Hansel y Gretel Having pretty parents sucks. They’re irresponsible. They’re self-absorbed. They’re childlike while consistently worried about appearances. In the case of your parents, their good looks moved them both across the world. Your mother moved from Stockholm, father from Barcelona. Both to Los Angeles, where the pretty people go. Instead of getting famous, they had twins. You and your brother. A boy and a girl and you both get Spanish names. Family flew from everywhere to meet you two. Seeing how incompetent your parents are, your Spanish grandparents move to the United States. You grow up speaking Spanish to your Bapa (your twin had trouble saying Abuelo), cringing as you watch him put wriggling tentacles in his mouth. You like being Spanish. You and your twin do not look Spanish. You’re half Swedish after all. Despite your blonde hair, you do have an olive tone to your skin. You have your father’s eyes. You both walk like your father and have his sense of passiveness. In high school biology class, you robotically fill out a Punnett square. One for your eye color: 26 Images 2020
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Your mothers’ parents- blue and brown, your fathers’ parentsbrown and brown, your parentsblue and blue- makes your eyes blue. Then, you fill one out for your brother, your twin: Blue and brown, brown and brown, blue and blue- the probability of blue is 95%. Brown, 5%. His eyes are Hazel. They look dark, but in the light, they shine like emeralds flecked with gold. You try again, it still comes up wrong. You bring home the paper in frustration, you’re a perfectionist. You go over the square with your mother. She confirms- everyone’s eye color is correct, but why does your brothers not add up? Your mother dismisses it while looking at you with an emotion you cannot identify. You’re sixteen, angsty and ruthless. You angrily press further. “Porque?” Why? I don’t understand. She closes the door and cries while you quietly guess in Spanglish what she’s trying to tell you. You say it while she just nods, her hands covering her face. Overloaded with information, your gangly pale body makes more sense. In the distance, your mind reflects on how lucky you are that your twin is not in the same biology
