Everything changed for Amy Clear on one day.
On a Friday night in May, 2011, eleven-year-old Amy turned off her SpongeBob SquarePants alarm clock and went to sleep.
On Saturday morning it was fifty-five-year-old Paul who woke up in her room, in her bed, in her body, specifically in her head.
Amy was there. She was hoping her long-time dream of waking up as a superhero, or at least as someone different, had finally come true.
And, as only an innocent child can do, she reached out to the angry and ugly Paul. She helped him through his disasters: his old body dead, and his wife remarried. His anger made it a difficult time for Amy, but through it all she surprised and heartened her troubled parents by insisting she didn't have to like Paul to hope he would be happy (Amy's mother responded, "You don't?" and Amy countered, "Do you?"). She was sure that once he became happy he would be nice to her -- and they would become friends.
Her parents feared for their daughter's mental health, and dragged her to two different psychiatrists as well as to the family pediatrician. Interviews, MRIs, CAT scans, EEGs. Everyone knew, of course, that something had to be wrong because grown men don't turn up in little girl's heads.
Doctor Lazlo Gortner, staff shrink mit der fake German accent, immediately decided Paul was real, sharing Amy's head. How else would Paul know what Gortner had hidden for two decades, an unfortunate incident (ironically in Paul's home town in West Virginia) involving a dead patient and the lack of a medical license. But Gortner was well known for saying personality transfers were ze wafe of ze future, so his diagnosis didn't carry much weight -- at first. But his research of what Paul told him of his life showed that there had indeed been a Paul Owens.
Even before she thought she might get to like him, Amy knew Paul was real. His pain over losing his wife, and then his body, were real to her, even though the feelings were not hers. She was clever enough to realize that Paul could not harm her despite his threats; it did not take her long to learn to control Paul. Even if he did get her kicked out of fifth grade at St. Giles Academy.
Kid sister Kaylee was the next to accept Paul as real. Perhaps at the age of eight she wasn't able to distinguish between reality and fantasy the way the adults could, or maybe it was just her adoration of her big sister that made her excited to welcome Paul.
Surgeon father James quoted Sherlock Holmes to his wife and was banished to the living room sofa for his troubles. "Once you have ruled out the impossible, whatever remains -- no matter how improbable -- must be the truth." By watching Paul as he attempted to reconnect to friends from his old life and to his sister, James concluded that Paul had to be real. His wife continued to insists "Our Amy is not crazy," with which he wholeheartedly agreed; but she wasn't willing to take the next mental step and accept Paul's reality.
That is, until the day Amy came home with a torn school blazer. Paul had intervened when a school bully threatened Amy after the bus ride home. Amy and Paul each explained part of the story to Tracey, that Erica McCrory had tormented Amy for years, that Paul-in-Amy had stood up to her, and that Erica would not likely bother Amy again. Oh hearing the whole tale, Tracey embraced her daughter and whispered, "Thank you, Paul."
Along the way Amy acts out a crush on the son of a family friend, part of Amy's efforts to become "a big girl."
There's the hypnotic regression ("hypnothingy") where Paul remembers the event in his old body that left him in a coma and led to his death. There's the bribe to get Paul (by way of Amy, led of course by James) access to police mug files where he identifies the thugs who harmed him. And there's the denouement, where Paul confronts the killer and brings him to justice.
Purchase paperback or kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Different-Kind-Twin-Amy-Paul/dp/0991529103/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
On a Friday night in May, 2011, eleven-year-old Amy turned off her SpongeBob SquarePants alarm clock and went to sleep.
On Saturday morning it was fifty-five-year-old Paul who woke up in her room, in her bed, in her body, specifically in her head.
Amy was there. She was hoping her long-time dream of waking up as a superhero, or at least as someone different, had finally come true.
And, as only an innocent child can do, she reached out to the angry and ugly Paul. She helped him through his disasters: his old body dead, and his wife remarried. His anger made it a difficult time for Amy, but through it all she surprised and heartened her troubled parents by insisting she didn't have to like Paul to hope he would be happy (Amy's mother responded, "You don't?" and Amy countered, "Do you?"). She was sure that once he became happy he would be nice to her -- and they would become friends.
Her parents feared for their daughter's mental health, and dragged her to two different psychiatrists as well as to the family pediatrician. Interviews, MRIs, CAT scans, EEGs. Everyone knew, of course, that something had to be wrong because grown men don't turn up in little girl's heads.
Doctor Lazlo Gortner, staff shrink mit der fake German accent, immediately decided Paul was real, sharing Amy's head. How else would Paul know what Gortner had hidden for two decades, an unfortunate incident (ironically in Paul's home town in West Virginia) involving a dead patient and the lack of a medical license. But Gortner was well known for saying personality transfers were ze wafe of ze future, so his diagnosis didn't carry much weight -- at first. But his research of what Paul told him of his life showed that there had indeed been a Paul Owens.
Even before she thought she might get to like him, Amy knew Paul was real. His pain over losing his wife, and then his body, were real to her, even though the feelings were not hers. She was clever enough to realize that Paul could not harm her despite his threats; it did not take her long to learn to control Paul. Even if he did get her kicked out of fifth grade at St. Giles Academy.
Kid sister Kaylee was the next to accept Paul as real. Perhaps at the age of eight she wasn't able to distinguish between reality and fantasy the way the adults could, or maybe it was just her adoration of her big sister that made her excited to welcome Paul.
Surgeon father James quoted Sherlock Holmes to his wife and was banished to the living room sofa for his troubles. "Once you have ruled out the impossible, whatever remains -- no matter how improbable -- must be the truth." By watching Paul as he attempted to reconnect to friends from his old life and to his sister, James concluded that Paul had to be real. His wife continued to insists "Our Amy is not crazy," with which he wholeheartedly agreed; but she wasn't willing to take the next mental step and accept Paul's reality.
That is, until the day Amy came home with a torn school blazer. Paul had intervened when a school bully threatened Amy after the bus ride home. Amy and Paul each explained part of the story to Tracey, that Erica McCrory had tormented Amy for years, that Paul-in-Amy had stood up to her, and that Erica would not likely bother Amy again. Oh hearing the whole tale, Tracey embraced her daughter and whispered, "Thank you, Paul."
Along the way Amy acts out a crush on the son of a family friend, part of Amy's efforts to become "a big girl."
There's the hypnotic regression ("hypnothingy") where Paul remembers the event in his old body that left him in a coma and led to his death. There's the bribe to get Paul (by way of Amy, led of course by James) access to police mug files where he identifies the thugs who harmed him. And there's the denouement, where Paul confronts the killer and brings him to justice.
Purchase paperback or kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Different-Kind-Twin-Amy-Paul/dp/0991529103/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
In
Atlanta, Georgia, you can find the Amy & Paul Saga books at Tall Tales Book
Store in the Toco Hill Shopping Center, at 2105 LaVista Rd. #108, zip 30329;
their website is http://www.talltalesatlanta.com.
Call Rebekah or any of her crew at (404) 636-2498.
In Shelburne, Vermont, ask for the Amy & Paul Saga books at The Flying Pig Bookstore, 5247 Shelburne Road, zip 05482. They are on the web at http://flyingpigbooks.com, or you can talk to Josie or Elizabeth or Darrilyn or Sandy or David or Laura at (802) 985-3999.
In Shelburne, Vermont, ask for the Amy & Paul Saga books at The Flying Pig Bookstore, 5247 Shelburne Road, zip 05482. They are on the web at http://flyingpigbooks.com, or you can talk to Josie or Elizabeth or Darrilyn or Sandy or David or Laura at (802) 985-3999.