[ti:Tragic Events Part II]
[ar:Evelyn Evelyn]
[al:Evelyn Evelyn]
[00:01.63]Are you crying, Evelyn?
[00:03.15]No... no... Yes. I was just thinking about Sandy.
[00:08.01]And about Bimba and Kimba. I miss them, Evelyn.
[00:11.84]I know, I miss them too.
[00:14.74]Especially this time of year, Evelyn.
[00:20.56]The year is 1991,
[00:22.76]Terminator 2 is the highest-grossing film at the Box Office,
[00:26.93]the first Super Nintendo Entertainment System has just been released
[00:30.85]and after 70 years of Communist rule
[00:33.61]the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has collapsed.
[00:36.60]And on a chicken ranch just at side of Claxton, Georgia
[00:40.30]twin sisters are waiting for their supper.
[00:43.03]The farm is old and operated by Alfred McClock,
[00:46.53]an eccentric man with a fascination with Civil War weaponery.
[00:50.28]McClock's chicken farms produces over 140000 chickens a year
[00:54.81]and ships wings, thighs and legs all over the continental United States.
[00:59.33]Despite the modest success of his business,
[01:01.75]McClock leads a solitary life,
[01:03.83]never marrying and tending several of the chicken houses himself.
[01:08.20]A simple man with a not entirely bad heart.
[01:11.31]McClock never knew how to best take care of the young girls
[01:14.67]who came into his life shortly after their birth,
[01:17.11]so he raised them the only way he knew how -
[01:20.30]in a 2 foot by 2 foot wire mesh cage on a diet of mash,
[01:24.79]crumbles, pellets and egg booster.
[01:28.79]One clear September day during the twins sixth year at the farm
[01:32.88]McClock does not come at meal time.
[01:35.46]Night falls and still he doesn't appear.
[01:38.77]The girls and the chickens cry out from hunger.
[01:43.27]Days pass and the chickens in neighbouring cage begin to die.
[01:47.22]The smell of rotting poultry permeates the air of the hot, humid barn.
[01:52.37]Finally, desperate to find food
[01:55.27]and concerned over the whereabouts of their guardian,
[01:57.90]the twins break free from their cage.
[02:00.80]McClock's house is locked tight,
[02:03.24]but the girls find the garden hose which quenches their thirst.
[02:06.34]Still half delirious with hunger,
[02:08.67]they make their way out to the road.
[02:11.02]Little time passes before a dusty black
[02:13.64]cadillac Coupe de Ville drives by and pulls over.
[02:17.33]A tall, moustached young man with a kindly face steps out of the vehicle.
[02:22.12]He smiles at the girls, "Hello"
[02:23.97]And presents them with the first candy they had ever tasted -
[02:26.71]a Twix bar, which they share in silent, odd delight.
[02:32.77]The girls do not feel at all uncomfortable
[02:35.23]when the man lifts them gently into the dark, spacious trunk.
[02:42.50]In the following days the girls are transferred into the trunks
[02:44.38]or several other cars by many other kindly, candybar offering men
[02:50.61]until they reach their final destination at the lake side lodge in Manitoba.
[02:55.48]The underwood lodge is a collection of cosy, water front cabins
[02:59.70]with an attached trailor park along the shores of lake Winnipeg.
[03:03.24]It is also the world headquarters of Budding Flowers Entertainment
[03:07.92]specializing in the production and distribution of photographs
[03:11.44]and VHS tapes for clientele with unique tastes.
[03:15.14]The girls are welcomed by Mrs Deborah Bouldger,
[03:18.33]the 52-year-old proprietress
[03:20.22]"Well, hello, girls"
[03:22.24]A women of enormous proportions
[03:24.59]who lives with her own 3 children in the main lodge of the underwood.
[03:28.45]Upon finding that the girls have no names
[03:30.82]she christens them Eva and Lynn, names, which neither she,
[03:34.75]nor the twins themselves are ever able to keep straight"Eva, Lynn"
[03:39.90]The twins days of the underwood are relatively comfortable,
[03:43.00]they are well cared for, the food is delicious
[03:45.70]and there are many other girls their age
[03:48.06]Once a week, photo sessions take place,
[03:50.34]convivial affairs that involve make-up,
[03:53.14]a wide variety of dress up costumes and inventive new games.
