It was the longest the twins had ever been apart in their lives.
The spring of their third year in college, they like so many other students chose to study abroad. Murphy was chosen to go on a prestigious rural public health program in Costa Rica, while Connor was accepted as the only student in the university to participate in an intercollegiate program near Manaus, Brazil studying environmental engineering and ecosystem ecology along the Amazon River. Murphy's Spanish was flawless as was Connor's Portuguese. The brothers took advantage of other language courses offered at the university, having long since exhausted their courses in secondary school of Spanish, French, German, Ancient Greek and Latin. Since there were few people interested in practicing their skills with them, they always took the courses together. Chinese and Russian were their new languages. Connor said the US was outspending the Russians in the arms race and the Soviet Union would fall apart in a matter of a few years. And he for one wanted to travel there, not only just to see its natural beauty, but he also believed much of the drilling and pollution in the Barents Sea was affecting the Irish coast and he truly believed that in his lifetime there would be opportunities for remediation efforts. He was always happy to extrapolate on this subject to anyone who would listen. Never to be outdone, Murphy was going to learn Russian too and up the ante by taking Chinese, which Connor naturally squeezed into his schedule.
Connor had learned Portuguese on tape. He said it was a watered down version of Latin, like just about everything else. Murphy was happy to practice Spanish with Leah. She would be on a program in Chile studying what else but plants.
Murphy was going to fly down to see Connor over their Spring Break. Ma had told them that the money was there for them to get an education and how often would her boys get to explore the Amazon Rain Forest. They had scholarships for tuition and living expenses for college but Ma always was coming up with money for other things, the source of which both boys had learned not to question at an early age. Rough and tumble Ma, so full of secrets, and so insistent that they get the very best education and be the very best students. Make me proud, boys.
The postal service between Chile and Brazil was slower than Connor would have liked but he got a letter from her every three days on average. Of course, they had been mailed a week and half before but he was just glad to see her familiar handwriting on the air mail envelopes and to read the long letters filled with descriptions and sketches of a landscape he could not wait to see once the semester ended and he made the journey to Santiago, from which they would travel Chile and then finally to Machu Pichu. They would have a month to travel.
He loved what he was doing in the Amazon. The exposure to means of pollutant remediation projects, the abject horrors of slash and burn agriculture and its long term damage to the ecosystem and clear examples of habitat fragmentation and its disastrous consequences on the long term health of the environment was an invaluable educational experience and inspiration for what he knew he would make his life's work. He was finally able to show Murphy what he was talking about but could never make him understand as they walked along the coast at home and Connor would point out how things kept changing since they were kids and sea life was dying because of the industrial activity in England and its pollution.
Murph seemed amazed by the enormity of the Amazon, the juxtaposition of its untouched areas and the places that had been ravaged by the corporations, the bastards. Murph seemed more committed than ever to his goal of healthcare for those in need. He talked of the poverty he had seen. The doctor in charge of his program had asked him to go with her to India for six weeks following the semester. He had committed to the trip. He was trying to learn Hindi at night from a Spanish to Hindi text. Murph seemed happy, peaceful. His dark hair was getting long. Ma would have a fit. Connor was certain girls would have a fit of a different sort.
"Leah's sent me a couple letters." Murph told him cheerfully, as they drank mate' at a small café near Connor's dorm.
"Aye." Connor answered.
"Miss her?"
"What do ya think, ya daft bastard?" he asked his brother good-naturedly.
"Just a couple more months, Connor. Then you'll be with her."
"Counting the days. I'm not saying that I don't love it here. But I'd give it up in a heartbeat to be with her. And when I wake up in the morning and then you're not here—"
"Fuckin weird, isn't it?" Murph nodded. "Threw a shoe at Lance, my roommate, one morning. I was half asleep and forgot it wasn't ye snoring. No resemblance to ya at all, all red hair and blubber."
"A ginger, eh?"
"Aye, smells of pee."
Connor grinned at his brother and they shared at hearty laugh at the age old joke about gingers that no one in the US knew. No matter how pissed they were at each other once they arrived in America, one of them would spot a redhead and gesture the other's attention to the unknowing person and the other would surreptitiously pinch his nose. Then they would be practically falling over each other laughing.
"Glad you're here, Murph. Ma's gonna kill ya if ya go home with your hair that long."