Twin Change - 2. TC Chapter 2

“I was wondering if I would be allowed to compete in a music competition if there are any, I want to see if I can get better at playing the piano, and the bagpipes” Finn eventually said out loud to his father, “I see, and what brought this on?” Kyle asked with a bit of a smile, “Well Pa, I have read these articles online where talented music students who do well in competitions, can go on to do well in music as a career” Finn responded confidently, pleased with himself to think of it so quickly. “I see no harm at looking into this, how about we do some research on it tomorrow afternoon, after we get back from our picnic with Nana and Pops” Kyle suggested, and Finn smiled and nodded his head in agreement.

On Monday, at the short morning break, Finn was surprised to be summons to the administration office, where Mrs Granby, his music teacher was waiting for him. “Finn, I received a very unexpected telephone call this morning, from a Mrs Hammersley, of Hutcheson’s Grammar School in Glasgow, Scotland. She informed me that she received an email from a person saying he was ten years old, and attending this school, who looks identical to a student that she has at their school, can you please explain what this is all about?” Mrs Granby said to Finn.

“Yes ma’am, I did send an email to her, when I found an article about a ten year - old boy who attends that grammar school in Glasgow, who looks just like me. He recently won a music competition for his area, so I wanted to contact him, to find out why he looks identical to me, especially when we are both very good at music” Finn replied to her. “I see, well I informed Mrs Hammersley, that I do have a talented ten year - old student by the name of Finn Tobiason, and that I see no harm in the two boys communicating with each other, as long as it is ok with your respective parents, and Mrs Hammersley agreed with me on that.

So, once I have seen a written letter from your father, saying that it is ok, then I will pass you the direct email address, when Mrs Hammersley passes it on, when she gets the same permission from Felix’s parents” Mrs Granby said to Finn. Later that day, when Finn was collected by his grandparents, he was so deep in thought, that he didn’t hear his grandparents speaking to him, until his Nana placed a hand on his shoulder, making Finn jump with fright.

“What are you thinking about so hard that you didn’t hear us speaking grandson?” his Nana said to Finn, and he blinked a couple of times, before he realised that he was been spoken too, “I’m sorry Nana, I had to see Mrs Granby today, and I’m not sure what to make of what I discovered last week” Finn said, and he began to explain to his grandparents of the discovery of a boy in Scotland who is very music talented, is the same age as him, and also looks identically the same as well.

Finn said that he had sent an email to the school in Glasgow, hoping to maybe chat on Skype to try and work out why he and the Finn looked identical. By the time, Finn had finished explaining everything, they had arrived at the family home, and Finn sat at the dining table to start on his homework like he always does. After about half an hour, Finn stopped what he was doing, and looked at his grandmother, who was busy in the kitchen. “Nana, Mrs Granby said I could get this other boy’s email address if I received permission from Dad, could we not tell him and I get permission from you instead?” Finn asked in a serious tone.

“I’m not sure about that, let me discuss it with your Pop, and we will let you know” Finn’s Nana replied, and Finn returned to doing his school homework. When Kyle came to collect his son after dinner, a little later than usual, he asked his parents if they could have Finn overnight, and take him to school in the morning, as he has to travel to Christchurch for an important meeting, first thing in the morning. Finn was pleased to be able to stay overnight at his grandparent’s home, after they had agreed to it, and Kyle retrieved the overnight bag, that he had packed for Finn, including a fresh school uniform.

The next morning, as they Finn and his grandparents arrived at the school, Finn was asked to take them to the administration office, and ask for his music teacher, who arrived a short few minutes later. Finn introduced his grandparents to Mrs Granby, explaining that his father was out of town on business, and that his grandparents are his temporary guardians.

At that point, Nana took over the conversation, “Our grandson has explained everything about this talented music boy in Glasgow, Scotland, who looks identical to him, as we see no harm in the two boys communicating with each other” Nana said to Mrs Granby. “Very well, Mrs Tobiason, that is acceptable to me, I will get in contact with the music teacher in Glasgow, and set up conference call on Skype, for 7.30am our time, sometime this week, if you can get him to school that early” Mrs Granby announced, and Finn’s Nana said that they would be able to do that.

