Cara and Cora

Two twin girls went running down the street. Both were never up to any good. If you see them together, beware, but if you see them apart, be very aware. Together, they were planning what to do next, but when Cara and Cora were apart, you knew they were out pulling some stunt on some unsuspecting soul.

Just last week, they took off with old man Winkle’s ladder while he was patching his roof. They left him up there all day and night till the mailman found him the following afternoon. And they tied fireworks to Nellie Engram’s cat’s tail just to watch it run about setting the countryside on fire.

This week, they’d poured Elmer’s glue into the candy jar at Gypsom’s Mercentile, ruining the candy and destroying the pot. Then they let all the chickens out of Mabel’s hen coop and the pigs out of the sty and chased them into the street. And it was only Wednesday morning, so the girls were just getting warmed up.

Luckily, they had been stopped from letting all the toddlers out of the Sunday School nursery room, where they had tried to lead each toddler to the balcony above the pulpit. Old Mother Albright caught them fixing to destroy the prize watermelon she grew for next month's fair.

These girls were mean and always doing things no child should do. Even their poor mama was at a wit's end regarding what could be done with them. Whipping them did no good. Grounding them was a joke.

One day, people noticed Cora running around, hollering for Cara. Cora looking for Cara set people on edge because they knew that the most mayhem was caused when they were apart. But no one was willing to help look for the other twin because no one cared for the monster.

By dinner time, both twins were missing; not even their mother cared. Now, she could concentrate on her other four kids, who never caused trouble or shame. The Reverend even preached to the congregation how important it was to love our neighbors, but then he explained how some neighbors couldn’t ever be saved or loved; the entire time he did, he was looking at the vacant pew the twins sat at.

The days they turned to weeks—the weeks to months. No one ever missed the twins. No one ever looked for the girls. The town became a typical village where no one ever worried about horrible pranks.