Features

As different as Night and day

By DAVID DUNKLEY, Staff Reporter

Shania (left), and Shana Thompson - Ricardo Mackyn

TWINS ARE NORMALLY supposed to look alike and basically have the same tendencies, right?

Wrong. Not three-year-old twins Shania and Shana Brown.

The girls have almost nothing in common, not even the same skin colour. The only similarities they share are the clothes they wear and the way their hair is styled.

Shania is affectionately known as 'Goldie' because of her very light complexion while Shana, nicknamed 'Princess', is very dark. Shania is also very shy and laid back, unlike her sister.

This was very evident when THE WEEKEND STAR visited the two girls. Shana was very responsive while her sister retreated, choosing instead to watch from the sidelines.

Their mother, 30-year-old Angella Thompson, a fashion designer, says she did not find out she was to give birth to twins until she was seven months' pregnant. Thompson says when she was a month pregnant a doctor told her he got two different heartbeats but could not say if she was going to have twins. Subsequent checks with at least four others doctors still proved inconclusive but at seven months she did an ultra-sound examination which confirmed she was carrying twins.

Unexpected

Thompson was very surprised by the finding even though there are twins in her family. She explains that she has twin cousins on her father's side but not once did the thought of having twins of her own ever cross her mind. "At first I thought it would be very hard taking care of two children, so what I did was to get two teddy bears and practise with them," Thompson recalled. She said Princess is the smarter of the two girls as she learns quickly and often ends up teaching Goldie. "Sometimes Princess all feed her and put on her clothes," she said.

It was not even easy to get Goldie to pose for her picture to be taken. However, Princess came to THE WEEKEND STAR's rescue, holding her sister and ensuring that pictures could be taken.

But, now after having twins, what are the odds of Thompson having another pair ? "None," she says. "I never did even want so much, so a done me done."