On a frigid Chicago day in December of 1928, Philip K. Dick was born twenty minutes ahead of his sister Jane. The twins, the boy with blonde hair and the girl with dark hair, were six weeks premature, and the inexperienced parents, Edgar Dick and Dorothy Hudner, were in over their heads. The twins struggled to gain weight. Jane was born weighing just three and a half pounds and suffered what at the time was termed “failure to thrive.” Dorothy didn’t have enough milk and couldn’t seem to figure out the right formula. Edgar had retreated to the local men’s club to avoid the babies’ incessant crying.
A little over a month later when a nurse and doctor came to visit the family, Philip weighed two and a half pounds and Jane only two and a quarter, according to Edgar, who, like his son, seems prone to hyperbole. The twins were rushed to the hospital in a heated incubator. Jane died on the car ride there.