One of Two

As Joy rifles through the last of the documents, her gaze falls on something she doesn't ever remember seeing.  It had been a long and arduous undertaking to go through all of her mother's belongings, and emotional as well.  She didn't recognize the paper in her hand immediately. Only after seeing her own name on it did it occur to her what it was. Joy Olivia Martin.   It hit her like a ton of bricks.  This was her Birth Certificate.  The one her mother had said was destroyed in a fire.  Her eyes scan it quickly, and it doesn't take long for her to notice one of the lines.  It indicated the place of birth, Chicago, (Joy had always believed she was born in New York.) her mother Elle. Her father, God rest his soul is not even named.  That doesn't surprise Joy though, her parents had a tenuous relationship at best.  Certificate of live birth, well yes of course.  Female, but that next line, one of two.  One of two.  What the hell did that mean?  A light goes off in her mind, One of two.  She is one of two!  She needs to go through the rest of these things again.  There has to be another birth certificate.  She has a sibling.  She has a twin!

After additional hours of hunting and searching, Joy finds the other birth certificate. It actually looks like a cheap copy and it is not in very good shape, but she can make out most of it.  The name on it is the thing she has the most trouble with.  Everything else makes sense.  Place of birth, Chicago..her mother's name Elle, Father not listed.  One of two.  Male, she has a brother.  A brother.  Elle loves him, even though she has no idea who he might be.  The name, only the first name is legible at all and she thinks it says 'Conn'  Joy has a brother named Conn and now she will not rest until she lays eyes on him.

Conn was strolling down Chicago’s main road, looking at all the abandonned buisness, thinking of ways he could turn them around and make profit off one of them. He threw his half finished cigarette on the ground, stomping on it as he walked towards the HQ. He had been forced to live if his own ever since his dad had been killed months ago. He didn’t know much about his father, as he had been killed a few weeks after his birth and Conn was rescued by a big colored man who went by the name of Chu. He didn’t know who his mother was, or if she even existed, but he knew he had a sister. His father had left a note mentionning her, letting him know he wasn’t alone out there. She went by the name of Joy.

He had searched Chicago, even into it’s darkest alleys and most dangerous brothels, without any success. She wasn’t in the wind city. He had read the letter over and over, desperately looking for a clue of some sort, but the only thing he could find was his father mentioning New York, he had gone there for a “business trip”. It was his only hope...

Joy returned from her trip to Chicago empty handed.   It had been a lovely trip, she caught up with old friends and had a wonderful time.  But ever since she discovered the fact that she had a brother, it was all that mattered to her.  She spent a good deal of her time in Chicago with an old dear friend of her mother.   She gave Joy a lot of information about her parents and their stormy romance.  Most of it was anecdotal and charming, but it did give her a place to begin anyway, and when she got back to New York she hired a private investigator to help her find Conn.  She gave him every bit of evidence that she had, and told him everything she knew.  Now all she could do was wait for his phone call.

Two long miserable days pass and he finally gets in touch with her.  After a brief conversation, she has an address in Chicago.  Her heart pounds wildly as she looks at it.  Joy doesn't know when she will return to Chicago, but when she does she will be paying a visit to her brother, Conn.

In the plane, Conn didn’t manage to sleep much. Instead, he wrapped his mind on how he could possibly find his sister with as little information as he had. All he knew was her name, he didn’t even know what she looked like...

He looked at Chu with his cutest look. His bodyguard, which went from family member to family member, stared back right at him and shook his head. He insisted on the fact that this was his personal journey, and he had to find her on his own.

They finally landed in New York, and Conn walked out the airport, hopeful, before getting swarmed by a sea of people. How was he supposed to find his sister amongst that many people? He fought back the tears, trying to think of a way he could possibly find her. He couldn’t quit now, he had to find her, she was the only family he still had. Then it clicked. His father always mentionend a pub he would go to, she had to love close to there...

He quickly found his way to the pub and immediatly started to knock on the doors next to it. After a couple of minutes of having the door slammed to his face, a woman answered, and she had some traits that could be found on his father.

”J... Joy?”

Joy answered the door and smiled at the young man, thinking at first he was a solicitor.  After taking more than a quick glance, she was sure she knew him from someplace, but she wasn't sure where.  He knew her name too, so she must know him after all.

Yes, I am Joy.  I'm afraid you have an unfair advantage, I don't believe I know your name.  Usually Joy is suspicious of strangers, but she feels very at ease and even steps to one side and motions for him to come inside from the cold.  The next thing she knows, he is holding her in his arms and sobbing.  Joy.  Joy.  Joy.  I've found you at last, my Joy.  Even though Joy had spent days looking for Conn and hundreds of hours going over  paperwork about her twin brother, it didn't yet occur to her that he might be looking for her, so with a very puzzled look on her face she began to speak.  I'm sorry sir, but I am not sure what is going on here. 