[03:57.79]Every few days Mrs Bouldger introduces the girls to one of their many uncles
[04:02.77]"Eva, Lyn, say hello to your uncle Mark" "Heeey"
[04:07.50]These uncles, seemingly endless in number,
[04:10.00]travel from all over the world to visit their nieces
[04:13.72]The girls don't always like their new uncles,
[04:15.95]but Mrs Bouldger is always quick to remind them
[04:18.78]that ‘family is family’ and ‘blood is thicker than water’
[04:23.29]The conjoined sisters are not popular amongst the other girls,
[04:27.14]however, one gentle resident, a few years their senior
[04:30.96]befriends them and takes them under her wing.
[04:32.50]"Hello, what's your name?"
[04:33.88](Her name is Sandy)
[04:35.17]"I'm Sandy"
[04:36.09]She has soft, blond hair that reaches down to her knees
[04:39.93]Everyone says she looks like a mermaid
[04:42.57]Dressed daily by Mrs Bouldger
[04:44.06]in trade mark fishnet stockings and vintage attire,
[04:47.45]Sandy is by far the most popular girl of the underwood.
[04:50.61]She has so many uncles that the twins lose count
[04:53.87]Every night after dinner and chores,
[04:56.03]Sandy talks the young sisters into bed
[04:58.54]and tells them fantastic stories until they fall peacefully to sleep
[05:02.84]"And after the three long weeks at sea
[05:05.03]Jean Luke, the sailor finally spotted land"
[05:08.98]But these happy times do not last.
[05:12.18]Shortly after the twins' third Christmas
[05:14.67]under Mrs Bouldger's care,
[05:16.16]Sandy disappears - never to return
[05:20.64]The twins remain in the underwood
[05:23.58]for the greater part of two, long, miserable years.
[05:26.17]Without Sandy to protect them,
[05:27.99]they are ostracized and abused by the other girls
[05:31.03]"What are YOU looking at, 4-eyes?!"
[05:33.29]The photo sessions involve fewer fancy costumes
[05:35.89]and over time, their uncles become more peculiar
[05:39.47]"Did I ask you to talk?"
[05:40.96]The twins begin to notice the disturbing tendency
[05:43.63]for girls, much like their dear friend Sandy -
[05:46.56]they quietly disappear from the underwood around their 12th or 13th birthday.
[05:50.99]The sisters brace themselves for something terrible
[05:54.13]One autumn, when the girls are eleven,
[05:57.74]an old man, who speaks only Spanish,
[05:59.88]takes the twins into a large, orange van
[06:02.35]and drives them to their new home
[06:04.01]"Step right up, step right up, see amazing human oddities,
[06:07.44]freaks of nature, be warned, people with heart condition,
[06:10.86]children, women - we will accept no responsibility for fainting,
[06:14.66]reoccurring nightmares, or death"
[06:16.58]Dillard and Fullerton, elusive and illogical traveling
[06:19.76]show is the 12th largest touring circus in North America.
[06:23.31]Former insurance salesman,
[06:25.38]Dillard and Fullerton, distinguish their enterprise
[06:27.96]by procuring the most procuring specimen of the grotesque and unusual.
[06:32.21]Their small administrative staff works tirelessly
[06:35.17]to combat legal actions and public allegations
[06:37.76]of animal cruelty and human slave trafficing.
[06:40.90]Life in the circus is harder than their time at the underwood.
[06:43.92]There is always work to be done.
[06:45.72]In addition to their chores of laundry and sweeping,
[06:48.27]Mr Dillard insist that the twins
[06:50.95]spend many hours each day practicing their act.
[06:53.27]"What are you staring at for?"
[06:54.58]The girls are frightened of the clowns,
[06:56.32]several of whom, by amazing coincidence,
[06:59.02]also happen to be their uncles
[07:00.97]"Hello, hello, hello"
[07:02.67]But still, overall these early days
[07:05.48]at the circus are happy time for the twins
[07:08.35]Every night to the delight of audiences across the country,
[07:11.72]the girls appear in the center ring, singing and strumming the ukulele,
[07:15.54]at the top of Bimba and Kimba -
[07:17.73]the world's only known conjoined twin siamese elephants.
