The Proverb Stories: No Man Can Serve Two Masters

Whether you would be interested to read my life story or not, I really don't know. I won't take you through my life from birth to present day, just the important bits. You see, I can divide my life into three periods, the first being the pre-Amy period, then the Amy period, and afterwards the post-Amy part. I am sure you will guess the most important part will indeed be the Amy period and the end of it, the why and how. It is an interesting tale, so bizarre that most people will say it couldn't be true, but it is the gospel truth!

Today I am a content grandfather, I am happy with loving people around me. The really good thing is, I have had good people around me all my life, even during the time when it seemed to fall apart. That may be a surprise for a lot of people, the cheating that took place was not malicious or done out of selfishness or greed, on the contrary.

To help you with the time line of events I will mention a couple historical facts. The Korean War ended in 1953, well it was a cease-fire then and in fact still is. In 1988, terrorists had placed a bomb on the PanAm flight 001 which led to a horrific crash at Lockerbie, Scotland. This was the beginning of the end of this airline, it went into bankruptcy in 1991. Another event, although not of an international dimension, was the opening of the Aquarium in the Mall of America in Minneapolis in 1996.

Looking back, I remember the fateful summer day about a year after the Aquarium was opened. I was running my own insurance agency, which after several busy years had been quite lucrative. I lived and still do, in Saint Paul, one of the twin cities. I attended a meeting in the morning, and had a couple of hours to spend before my next meeting. I chose to walk around the Mall of America as it was almost next door to the office I was visiting. I had never been to the Aquarium so I entered, paid my ticket, and started my tour. It was very impressive; people could walk between the tanks with exotic fish and sea life. The winding corridors took you past all the exhibits. I could see the crowd strolling in the opposite direction on the other side of the tanks. While I was watching a rather large shark, I had to look twice at a woman holding a little girl by the hand. The woman smiled at the child, pointed at a colorful fish in the tank away from me, looked at the man next to them, laughed and kissed him lightly on his lips. Stunned, I realized it was my wife and daughter with an unknown man. They seemed to be one happy family. She turned towards me, I am sure she recognized me because she whispered something to the man and they hurried towards the exit. The crowd was rather dense, there was no way for me to overtake them. When I got out, they were gone.

I was troubled. Did I see my wife and daughter? They were both their spitting images, it is too much to be mistaken identity I thought, but how was it possible? It was my wife's working week, she was supposed to be far away and not back before Monday noon.

The rest of the day went in a haze. I couldn't remember what I had done when I at last got home. My six-year-old girl came rushing towards me, delighted to see me. She hugged me and I lifted her up and asked, "What have you done today, dear Maggie?"

"Linda and I went to the swimming pool, I can swim at least ten breaststrokes now Daddy," she replied excitedly.

Linda, our Swedish au pair, smiled and told me that they spent the whole day in the park and used the pool. Maggie is learning to swim, she is making good progress.

It must indeed be a case of mistaken identity, I had seen the proverbial "doppelgänger" - two of them, was it really possible? Maggie and Linda could not be lying so convincingly, no way!

The rest of the week went quickly and Amy returned on Monday, around noon. I was at the office of course, but when I got home I had forgotten the strange incident at the Aquarium. As always, when she comes back the first night is an amorous evening of reuniting.

I met Amy while she was a stewardess on a PanAm flight. As many other male passengers most likely did, I was taken by this quick-witted and bubbly Korean girl. I asked her where she was based, which happened to be my town of residence. I asked for her telephone number saying I really would like to get to know her. One thing led to another, one year later we were married.

She was adopted as a baby by an American air force captain and his wife at the end of the Korean War. They brought her and a Korean nanny back to America, were she grew up, learning the Korean language and culture from her nanny. She was therefore bilingual. PanAm had use for her language skills; they put her on the Asian routes. Her time away from home was for several days at a time, but she had longer home time as a compensation, which I liked very much.

