Now that the Johnnies had begun to ponder the meaning of life, they became more sober in their outlook. For the next week, there were fewer pranks; little Sally came crying with her preposterous allegations a little less often; and so, as one would imagine, the Johnnies ran less risk of exposure. Even if someone may have caught a single glimpse of them together, they would have shrugged it off as ‘seeing things.’ Anyone older than Sally knew, after all, that even if what they saw was so, no one would ever believe it, and it was therefore better to keep quiet about the whole affair, lest one be accused of having caught the same ailment as Sally.
   Thus, the boys’ ruse was kept up until the arrival of Ernesto, the following week. He stayed only a few days and then pushed off to sea again.
   Things happened so fast that the Johnnies never could decide who was supposed to be who, and how to let Papa in on the secret. They only showed their face to him one at a time. Papa had made it known that his intention was to take Johnny with him again. However, things happened so fast, that the one who ended up going was the one who happened to be in sight when he suddenly decided to go. That happened to be the Johnny who knew the locals by their local names.
   He happened to be close by, so Papa told him to get ready. There was no time to go up the hill to make last minute plans with the other Johnny. At least he didn’t think there was. As it was, he got into the boat with his little bag that his mother had packed for him, and sat on the deck until his Papa got on.
   Without a lot of fanfare, they were off.
   The other Johnny presently wandered down the hill, asking, ‘Where’s Papa?’
   ‘Didn’t you go with him?’ said somebody or other.
   ‘Why he’s gone already!’
   ‘He must have decided not to wait for you!’
   ‘Johnny! Next time you must remember to be more prompt! Your papa is a very busy man!’
   Johnny, of course, knew what had happened. Even though they hadn’t planned it that way, that’s how it had happened.
   But he did want to go with Papa so ...
   So it was that his disappointed look was genuine, but only he knew how things were.
   But now, he was alone on the island of the dead relatives. At least, before, he had his double to fend for him. Now he was alone. He even wondered if his mother were really his mother, and not his mother’s cousin of the same name who had died at sea.
   So, until Papa came back again, Johnny was a very melancholy boy.
   Meanwhile, the other Johnny, out at sea, was so intensely enjoying himself that he forgot about the his twin back at home. They went to visit a few more new places, and met new people, and even made a few more friends.
   Only as they were making their way to the home shore did he suddenly wonder about the other Johnny.
   As soon as they pulled up to shore, he bolted to the hut, and then up the hill to the hideout. After much searching around, finding no trace of ‘himself’, he wandered slowly out to the beach.
   There the other boys were playing. There, Joey was, on his horse with his sword and shield as though he had always had it.
   ‘Hey! What are you doing with that? That’s mine now!’
   ‘What are you talking about?’
   ‘I won it, remember? I raced you up to the upper pool going up the East side while you went the straight way!’
   ‘Are you crazy?’
   Soon it became obvious to Johnny that, in the minds of the people he was now with, the said events had never occurred.
   Billy greeted him as though he had been away for months.
   Even little Sally was her old saucy self.
   ‘I get to eat coconut pudding for tea and you don’t!’ she said as soon as they met.
   Johnny pinched her, and she went crying to the nearest grownup. Johnny got his ear wrung.
   Maybe the other Johnny never existed after all! Maybe it was only a dream!
   Finally, around the supper table, everyone asked questions about the trip.
   ‘You must have gone to so many different places! Why! It’s been almost two months!’
   ‘It seemed like only fortnight to me!’ said Johnny.
   Papa leaned over and whispered into his ear, ‘When you go away from here, and then come back, you see that these people’s memory is very bad.’
   For some reason that explanation sounded dreadfully familiar.
   But as for there being another Johnny, and having played those pranks on everyone, and all that, he was beginning to wonder if it had just been a dream. Perhaps it would be better to forget that it all happened.
   So, Johnny resolved.
   That was that.

Things seemed to go along just fine until the following school day. The teacher asked him a question, and Johnny answered, ‘Yes, Miss Greschen.’
   ‘Johnny, why are you calling me Miss Greschen?’
   ‘Because you are Miss Greschen.’
   ‘No. My sister was named Greschen. She was drowned in the sea during the shipwreck.’
