THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 23, 1996 TAG: 9606200039
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 257 lines
FRANCIS WOOD frantically goes from the bedroom to the front room.
``I don't have a shirt,'' the Maury High senior says, already wearing green slacks and black leather shoes. ``I need a shirt.''
The time is 2:02 p.m. and he needs to get dressed so he can leave for his graduation ceremony at Norfolk's Chrysler Hall.
Finally, he finds a white dress shirt. But then he makes a mistake. He falls asleep and does not make it to Chrysler by 3:30 p.m. to participate in the graduation ceremony. Instead, he sits in the upper level with two friends and watches the ceremony.
``I went . . . but I didn't walk (up on stage),'' he says, casually, five hours later. ``I know I got my diploma. That's all I was worried about.''
For Francis and his twin brother Darryl, who graduates in August following summer school, receiving their diplomas has been a never-ending task. The usual 13-year trek from kindergarten through 12th grade has taken the Wood brothers 15 years. They each dropped out of school twice in the last two years.
``They had a lot to overcome from their childhoods that makes this remarkable,'' says Diane Feineis, Maury High guidance chair.
Life for the twins, who turn 20 years old next month, has been no simple routine of going to school, doing homework and then chores.
For the last three years, Francis and Darryl have lived without a parent or guardian. They've supported themselves - paying the bills, providing for food and clothing and defining their own codes of conduct and morality.
Their mother lives in a trailer home near Charlottesville with her other three children. Dad left when the twins were 18 months old, their grandmother is in Florida and there are no aunts, uncles or cousins that they know of.
They have become each other's guardians, brothers and friends. Or as Darryl explains their life, ``We just handle it ourselves.''
A wooden door with a broken bottom lock allows entrance to the place.
Each month, the Wood brothers and roommate John Walker pay $345 for the two-bedroom apartment at Old Dominion Village on 43rd Street, just off Hampton Boulevard in Norfolk.
Inside, a weight set, two stereo components, a chair, a color television, two electronic game systems and video games furnish the front room.
The refrigerator suggests an unhealthy diet: an empty punch container, a few cans of cola and various condiments. The three young men rely on their employer, 7-Eleven, for their cuisine.
Down the hall to the right is the epitome of chaos: the twins' room.
Clothes, no farther than a foot apart, cover the floor. Stacked against one wall are Darryl's two mattresses, given to him last year when a friend purchased a new bed. Not-so-neatly situated against the parallel wall is Francis' sleeping bag.
On the back corner of each brother's dresser is a trophy. Each says: Maury High Runner of the Year, 1994-95.
Unless they are asleep, the brothers spend their home life in the front room - playing the Sega or Sony Playstation systems. This is their most common form of entertainment.
The games come from their ``free money'' leftover after the bills have been paid.
``People think because we have our own apartment, we are going to have parties every weekend,'' says Darryl. ``But we don't have money to have parties. We have to pay our rent.''
Working has been no big deal for the brothers because they have done it most of their lives.
They remember being 7 years old and helping their mom deliver newspapers at 2 a.m. They remember having paper routes of their own, working at the Navy commissary and Taco Bell.
They also remember receiving eviction notices or donating plasma because they were either short on bill or food money.
Francis and Darryl don't have a lot to say about their lifestyle. Mostly, they shrug their shoulders and keep going.
``If they had any problems, they did not tell me,'' says Maury track and cross-country coach Walt Green, one of the more involved adults in the Woods' lives.
``They are not going to come forward with anything.''
Like the time they lived without heat and electricity for nearly two months last year while living with a few friends.
``When we got home, we did our homework as fast as possible before the sun went down,'' Francis says. ``We bought foods we couldn't cook and took cold showers.''
Instability has been a constant in the Wood brothers' lives. In 1993, their mom, Judith Ann Wolfe, and her younger three children moved into her boyfriend's Virginia Beach trailer home. The brothers stayed in Norfolk with their friend Adam Krause and his family.
``I could empathize with their situation, so when they approached me it was pretty easy for me to talk it up with my mother,'' Krause says.
Before the brothers officially moved in, Francis had been climbing through the window and staying in the attic.
Shortly after Francis and Darryl moved to Adam's house in Park Place, Krause's parents and brother moved to Elizabeth City, N.C. A year later, Darryl and Francis moved to the Village apartments with one friend before finally getting a place with three other friends in the same complex last year.
In January 1995, after Wolfe received a settlement from a motorcycle accident, she moved to Albemarle County. Darryl dropped out of school to help her move.
But overall, the bond between mother and sons is not the strongest.
Since last August, Wolfe has only seen her sons three times. The brothers do not have a telephone so their only means of communicating with her is by letter. They have not written her this year.
``I just never found it important enough to find the time to do it,'' Francis says.
Wolfe did not know that Francis was graduating this spring.
``He didn't tell me,'' she says.
The twins are identical. They stand 5-foot-6, though they say Francis is a tiny bit taller than Darryl. They sport the same short, curly hair. The most prominent physical differences are the two slight punctures in Francis' left ear, though he does not wear earrings.
But friends have no problem separating the pair.
``The voices, personalities, demeanors and mannerisms'' make the two identifiable, says Krause, 18.
As for each other, the brothers have a hard time describing their relationship.
``It depends on how you put it,'' Francis says, glaring at his twin. ``He's my worst enemy.''
Darryl fights back.
``I don't think you can be best friends with someone you live with all the time,'' he says. ``A best friend is someone you could get away from every once in a while.''
Francis burst on the scene nine minutes earlier than Darryl. And since then their experiences have paralleled each other.