Soon after they arrived home from collecting Finn from school, the telephone rang at his grandparent’s home, and Finn was the first into the house so he answered it. “Tobiason residence, Finn speaking” he said after picking up the receiver, “Hello Finn, it’s Mrs Granby speaking, may I speak to one of your grandparents please” came the caller’s response, and Finn’s Nana approached just as Finn said yes to the request, and he handed the phone over. When the call ended a few minutes later, Finn watched his Nana put away some groceries, before she stopped and smiled at her grandson.

“Tomorrow morning at 7.30am sharp” His Nana announced, “Woohoo” Finn shouted, before moving over to the dining room table to start on his homework. About half an hour later there was a telephone call from Kyle, asking his parents to have Finn stay over for another night, which they happily agreed to, and that they would go over to collect some overnight gear and a fresh uniform for Finn, after they had finished dinner.

The next morning Finn arrived at school at 7.20am, and after saying “Have a nice day to his grandparents, he raced to the administration office, where Mrs Granby was already waiting for him, and led Finn to the music room, where there was a large computer, with a small camera on top of it, and two chairs. As Finn sat down he watched as Mrs Granby logged into Skype, and clicked on a contact, “Hutcheson’s Music Dept”, and moments later a lady’s face came onto the screen.

“Good evening to you, I am Mrs Granby from Scots College, Wellington, New Zealand”, Finn’s teacher announced, “Good morning to you, I am Mrs Hammersley from Hutcheson’s Grammar School, Glasgow, Scotland, it’s a pleasure to meet you, and I can hardly believe my eyes, you look exactly like my student Felix” the Scottish teacher announced as she motioned someone to approach, and Felix came into view on the screen, and both boys had their mouths wide open in disbelief.

“Close your mouths boys, before you swallow a fly” Mrs Granby said to Finn and Felix, and both snapped their mouths closed, which made Mrs Hammersley laugh, before she spoke, “We are in our music room, I thought you might like to hear Felix play a little bit of the bagpipes and the piano” Mrs Hammersley announced, “Wow that’s amazing” Finn said suddenly. Nodding her head, Mrs Granby said that Finn also plays both instruments, but he is still learning to master the bagpipes.

Once each of the boys had given a small recital, showing that they were pretty much equally talented, they sat down at the table, “Mrs Granby, can you tell me a little about Finn’s family situation?’ the Scottish teacher asked, “Yes, Finn lives with his father – an administration manager for an accounting firm here in Wellington, most days his father drops him off at school, and his paternal grandparents collect him at the end of the school day, I believe that his parents separated and divorced when Finn was very young, as his mother was unable to care for him, so his father and grandparents have brought him up, and this is his second year of attending Scots College” Mrs Granby replied.

“I see, Felix is the oldest of three children, his mother is a member of a symphony orchestra, and his father is a cardiologist at a local private hospital, apart from music, Felix plays field hockey, soccer and tennis, and this is Felix’s fourth year at Hutcheson’s” Mrs Hammersley replied, “It appears that it must be pure luck, that the boys have the identical looks, and same interests. Finn also plays field hockey and tennis, plus athletics when not practicing the piano and bagpipes” Mrs Granby said with a smile.

After allowing the boys to chat by themselves, and exchanging Skype contact details, the conference call ended, and Finn was instructed to make his way to his locker to prepare for the school day, feeling happy that he had managed to speak to the boy on the other side of the world, who looks just like him. The boys had decided to contact each other once a week, at 8am Saturday morning New Zealand time, which was Friday evening in Scotland, which was only two days away.

As luck would have it, Kyle was away on business again, so Finn stayed at his grandparent’s place on Friday night, and he set his watch alarm for 7.45am the next day, so as to speak to Felix in Scotland, and when the time arrived, Finn logged onto Skype, and added Felix’s contact email address, as a new friend contact, and immediately Felix came online, and the camera screens turned on. “Hi lad, how are things in wee New Zealand” Felix said with a smile, “Not bad thanks mate” Finn replied with a chuckle, and they chatted for a good half an hour before saying goodbye, till they chat again next weekend.