After a few of years in wedded bliss with a wonderful loving woman, PanAm was hit by the terrorist attack on Flight 001. She was home at the time, but her reaction was stronger than I expected. Onboard were good colleagues, but her crying was almost hysterical. When I got her calmed down, she explained that she should have been on that plane - she switched with another stewardess, called Mandy. Her remorse was immense, she told me she had to go to the family to try to comfort them. She stayed with them two days, came back more composed, and told me she would start flying again. Thinking back, I knew this was the turning incident in our life. You will later understand.

About two months after the horrible crash of flight PA 001, she came home and announced she had quit her job and would not fly anymore. Before I had time to ask what she intended to do, she said: "I was offered a job and I have accepted."

"Without discussing with me first?" I replied a little surprised.

"It was too good to refuse," she replied and continued, "I have accepted a job with a government agency using my Korean language skills. I have passed the security clearance and have been told not to discuss the job with anyone. It is not dangerous work, only not to be talked about. The pay is more than twice of what I earn as a stewardess and the free time is generous."

She smiled at me and gave me a kiss.

"Ok Amy, there must be a snag somewhere?"

"Not a big one Peter, I used to fly out for five to seven days at a time, on a very irregular schedule. This job will be very regular, I will share it with one other person on a 50/50 basis. One week on followed by one week off. This means that I will leave Monday morning and return next Monday before noon. I stay home until the next Monday for a new workweek. I will therefore be home twenty six weeks every year."

This has been her work schedule now for nearly nine years, only interrupted by the maternity leave after giving birth to our child six years ago. She must be good at her work, as she earns serious money.

That Saturday evening, we were sitting on the patio enjoying the late summer sun, she was curled up in my lap. We had opened a nice bottle Californian red wine, the atmosphere cozy, relaxed, and very intimate. Then I started to tell her about my visit to the Aquarium and seeing hers and Maggie's "doppelgänger". There was no doubt, she became tense, and I could feel her stiffen in my arms. She tried to smile it off and joke about it. She succeeded almost, but not completely. Then I knew, there was something I didn't know. I had to find out.

I usually drive Amy to the airport on Monday morning. On rare occasions, she has to take a taxi if I am away or have an early meeting. So, this morning I told her I had to leave early and she had to use a taxi. I kissed her goodbye, wished her a good week, and left. Not for work, but to the airport. There, I parked my car in the parking garage, went to the Enterprise counter, and rented an inconspicuous car. I was hidden behind a pillar when she arrived at the service entrance; she walked into the building as usual. Twenty minutes later, she came out again, with a different bag. She flagged a taxi, hopped in, and the taxi departed. I jumped into the rental and followed them, hoping for the best. The taxi ended up in the more affluent part of Longwood. Amy paid and walked up to a very nice house, the door opened and out came a Maggie clone who propelled herself into Amy's arms. In the open door, I could see a statuesque blond goddess laughing and wishing her back home, the au pair I presume. I was stunned, could she work here? No way, that could not be possible.

I drove slowly back to the airport, returned the rental, and took my car to the office. I asked my secretary to clear the day and told her to not transfer any telephones to my desk except from my wife. Then I started the search for the residents at the address where Amy had entered. I found out that the residents were Mandy and John Stevenson. After a while, I remembered that fateful day in 1988 when Amy had said she had switched flights with a stewardess called Mandy. She had gone to comfort them and stayed two days. What the hell happened afterwards? Did she live a double life? In that case, where did the money come from? Did her "husband" John pay her to stay one week at a time for compensating the loss of his wife? Too many questions, the only way to find out was to confront her.

I took a deep breath and called their home number, when the telephone picked up I heard, most likely the au pair saying, "The Stevenson's residence!"

"Could I speak to Mandy Stevenson please?"

"Who is asking, please?"

"Tell her it's Peter Wilson calling, she needs to speak to me."

After a few seconds she came to the phone and asked in a worried voice: "Peter, is anything wrong at home? Please say all is OK with Maggie."

"Yes Amy, all is good with her, no emergency."

"Why did you call then, you were not supposed to open the sealed envelope with this number unless it was a serious case I had to know about."

"I did not open the envelope Amy, I looked up the number in the directory, searching for the number to Mandy and John Stevenson, can you explain that Amy?"