   ‘But you said that your sister who drowned in the sea was — er — er y-yes, Miss — er — Miss Grissel.’
   Just then, it seemed, something had hit Johnny like a load of rocks. He was quiet and sullen for the rest of the day.
   Had it been a dream? Was this a dream? Was this heaven or was the other Johnny in heaven? Was his grandpa’s name Timothy or Thomas?
   That evening, he asked his grandpa, ‘What’s your name, Grandpa?’
   ‘Why Timothy, of course. I though you knew that!’
   ‘What was the name of your brother who drowned?’
   ‘That was your great uncle, Thomas, my boy.’
   ‘But isn’t your name Thomas?’
   ‘How could you have got us mixed up, Johnny? Why, you’ve never met your great uncle!’
   For the rest of the meal, Grandpa kept glancing back, wondering if Johnny were okay.
   Now Johnny knew. Now, he was feeling much the same as the Johnny on the other Island.
   As time went on, both Johnnies managed to cope with their morbid feelings, and even began to take a somewhat cheery outlook.
   As for Milly, she had the mother’s instinct, which likewise gave her a tormenting time. At night, as she sang her son to sleep, something inside her said, ‘This isn’t my son.’
   She didn’t know why she thought that. It made her feel guilty more than anything else. But there were those little things that a mother notices. But she would calm herself by saying, ‘No, he’s João Ortiz, son of Ernesto Ortiz. Being out at sea with his father makes him different.’
   He was seeing much more of his father than Milly ever did. She wished, very much, that João would spend more of his time at home. Why did he have to travel around so much anyway?
   The other Milly on the other island wasn’t going through quite such a severe time with her emotions. As you remember, for a time, the Johnnies were alternating between the bed and the hide-out on the rocky ledge, so she wasn’t faced with such an abrupt change. Her difficulties had been with the sudden changes with Johnny’s behaviour, and his appetite. Then, this sudden melancholy was attributed to his Papa going off without him.
   But back on this island, Johnny was also noticing how distant Milly was. This only added to his melancholy.
   Things went on like that for another month or so. Then, one day, this Johnny — the one who now had a teacher named Miss Grissel — was roused by the shout, ‘Senhor Ernesto is coming!’
   He ran out of the hut as fast as his feet could carry him, and stood with the other people who were waiting on the pier.
   As the ship got closer, someone said, ‘Who’s that boy with him?’
   Johnny looked. The boy on the boat looked. There eyes met.
   Somehow, the meeting of their eyes communicated a signal, and both knew what they must do.
   The boy on the boat crouched down, and Johnny slunk behind everyone else.
   The boat landed, but Ernesto got off by himself and walked out to meet everyone else. Only when he was surrounded by the others, exchanging greetings with them, did Johnny step up to his side and stood as though he had just got off with him.
   ‘Who’s that boy we saw with you?’ someone asked.
   Ernesto turned around and there was Johnny.
   ‘Why, here he is. You liked the trip, João?’
   ‘Yes, Papa.’
   No one was quite sure if he had quite understood the question, or if what had looked like a boy on board had just been a trick played on the eyes.
   Much later, the two Johnnies met at the hide-out on the rocky ledge. Having spent such a long time with people who looked like their next of kin, but whom they knew inside were really total strangers, or at best, dead relatives; they were genuinely glad to see one another, and embraced one another like long lost brothers. Only they knew what they had been through.
   Finally they quieted down, and they sat — entirely at ease in one another’s presence.
   ‘The teacher here is Miss Grissel,’ said the Johnny who had been here for the last month.
   ‘And is Grandpa named Timothy?’
   ‘Yes. And when Papa and I got here, everyone thought I was gone for two months.’
   ‘I saw Joey with his sword and shield and his steed.’
   ‘He’s always had it. We never won it from him. And Sally is still a tattle-tail, and no one thinks she ever told a lie.’
   Now on familiar territory, they felt themselves again.
   ‘Shall we get knight outfit back again?’
   ‘Yes! Lets! — and — and Sally; shall we cure her of being a tattle-tale again?’
   ‘Yeah!’
   That they did, and many other things that they had thought about in secret.
   Again, Johnny’s appetite doubled.
   Again, so did reports of his mischief-making.

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