The Assassin

Twin Brothers

Chapter 3

Twin Brothers

Johnny Was Born First

Royce and I were born in 1949. We were identical twins. Our dad had already traveled most of the world with the Navy and was intimately familiar with all of the major seaports everywhere.

He loved the sea and had never been away from it since the day he was born. He was stationed at the naval base in Charleston, South Carolina, on the day that we were born.

Our dad wasn't there to experience the happy moments of our births. There were also many other happy moments that he missed. The sea always called to him, and it came first and foremost before God, country, and family.

He was stationed on board a naval LST that was about to depart for ports yet unknown when our mom, Edith, was due to introduce us to this brave new world. Neither she nor our dad knew there would be two of us. They both thought that there would only be one.

Our dad had given our mom strict instructions that she was supposed to name their first son Johnny Seaward. The second boy, when he was born, would be named Royce. After his own father. Our dad had no preference if he was blessed with a girl. Any name would do.

As it turned out, there were two boys born that day. Twins. Identical in every way. There had to be full names on their birth certificates. But our mom had forgotten the middle name that our dad wanted me to have. She knew it started with the letter S. She just couldn't remember what it was supposed to be.

Our dad had already shipped out. He could not be reached. He would be gone for at least a year. The doctor could not wait. "I must have a name immediately. There has to be a full name on the birth certificate."

Our mom was perplexed. "What am I supposed to name him?" Johnny was easy enough to remember.

But what about my middle name? Eventually our mom recalled that it was supposed to be Stewart. And so it was that I officially became Johnny Stewart.

It was easier for her to remember what Royce's middle name was supposed to be. It would be the same as her own father's. Benjamin. She could certainly remember that.

Our dad was upset when he learned that I hadn't been named Johnny Seaward. But this was an error that he could easily correct. Birth certificate or no birth certificate. After all, he had named me. He didn't intend to be flashing a birth certificate around.

So I would always be Johnny Seaward to him. And when he built his charter boat, the name that he affixed to the bow was Seaward. It would be a constant reminder that he intended that I was meant to be a charter boat captain like him. He intended for me to see the world from behind the wheel of a boat.

Royce and I were just small children when we first became mates on board the Seaward. We worked as mates on the Seaward six days a week each summer and every Saturday during the spring and fall. There were no charter boat trips scheduled during the winter months. The fish had migrated to warmer waters for the winter.

There were no telephones or televisions on Hatteras yet. But everyone seemed to have a radio. I listened to radio broadcasts from New York City from the time that I first located radio station WABC.

I could find New York City only in geography books. The radio announcers could be heard faintly through the static. But New York was too far away to imagine that I could ever actually travel there. Not a boy from an island that was accessible to the mainland only by boat.