The Book of Getting Even
Chapter One, pages 17—18

It's identicals who make strangers gawk and smile, expecting to be smiled back at on the curious assumption that, because they look confoundingly alike, identicals must themselves be amused by the fact. When what they're surely thinking is, Why can't people leave us alone?

"How many sets of identical twins in Shakespeare?" Marghie asked. "Zip. How many fraternals?"

Danny answered, "Shakespeare's lousy with them. Shakespeare's got —"

"One set, to be precise," Gabriel said, Shakespeare being his single enthusiasm in the so-called humanities, which he regarded by and large as a refuge for squishy minds. The real humanities were mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology, in that order.

Marghie reached under the heavy mane to give her neck air. "Are you sure?"

"Very," Gabriel said. "And by the way, there is in Shakespeare what must be a set of identicals — in Comedy of Errors. Unless Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse are identical the plot doesn't work."

"Go to the head of the class," Marghie said, "and tell us, while you're there, what that funny accent is."

"This is, I guess, the New Orleans accent. While we're on the subject, what's that funny accent you two have?"

"We come from Chicago," said Danny. "But have no accent."

"Like fun you don't."

"Tell us more about Comedy of Errors," implored Marghie. "We were riveted."

"It just happens to be something I wrote a paper on last year. At New Orleans Country Day."

"Where you paid attention," said Danny. Was he making fun? What was so bad about having paid attention? Evidently the jaded talk of seniors, wishing now to conceal the studiousness that had brought them this far. Their table manners were atrocious. Had wolves raised them? They certainly made no mention of any parent. But then neither did Gabriel, come to think of it, or anybody else. Such was the pleasure of being there: make-believing you owed nothing to those middle-aged, middle-class, two-bit players who called themselves your mom and dad. Parents were the very last topic to suggest itself. Wolves had raised the whole student body and that was that.