Doppelgänger

Chapter 2 - Mess

25th July 1913

"Jutta! Elsa!" Anna exclaimed, entering the kitchen and baring witness to the mess the two toddlers had gotten themselves and everything else into.

Elsa giggled gleefully and held her small red covered hands in the air at her mother, "Mutti!" ("Mummy!") the two year old grinned at her awestricken mother.

Jutta just stared up at Anna with a small smile, then turned her attention back to the sticky red substance she and her twin sister had gotten themselves covered in. She pressed her hands together and then pulled them apart, marvelling at the strings of red that formed between her hands as she did so.

Anna put a hand to her forehead in disbelief - there was so much mess! How had two little girls gotten everything coated in... was that jam? The jam jar wasn't even that big, the amount of jam on her kitchen floor (and furniture) defied reason. Also, how on Earth had they even gotten the jam jar? They must have climbed onto the kitchen table somehow.

Anna released a deep sigh at the troublesome twosome, they were only toddlers and already they were a pair of rascals - she dreaded to think how much stress they were going to cause her as they got older.
She shook her head at the two and wore a look of that classic 'Mother's Daily Despair' while she moved closer to her daughters and looked down at them, she frowned a little at them.

Putting her hands on her hips, "Schau dir das Durcheinander an, das du gemacht hast!" ("Look at the mess you've made!") Anna said with a slight scolding tone.

Jutta just looked up at her mother with her fixating stare, her face was its regular (almost stern) expression as she didn't seem to mind her mother's less than impressed tone. Elsa, on the other hand, was pasting more jam onto the floor and giggling joyously. She had a hand full of the jam and smooshed it onto Jutta's face, laughing hysterically as she did.

Anna shook her head again at her mischievous daughter, she bent down and put her hands under Elsa's underarms - lifting her up when she did. She balanced Elsa on her hip and held her securely with her one arm, outstretching her other to Jutta.

"Mitkommen, Jutta," ("Come along, Jutta") Anna said, while she held out her hand to her second twin.

Jutta looked up again as her mother spoke her name, she saw her hand outstretched. She blinked a few times as she looked between Anna's hand and face.
The small two year old placed her hands on the floor and pushed herself up into a standing position, wobbling a bit as she did.

Anna watched Jutta stand up and she couldn't help the proud smile that tugged at her lips. Jutta hadn't been able to walk for long, but she had learnt very quickly. To Anna's surprise - and sometimes dismay - Jutta was a very quick learner, she picked things up incredibly fast.
However, Jutta wasn't very proficient in the vocal department. It wasn't that she hadn't learnt any words - because she had learnt them - it was just that she didn't speak much. She rarely spoke at all, only saying a few words everyday - different words each time. So Anna knew Jutta was learning words, she just didn't want to use them much.

But Elsa was her polar opposite; Elsa spoke ALL the time. She was always babbling or laughing, throwing tantrums and screaming (mainly to get her own way) or humming along to her father's gramophone records.
Elsa was a charming little diva, who had a high attention need. She was clever and full of energy, always toddling around or playing with her toys. Her voice could often be heard throughout the day.

Jutta toddled over to her mother and took her hand, allowing her mother to lead her along. She looked up at the various pictures that hung on the walls of her home; they were paintings of various subjects.

Elsa began putting her sticky, jam covered hands on her mother's face - laughing when the jam transferred onto Anna's cheek and at the little noise of distaste she made.