The Fahrenheit Twins Read Online Free PDF

face every day for five years. He asked for a blade and some soapy water. Their eyes met. Only a couple of days ago, she and a burly porter had had to restrain him when a Christmas singalong provoked him to a frenzy. The memory of his feral strength was fresh in her mind.
    ‘Thank you,’ he said, when she brought him the razor.
    He was disturbed by what had happened to his face. It was very much older in one way, with hard, rubbery folds and wrinkles, and whitish-grey hairs amongst his usual black stubble. But it was obscenely young as well, like the face of a chimpanzee infant. Shaving the stubble off it didn’t seem to make much difference.
    The nurse watched him as he struggled to carve out something familiar.
    ‘Your wife …’ she began.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Your wife is coming today. It’s her visiting day.’
    He thought this over for a second; suddenly remembered his wife very well.
    ‘I suppose you’ve rung and told her the news?’ he said.
    ‘I’m afraid not,’ replied the nurse. ‘We tried to, but there was no answer. She’s got a surprise coming, hasn’t she?’ She snorted, then blushed and left abruptly.
    Andy’s wife arrived after lunch, when the nursing home was at its busiest. She was at his bedside before any of the staff noticed her.
    ‘Hello Andy-boy,’ she said as she sat down on the end of his bed. Yanking her shoulderbag onto her lap, she rummaged in it. ‘Brought you some donuts. And a can of soft drink.’ She reached past him and put the treats on the bedside cabinet. She ruffled his hair, squinting and pouting.
    ‘How’ve you been behaving, eh Andy? Not causing the nurses too much bother? Not being a naughty boy at breakfast? Mustn’t be a naughty boy at breakfast, Andy.’
    She seemed quite content, steaming ahead without really noticing him, like a primary school inspector breezing through a class of cheerfully preoccupied children. It seemed a shame to tell her the truth, but as a nurse was running towards them he thought he’d better get in first.
    ‘I’m all right now, Brom,’ he said quietly.
    ‘Uh … yes,’ panted the nurse, squeaking to a stop on the polished linoleum.
    Andy’s wife didn’t speak, only looked from the nurse to Andy and back to the nurse.
    ‘I mean,’ said the nurse, ‘we’ve called in the specialist, and the test results aren’t in yet, but …’ She flashed a goofy grin and gestured towards Andy, as if to say see for yourself .
    Andy’s wife smiled too, a grin of infinite foolishness and shock, as if she were the victim of a surprise birthday party on the wrong day.
    ‘Really?’ she said.
    It was her husband, rather than the nurse, who answered now.
    ‘Really,’ he said.
    ‘How wonderful, darling,’ said Andy’s wife. She reached across the bed and embraced him awkwardly, like a member of the Royal Family embracing a deformed child.
    There followed an excruciating silence.
    ‘Well,’ said the nurse, feeling herself being sucked into its vortex, ‘I expect this will take a bit of getting used to. On both sides.’ Counselling over, she walked off to do a bit of nursing, which was what she was paid for, after all.
    The embrace broke. Andy and his wife settled back into their previous positions like pool players after a shot. Bromwyn stared straight ahead of her, at the narrow corridor at the far end of the ward.
    ‘I’m sorry if I don’t seem delighted, Andy,’ she began.
    ‘Have you been calling me Andy these past few years, Brom?’ asked Andrew, who didn’t like to be called Andy.
    ‘Sorry. Yes. Sorry,’ said Bromwyn, who didn’t mind being called Brom.
    He stayed in the nursing home for another two days, reading Reader’s Digests , chatting to astounded medical experts. Every capability he’d ever had seemed to have come back to him. When the time came for him to go home, however, he was advised, for no explicit reason, not to do the driving.
    After some embarrassing farewells and best wishes for the new year from the