She smiles cautiously as she tilts her head and looks up at him.

Conn started to doubt the fact that she was indeed his twin sister, but he quickly shook that idea out of his mind. She had to be, she fitted every detail perfectly. 

“It’s me... Conn!” he said, between two sobs. He couldn’t believe it, he had found her at last. After many years of living alone with his bodyguard, thinking he’d never his sister, here he was, in her arms. “I’m your brother, we got separated at birth... did you know I existed?” 

It wasn’t an impossible thing, she could have no idea who he was. He warmly smiled at her, incredibly happy to have found her. She was amazing, he could already tell... she had this positive and charming aura. He couldn’t be happier.

Conn's words pour over Joy like gentle rain on a sunparched field.  Her life seems to come together for fulfilling purpose in that moment.  Tears of gladness stream down her cheeks as she holds her brother at an arm's length to look at him.

Yes, I did know about you.  I didn't find out that long ago, it was when I was going through documents after our mother's death.  I found our birth certificates.  Until then, I had no idea that you even exsisted.  There is a striking family resemblence about you.  I can't quite place it, but you seem very very familiar.

As she looks at him smiling, she suddenly realizes what it was.  Her father had visited several times in her youth.  She didn't really know who he was, but he and her mother would always retreat to another room to argue and Joy would eavesdrop the best that she could.  Conn favored their father considerably, although Joy could see their mother in some of his features as well.  He was a handsome man for certain, and Joy could tell that she was going to love him with all of her heart.

Take off your coat and sit down, Conn!  Are you in town for awhile?  You can stay with me and we can get to know one another?  I want to know everything about you.  Every detail, don't hold anything back!

Words rush out of her mouth uncontrollably.  She feels a hunger to regain the past that they were denied of, to catch up on every detail of his childhood and also share her own.  She looks to him, to see if he is overwhelmed, but he seems content and at ease and Joy keeps talking and smiling and laughing with Conn.

Conn couldn’t do anything but smile and laugh, he still couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that he had finally found her! Oh what a wonderful day, he couldn't possibly think of anything better. He sat down next to his sister and answered her questions.

”I’ll be in town for a few so we’ll have time to catch up and figure out some things to do, if you want to!” he offered, wanting to spend as much time as possible with Joy. He made himself even more comfortable by leaning into the soft and bouncy coussin behind him, and started to fill her second request, his backstory.

“I don’t remember much about my young years, I simply recall they where very agitated. We lived inside a very big house with a bunch other fellows, some looked shady but others seemed very respectable. My father would often leave on buisness trips around the country and come back a day later. Then he left for Detroit and promised he would come back soon to get me, but he never came back, he was killed. I hid myself in the back of an alleyway, in Chicago, hoping for something good to happen, and it did. My father’s main bodyguard, Chu, found me and took me under his wing, giving me shelter, food and showing me how to use a gun. But the black bodyguard couldn’t keep up with my young boy appetite, and soon, I had to resort to crimes in order to bring food to our table. It started as little pickpockets and purses, but it quickly grew bigger and we would rob shops together. That’s how my name was brought up by the police and my boss Ligambi saw something in me.”

He sat there for a while, letting his story sink in. Moments later, he turned to her and waited for her to tell her story.

Joy looks thoughtfully over at her amazing brother.  She thinks back to her childhood.  Dad running in and out of her life for brief moments. Mother always fretting about where money for the next meal or next month's rent would come from.  Shady looking characters frequenting their home.  Joy had to learn young how to land on her feet.  She also had to learn how to fend off idiots, and even though Joy looks cute and innocent there is a dark side to her that no one will ever want to see.  She thinks about hiding it from Conn, but she decides to tell him about her young life and how she grew up to be able to take care of herself.

Conn, I know you may not think much of me after I tell you this, but I too have had to go outside the law to make ends meet.  As a matter of fact I have done my fair share of 'con' games and also held up a jewelry store or two.  So far I have never had to kill anyone, but I think I could if I had to.

She looks up at him to see if he is shocked, but he is just smiling at her and nodding.  She hasn't scared him off yet, and Joy knows if anyone can understand the family business in her blood it is her twin brother.  She finally has someone she can share everything with, and someone who won't judge her for her  unlawful deeds.

Conn looked at his sister, totally in awe. She was incredibly strong and had an iron will that couldn’t break. Growing up without someone to take care of her must’ve been rough, no wonder she was so kind and empathetic, she probably didn’t want the same to happen to her friends. She was, simply put, amazing.

”So...” he started, a glimmer of light in his eyes. “I heard many great things about the big apple, mind if we go take a look together?”

I think that would be a lot of fun, Conn!  I would love to take you around town and show you everything!  I am so happy you found me, I feel like we have so much to catch up on, yet I feel like I have known you forever.

Joy is overcome with emotion, and tears up slightly as she takes her brother's arm and they walk down the sidewalk to hail a cab.