not sure if she means that for me or Etta. I decided to jump in and take my chance to ask something else.
“Okay…Etta, what do you think Gina’s favorite memory of you two is?” I ask.
Etta looks over at Gina, drops her hands and smiles. “Probably last summer, we went to the movies and saw three in a row (we paid too because Gina is very honest) and we ate popcorn and drank these huge sodas and just had the best day.”
Gina smiles too and uncrosses her hands, “That was a good day. I think Etta would say it was the day we met. Little league baseball mixed-gender something or other – I forget what it was called but my Mom signed us up – and by us I mean me and Carl (the twin). Carl hated it from day one, but he finished that summer up.”
“Yeah, you and I were right next to each other for the line-up and you said, “Hi I’m Gina, what’s your name?” in this squeaky voice,” Etta said.
“And you said, “Etta!” like it was a cheer. And we’ve been friends since that day.
“That’s right! Best friends.” Etta says and she leans over and puts her head on Gina’s shoulder. Then they start talking about how in the world Gina can think Mikey can be cute and I realize that the interview is pretty much over.
“Hey, thanks for letting me talk to you today,” I say.
“No prob, this was fun,” Gina says. Etta nods and smiles and goes back to making fun of the boys of their school.
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