Читать книгу The Secret Life of the Two-Faced Virgin. Part 1 - Группа авторов - Страница 2

The arrival of every person into this world is a special act predetermined by fate. The country, the family, and the moment in which a new inhabitant of planet Earth is born determine their future destiny. Our heroine was fortunate to come into this world not alone, but together with her twin sister. Yet the very birth might not have happened, as the doctors persistently urged the mother of the future sisters to undergo an abortion, frightening her with claims that she had serious pregnancy complications, that she would be unable to carry the child to term, and that she would die during childbirth. Soviet medicine at that time did not know what ultrasound was, so the question of how many children would be born and of what sex remained a great mystery for expectant mothers in the USSR. Our heroine was born in a Soviet maternity hospital in the year when the Moon was conquered by the Apollo 11 lunar module, when the USSR experienced a military conflict with China, and when the first message was transmitted through the ARPANET network (the prototype of the Internet), in 1969. Her birthday, July 10, was also quite unusual, as it coincided with another anniversary of the adoption of the first Soviet Constitution of 1917, which established the dictatorship of the proletariat and nationalization. According to legend, on that same date in the year 1040, Lady Godiva rode naked through the city of Coventry on horseback in order to compel her husband to reduce the unbearable taxes imposed on the townspeople. If we trust numerology, the symbolic meaning of the birth number “10” signifies “the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, the first and the last.” Every Christian will easily recognize in these words the well-known sayings of John the Theologian in his work The Apocalypse.

Moreover, in the Old Testament chapters of the biblical books, the date written in calendar form as “the tenth day of the seventh month” (July 10) corresponds to one of the most significant Jewish holidays – the “Sabbath of rest,” or the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, when the name of God (Yahweh) was pronounced in the Temple only once a year. It is from this Jewish holiday that the expression “scapegoat” originates, as on this day two goats were offered in sacrifice: one was killed, and the other was released to die in the wilderness. Such is the “tenth day of the seventh month,” the day our heroine came into the world.

After being discharged from the maternity hospital, the sisters were reunited. It was at that moment that their shared life as twin sisters began – with identical toys, hairstyles, clothing, and shoes. However, their appearance was not identical, as our heroine was a head taller and larger than her sister, who was very small and fragile. Their resemblance was limited to their facial features, while their figures were completely different. So it was impossible to confuse them. Their personalities also differed. Natasha, as the older sister, possessed strong will and assertiveness, and she always protected her younger sister, who had a weaker character. The life of twins is a world of its own, with relationships unlike those of other children, when everything is shared between two – a room, toys, classmates, friends, and acquaintances. It also means sharing one birthday. For most people, this day belongs only to them – the gifts, the flowers, the attention. But twins, especially in childhood, are forced to divide this day with their “other half.” Moreover, gathering guests for two birthday children at once was also a problem, especially as they grew older, because guests had to spend money on two gifts instead of one. Therefore, with each passing year, bringing friends and acquaintances together for a celebration during the summer vacation season became a real challenge for Natasha and her sister.

According to scientists who have studied multiple pregnancies, communication between twins begins while they are still in their mother’s womb; in other words, they begin to acquire social and communication skills even before birth. And this is precisely the circumstance that may distinguish twins from other individuals and determine their future destiny. One confirmation of this may be an unusual habit of Natasha and her sister – they had two favorite dolls, both of which the sisters named the same: Lyo-nyechkas. The dolls had no hair; they were completely bald. When their parents bought them new dolls, Natasha and her sister still played with the old ones or plucked the hair from the new dolls. And they always played with both dolls at the same time, never with just one. Their parents could not understand what caused this twin-like habit. But in fact, each of the two bald dolls was, in a sense, a reminder of their interaction with the bald “little dolls” in their mother’s womb.

Yet why the twin sisters felt the need to interact not with one doll, but only with two, remains to this day a mystery still awaiting discovery. Although there is one possible explanation: in their mother’s womb, Natasha was not with just one sister, but with two. This fact may be the most significant explanation for Natasha’s behavior. As she grew older, Natasha learned that her mother had carried three, not two fetuses (infants). But that is another story, a secret yet to be uncovered.