[07:22.36]The twins feel they have found true soulmates in Bimba and Kimba,
[07:26.51]who they affectionately refer to as‘Elephant,Elephant’.
[07:29.48]This special bond is reciprocates by the pakaderms,
[07:32.47]who fondly nozzle the girls with their trunks
[07:34.85]and seem to delight in giving them rides.
[07:38.03]（The twins and the elephants are inseparable）
[07:41.30]With the help of the Alphonso de Ares tin, the animal trainer,
[07:45.53]the twins tend to the elephants, feeding them and grooming them daily.
[07:50.13]But one terrible August morning,
[07:52.03]Bimba and Kimba refuse to take their food.
[07:54.55]Due to the unsanitary conditions of their quarters
[07:57.67]and an improper diet of popcorn and cotton candy,
[08:00.59]the elephants have contracted a rare form of elephantine diphtheria
[08:04.22]compounded by early onset Alzheimer's disease
[08:07.31]For the next two weeks can only stand by helplessly,
[08:11.42]as their companions become sicker and weaker
[08:13.91]and begin displaying obvious signs of memory loss.
[08:17.17]The last few days are almost unbearable.
[08:19.61]With Bimba and Kimba's confused, sad eyes
[08:22.65]looking up at the girls with great anguish,
[08:25.31]but no hint of recognition.
[08:26.85]And on one, grim,September day
[08:29.82]The sisters 16th birthday
[08:32.35](Elephant Elephant dies.)
[08:35.59]The funeral is held at the same day
[08:37.99]a grizzly affair had an industrial trush compactor
[08:41.06]behind a Home Depot in Fort Dodge,Iowa.
[08:46.12]The twins are devastated.
[08:48.48]Without Bimba and Kimba life is but a terrible and meaningless void.
[08:53.03]They resign themselves to living out
[08:55.18]the rest of their hollow existence in solemn mourning.
[08:58.50]The emotionally exausted sisters fall from favour within the circus
[09:02.49]No longer willing to sing and play their ukulele,
[09:05.89]the girls are dressed in a pink tutu
[09:08.84]and forced to balance on the giant red ball,
[09:11.43]an impossible task for the conjoined sisters
[09:14.66]"Get on that damn ball!"
[09:16.44]The audience roars with laughter each time they awkwardly fall.
[09:21.02]Their discomfort is increased by a pair of radical groups
[09:25.60]who have taken an interest ih the twins.
[09:27.62]Every night in most major cities,
[09:30.00]protestiers assemble, nosily waving signs
[09:32.25]and chanting slogans in front of the Box Office.
[09:35.30]The first faction claims to represent an organization called 'FASSEN' -
[09:39.80]the Foundation for Always Separating Siamese Twins Everywhere Now.
[09:46.36]Citing the bible,FASSEN members believe
[09:49.52]that it is the will of the Lord that all conjoined twins be separated
[09:53.34]and allowed to live individual lives.
[09:55.92]Wielding symbolical surgical saws and blunt carbon knives,
[09:59.28]FASSEN members tried the ticket buyers for supporting the abomination of god.
[10:04.55]The second group operates under the acronym SPLIT -
[10:08.46]the Society for the Preservation of Linked Identical Twins.
[10:13.24]A reactionary organisation, working to discredit the claims of FASSEN,
[10:18.02]SPLIT believes that conjoined twins will play a
[10:20.81]critical role in the second coming of Christ.
[10:23.52]The twins are terrified by both groups -
[10:26.73]the knives and saws make them very nervous
[10:29.68]and SPLIT members make threats to kidnap the girls
[10:33.33]and take them to where they will be kept safe
[10:35.41]in a place of darkness until the rapture.
[10:38.66]One day before a Sunday matinée in Sacramento,
[10:42.22]a chaotic brawl erupts between the two factions
[10:46.08]and one FASSEN member gets allarmingly close to the twins with a hacksaw.
[10:52.49]Stricken with fear, the sisters decide
[10:54.88]that they are no longer safe at the circus.
[10:57.23]That night, they make a resolution -
[11:00.00]to leave the Dillard and Fullerton travelling show -
[11:04.99](FOREVER)