There was a long pause, and then she said, "Peter I am sorry, yes I can explain, but not on the phone. Are you at the office?"

"Yes, I am."

"I can come to the office, but first I have to call John and ask him to join me. He doesn't know more than you, I must explain the story to both of you together, please."

"I have cleared my calendar for today. What happened this morning when I followed you from the airport has unnerved me to such an extent that work is out of the question. I will be here waiting for you."

"Thank you Peter, I'll call John, hopefully he can get away on a short notice and we can be there within a couple of hours."

I heard her voice was about to break, she had great difficulty getting her words out and before her phone disconnected I could hear her crying.

A little past noon she came to my office with the same man I had seen her with in the Aquarium.

She looked at me and said, "Peter, meet my husband John Stevenson." She kissed him lightly on the cheek, walked over to me and kissed me on the cheek, turned towards John and said, "John, please meet Amy Wilson and her husband Peter."

Both John and I were struck dumb with astonishment, but after a few seconds we said almost simultaneously, "Are you a bigamist?"

"No I am not, but I fully understand an explanation to both of you is required. It is a long and complicated story. Could we sit down at the conference table, both of you facing me, please?"

"Before I start my story, please know I love you both very much and I would like to continue and to be allowed to love both of you. I do understand this will be difficult, but please hear me out first and please do not interrupt me. It will be very emotional and difficult for me."

Peter looked at her and asked, "Please tell us, who are you?"

"I am Amy, wife of Peter and I am Mandy wife of John. For the duration of this story, this is what you have to believe. At the end I hope you will not ask that question again, can I continue without interruption please?"

John and I looked at each other, shook our heads as an affirmation and leaned back in our chairs with folded arms, nodding for her to continue.

"I have to start with the background. Just at the end of the Korean War, a young Korean woman gave birth to two girls, identical twins. Her husband had been killed at the front a few days before the cease-fire. She was poor with no family and therefore was unable to take care of them. She went to an orphanage and gave them away for adoption."

"An air force captain and his wife adopted one of them and called her Amy, the other was adopted by an army colonel and his wife. They called her Mandy. Neither of the families knew about each other and they did not know they got one of a pair of twins. Both girls were most cherished and loved by their adoptive parents. As fate would have it, one of the families settled in Saint Paul, the other in Minneapolis."

"Amy and Mandy lived all their years as children and teenagers very close to each other, but they never met. Both Amy and Mandy played sports, made good grades at school and strangely enough, both sets of parents hired a Korean nanny so the girl could learn her mother's tongue. After high school, one went a year to a Kibbutz in Israel and the other on a peace-corps exchange for a year in Africa. When they came back, both became airline stewardesses in PanAm. The first few years, one flew domestic routes, and the other flew to and from Europe."

"During those years, Amy met Peter, or more correctly he got interested in an air stewardess and asked for her telephone number. They married a year later. Mandy met John in London, he was very happy when he found out she was American. They also were married a year later."

At this stage of her explanation, she asked John and Peter if she should get Ruth, Peter's secretary, to make them coffee and go out for some Danish pastries. Both declined the Danish, but thought coffee would be a good idea.

That organized, she continued her story.

"Some time later, PanAm used their Korean language skills and put them on the Asian routes. We ended up both on the world circumnavigation route 001 and at last we met. We understood that we most likely were identical twins, after finding out we had the same birth date and place of birth. We bonded immediately and became best friends. Our first reaction was to involve you two, but after thinking about it for a while decided we would like to learn to know each other first. The next few months we were together at all possible moments without interfering with the job or you two. We told each other our stories, our family background and about our husbands. In other words, we learned all about each other."

"One day, Mandy called Amy and told her she had a flight and did not feel well. Amy offered to take the flight for her. We did not inform the company, we just switched identities and Amy did the tour as Mandy. Nobody was the wiser so we did switch flights from time to time. A few months later we talked about how we seemed to be able to fool everybody. Then we almost at the same time asked each other 'Can we fool our husbands?' Of course we had to try it out. There and then, we changed jackets with nametags, purses with passports, credit-cards, keys etc., took each other's bags and Amy took a taxi to Mandy's home and Mandy took a taxi to Amy's home. You two did not notice anything suspicious at all. Both of us experienced an intense erotic feeling when we kissed our sisters husband, we fell almost instantly in love."