When his grandparents appeared for breakfast, Finn happily chatted about his first long chat with his Scottish friend, saying that it felt like they had known each other all of their lives. Finn did not see his grandparents glance at each other, knowing a lot more than what they have said to their grandson, if he had, he may have picked up that there was a lot more truth about Finn and Felix, that they are indeed twin brothers, separated when their parents went their separate ways.

For almost two years, Finn and Felix chatted every week, Felix had managed to get his father to sign a school excursion form on two pages, of which one of the pages was a permission form to communicate by skype to another talented music boy in New Zealand, so it was only Finn’s Grandparents, and the two boy’s music teachers who knew about the arrangement. At the start of the school year, as Finn entered year 8, he was surprised to learn that his former music teacher had moved to a different school, so he would be getting a new music teacher, who didn’t know about this connection with a talented student in Glasgow, Scotland.

Approaching their twelfth birthday, it was a few days after the new year, when they spoke for the first time this year, that Felix and Finn learnt that not only did they look identical, and are the same age, but they also share the same birthdate. Both boys decided that they would try and locate their birth certificates to try an learn some more about where they were both born, even though, Felix was fairly certain that he was born in Edinburgh, as his mother told him once that he and his younger brothers, were born in the same hospital in Edinburgh.

After a few weeks of searching, both boys had managed to find out the information they were seeking, and both boys were surprised to find out some surprising news. When they connected for their weekly chat in early February, at the end of Finn’s first week of a new school year, he announced to Felix, that his birth certificate stated that his mother was a Mrs Christina Tobiason, and that he was born at the Simpson Memorial Maternity Hospital. Felix said that his mother is Christina Murchison, and that his father is a Mr Kyle Tobiason, and that he too was born at the Simpson, Memorial Maternity Hospital.

There was some silence for a little while as both boys let the two lots of information sink in, “Does it say what your mother’s maiden name is?” Felix asked, and after a bit of searching of the photocopy that he made of his birth certificate, he found it, “Yes it says, nee Murchison” Finn replied, “Well that confirms it, we must be twin brothers” Felix announced, a little shocked at this revelation, Finn eventually said “yes it must be true”.

“Yes, you are both right, you are twin brothers, born in Edinburgh, when you were two years old, the marriage was failing, and your father lost his job, and had to return to New Zealand, it was decided that your parents would have a son each, to bring up” Finn’s Nana announced as she appeared in the dining room, having overheard the last few minutes of the boy’s conversation. “Felix, this is your other grandmother, I call her Nana” Finn said making the introduction, as she stood behind Finn’s chair, and bent down to look at the screen of her other grandson.

“Hello Felix, it is wonderful to finally meet you after all these years” she said with tears in her eyes, “Hello Nana, it’s nice to meet you too” Felix replied, and moments later their grandfather walked in and he too was introduced to his distant grandson. “Boys, your father, that is your real father – Kyle, doesn’t know that you boys have been keeping in touch these last two years, your Pop and I decided, that you boys should get to know each other” their Nana announce, and Felix dropped his head down and stared at his lap for a few moments.

“Actually, Mum and Dad, don’t know about this at all, I tricked Dad into signing a school excursion permission form twice, of which one was really the permission to make skype contact with Finn in New Zealand” Felix admitted to his brother and grandparents. “So only your music teacher knows then?” Finn asked his brother, “She left the school at the end of last term, so now one at school knows, and none of the family knows” Felix announced, “I see, well may contact your other grandparents, and just let them know, so at least someone there knows what is going on” the boys grandfather announced.

“Mum’s parents, Gran and Grandad, died last year, they were holidaying in Switzerland, and the cabin they were staying in was hit by an avalanche, they had died of exposure, by the time they were dug out and found” Felix announced, “I am sorry to hear that, Felix, leave it with us and we will make a decision soon about what to do, now it’s not long before you both turn twelve, are there any plans in place for this event?” the boy’s grandmother asked.

“No, but I did see a poster recently, about an international junior music camp, to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in April, maybe we can both get to attend, so we can spend some brother time together” Felix suggested. “I will look into it for Finn, and we will leave it up to you to see if you can get to go” the boy’s grandfather said, and after a little more chatting, they ended the call, as Felix had to go to bed.