Darryl failed kindergarten. It was later discovered that he had dyslexia, and he was placed in special education classes until the fourth grade. He will not graduate until August because he has to take an English course and an elective at Booker T. Washington.
Francis failed the third grade. He simply refused to study.
``He would come home and do 50,000 other things before he did homework,'' the mom says, sitting on her red Ford truck with a sign in the back window: Pure Wolf 100% Bitch.
In high school, Francis finally found something he was motivated by: ROTC.
He's a private in the National Guard and belonged to the NJROTC for most of his five years at Maury.
``Francis will probably end up an officer in the Army and do extremely well,'' Maury Naval Science Instructor John Warren says.
During the school year, Francis carried a green notebook that read: ``Fran'' and ``Army'' with the words running perpendicular and connecting at the ``R.''
Inside the NJROTC office, he points like a kid in a toy store.
``I got this,'' he says enthusiastically of a third-place drill-off award placed on the wall.
Darryl also participated in NJROTC, but he is less involved than Fran.
Darryl is an artist.
Through all the ups and downs the Woods have faced, there's been one constant.
Running.
Walt Green was in his first year as cross-country coach at Maury in 1994 and he needed some runners. He had heard about the Wood boys.
They ran track in the spring of 1993 but sat out the following year. Their previous track experience, however, was not the only reason that Green was interested in them.
``Running was their means of transportation because their mom didn't have a car,'' Green says.
Anywhere the boys had to go - school, home, work - they ran. Instead of taking the school bus, they ran home.
Darryl remembers jogging to see his mom in Virginia Beach and having classmates wave or honk their horns when they saw him. Even now on weekends when Francis has drill duty for the National Guard, he either walks or runs to his assignment on Virginia Beach Boulevard near Military Circle Mall - a one-hour jog or two-hour walk.
So one day after school, Green saw the boys walking home and asked them to join his team.
``We didn't know who he was,'' Darryl says with a grin. ``We were like `yeah, all right.' ''
The Wood boys turned Maury into a top power.
Along with Dallas Williams, the Woods helped Maury become the first Norfolk boys team in 15 years to compete in the state meet.
``They're no nonsense,'' Green says. ``They're out there running and there is no complaining.''
The success would only last one year, though. The following year, the Woods, 19, were too old to compete and Maury did not make a return trip to the state competition.
``By me looking at people like them, I don't have too much patience for a lot of these other students who are not working or who don't have to worry about where they're going to get their next meal,'' says Green.
With the twins ineligible for high school races, Green has entered them in road races and invitationals.
Two weeks ago, they ran in the Harborfest race.
Francis had gotten home from his midnight-to-6 a.m. shift at 7-Eleven just long enough to see if Darryl was ready for the race, and then the pair jogged to the start line at Waterside Drive.
The brothers finished fourth and fifth in their age group in the 10K. Darryl ran a 37:41 and Francis 38:47.
``After the second mile, Darryl was speeding up a little bit,'' Francis says. ``I was thinking I couldn't keep up with this for another four miles.''
Darryl received a plaque.
They keep their varsity letters, ribbons and medals crammed in a brown paper bag.
``I always hate when they offer ribbons,'' Francis says of track meets. ``Anytime we would get ready to race, I would ask coach, `Do they have medals?' ''
There were medals at the 1996 Hampton Invitational but Darryl walked away with much more than an award.
In the 5,000-meter open run, no one was near Darryl when he crossed the finish line. Heck, Darryl was the only participant.
Darryl took the race seriously. Lap after lap, he ran hard until he crossed the finish line to a chorus of cheers from the crowd.
Hampton University track coach David Boyd was impressed with Darryl's one-man show.
``He's a good coachable good,'' says Boyd, who was giving Darryl instructions throughout the race.
To Darryl, it was, as usual, no big deal.
``It wasn't anything extraordinary because I knew I could do it,'' Darryl says.
What impressed Darryl was a chant from the movie ``Forrest Gump'' that people yelled as he ran.
``It was nice,'' he says, ``because people were saying, `Run, Forrest, run.' ''
Boyd had seen the brothers run before and inquired about their futures. Green explained their backgrounds and Boyd decided he wanted them to attend Hampton.
``Distance running is strenuous enough, but working and putting yourself through school is something else,'' Boyd says.
The twins are very excited about the prospect of receiving college scholarships. But there is a significant roadblock in the plan.
According to Coach Boyd, the Woods would have to attend Hampton's Pre-College and Summer Bridge Program. The five-week program begins Monday and as of last Tuesday, the brothers were not registered.
In addition to having work schedules and a lease agreement to sort out, Darryl has another major conflict with the program. He will be at Booker T. Washington in order to get his high school diploma.
And unlike Francis, Darryl anticipates participating at his graduation ceremonies.
``No one is going to root for you,'' Francis says sarcastically.
``I don't care if no one roots for me,'' Darryl says.
The two of them are used to that by now. ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON COLOR PHOTOS/The Virginian-Pilot
Darryl, left, and Francis Wood, 19-year-old twins, have lived on
their own since they were 16. Their mother lives near
Charlottesville; their father left when the twins were 18 months
old.
Francis checks the alarm clock for Darryl, who has to be at his job
at 7-Eleven at 9 p.m. The brothers share an apartment in Norfolk.
ABOVE: Darryl works at the 7-Eleven across Hampton Boulevard from
Old Dominion University. His brother also works at a 7-Eleven.
LEFT: Francis, left, and Darryl do their laundry. They're friends
but not best friends. ``A best friend is someone you could get away
from every once in a while,'' Darryl says.
Photo
LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot
Francis walks to the National Guard office. The brothers travel
everywhere on foot. by CNB