At this point Amy/Mandy looked at us and said: "We did not expect that. I think you almost can guess what happened next, can't you?"

John looked at her and asked: "Does that mean you have slept with both of us for more than ten years?"

"Yes, one of us slept with you both for about two years, I almost eleven. You may now better understand my anguish Peter, on that fateful day in 1988 when the flight 001 was downed over Lockerbie? My sister and the wife of one of you were killed that day. Also Peter, accept that you that day did not know for sure who was home with you and who was on that plane."

"I felt my world collapse and you tried to calm me down and I hurt so much that I could not tell the truth. I told you about the switch and that I was supposed to be on that plane. I had to go to John and comfort him because he believed Mandy was on that plane. I stayed two days then told him I had to go back to work again, but only a short domestic tour."

"Peter you know don't you, I didn't go on a domestic tour, I came to you and stayed a few days before telling you I had to start flying again. The thing is, I didn't. I quit flying altogether and only went from one house to the other being a loving wife to two husbands. It was so hard, not the loving you bit, but the losing my sister bit. After a while, I had to go to a shrink to have therapy, I could not bare my soul to you regardless of how much I wanted to. The therapist gave me strong advice to come clean with you two, which I considered. Even the therapist did not know who I was, Amy or Mandy."

At this point she started to cry, it was no doubt strenuous for her when all her secrets were spilled out to us. It must have been very difficult to live a double life like she had done. It was a very natural reaction.

After awhile both John and I asked her: "Are you finished, can we start asking questions? We have so many."

"No, I'm not. There is a lot more to tell."

She looked at us, dried her tears and continued.

"Amy and Mandy bought together a raffle ticket on the National Lottery every month. A couple of weeks before the horrible accident they won the main price, a huge amount, which they agreed should be paid out to them over the period offered, 30 years. We were planning to invite you two to a classy dinner and tell you about it and us. Our two families would have been set for life. Then Lockerbie happened before we could make the arrangements."

"I know I should have told you who died in the crash and let the grieving husband have half of the proceeds and then be able to start a new life. There were no children involved. The problem for me was that I loved both of you. Having all that money made it possible for me to quit working and transferring the monthly sums equally to both households. I invented the government job and started to live with you both, one week with Peter and one week with John."

John and I looked at each other just shaking our heads saying; "This is pure madness, how could you?"

"I just told you, I loved you both, I could not let one of you go. I know it was very selfish, but I hoped to make you both equally happy. I did, didn't I? Have you not been happy with me?"

"Yes I have," both of us said. "But you had to know your double life at one point would come out into the open," I added.

"I know," she said, "I was certain the bubble would burst when I became pregnant, I did not expect that to happen. I knew I could not hide a pregnancy from one of you so I decided fate would have to play a role. I did not know who made me pregnant. At least I hoped one of you would stay with me. But later the doctor told me that I was expecting twins. You know I was a twin, so the chances for just that to happen to me, was quite big. So I fooled you both again."

John just shook his head, with a big sigh said: "You scheming woman, remembering what you did a bit more than six years ago, I can almost figure it out how you fooled us."

With a slanting smile she looked at both of us and continued: "The money which was transferred to your account was less than what was actually coming in. Funds had therefore accumulated in the bank so I had funds to arrange with a private clinic for the birth and the few weeks afterwards. I told them that I did not know who the father was, so I wanted you two visiting me on alternate days. They accepted my explanation, but they had problem understanding why you two only got to see one of the twins. In the end I had to tell the doctor some of the story to keep him on my side. I did not tell him the whole story, only enough to keep him happy. To be able to bring home one girl to each home I had to invent a story about the child's immune deficiency. We had to stay a prolonged period in the clinic to build the child's resistance to the environment up to normal. That was just an excuse to make it possible for the children to gain strength so I could leave them for short periods so I could alternate between the homes."