As the weeks passed, school continued as usual, and when Finn mentioned to his music teacher about the international music camp that he had heard about, Finn was informed by the teacher that he had heard about this camp, and that he would enquire about Finn possibly attending the camp.

That evening, Finn announced to his father about this international music camp to be held in Kuala Lumpur, and that his teacher was looking into seeing if Finn can go, “I will speak to your grandparents to see if we can fund this trip for you” Kyle said to his son, happy to see that his son was getting involved in other activities. As the weeks passed, news finally came, that Finn had been accepted to attend the international music camp, and the following day, on his weekly chat with his twin brother, Finn learnt that Felix had also been accepted to attend, and they started putting together a plan to pretend that on arrival at the camp, they would pretend that they don’t know each other.

Felix and Finn had the same style of clothes that they wore, even down to underwear, which they both though was hilarious, and with the camp being at the start of the last week of school term, Finn would be missing the last week, and the Friday before as well, as that was the day he needed to travel from Wellington to Sydney, along with one other New Zealander - Jason, to connect up with the Australian students, and flying to Kuala Lumpur early the next day.

As promised, Finn text his father and grandparents to let them know that he had safely arrived at each location, and when they arrived in Kuala Lumpur in the early Saturday afternoon, he was starting to feel nervous about meeting his twin brother for the first time in ten years. Felix would be arriving four hours later from the UK, and so Finn had to carry on with his fellow NZ and Aussie travellers, to their accommodation.

Finn discovered that there are four beds per room, and a bathroom to share with the adjoining bedroom, and he found on the door, his name and the name of the other three that he was sharing with; F. Tobiason – NZ, J. Anorak – NZ, J. Hamasaki – Japan, F. McDonald – Scotland. Finn couldn’t believe it, he would be sharing a bedroom with his twin brother, what pure luck that was. Jason and Finn soon were unpacked, and they decided to go and explore the school campus, which was the location of the music camp.

The found a camp liaison member, at the entrance of their accommodation building, “Can we go and look around, we promise to stay close by”, they asked her and she asked that they make sure they return to the building by 5pm, which was just over 3 hours away. Once the boys had explored most of the campus grounds, they returned to their accommodation building, where they found their Japanese room-mate had arrived.

The boys learnt that Juno Hamasaki was a year older than them, and he plays the flute and clarinet, and they chatted as Juno unpacked his luggage and settled on his bed, while Jason and Finn sat on the vacant bed next to Finn’s, and they got to know each other. When there was a knock on the door and another guy entered, Finn knew exactly who it was, but to keep guise, “Holy crap dude, you look just like me” Finn said sounding shocked and surprised.

Felix chuckled, “eh, and you look just like me lad” he replied, over emphasising his Scottish accent, as the twins shook hands before meeting his other two room-mates. Just as Felix started to unpack, a click sound came from the passageway. “All music campers, please meet in the downstairs common room, right away, that is all” the announcement said, and the four boys joined the others, heading down the passageway and down the stairs.

There was a total of 64 boys in the crowded common room, and 8 staff members scattered around the room, and for the next twenty-five minutes, the boys were briefed on the rules for the 8-day camp. The boys learnt that there is a group of 48 girls in a neighbouring accommodation building, which is off limits to all male campers.

Each staff member was responsible for two bedrooms and eight campers, and they we split into those eight groups, where their group leader went through the camp timetable. During this briefing, the group leader questioned the boys about how they could not be twins, and the twins laughed saying they live at opposite ends of earth, and have different parents, and that this was the first time that they had met.

Later that evening, as Jason and Juno drifted off to sleep, the twins chatted late into the night, and it was during this time, that a plan was born, which would be developed through the next seven days of the camp. During their spare time, Finn and Felix met secretly and worked on their plan, keeping the details to themselves for as long as they can.

The first full day of camp, saw each camper was placed in their instrument classification, of which the twins and two Scottish girls who were also bagpipe players, formed a sub group within the wood or wind instruments, and they practiced a number of music pieces for two hours twice a day, as well as learning to write small music scores, which most of the music students found a little difficult.