I am dying to meet my twin. She lives somewhere in D.C., I think, because when I went to Union Station the other day to buy postage stamps, the lady at the counter said, "weren't you just in here?" I assured her that I was not. She said that someone who looked just like me, down to my hair color and glasses, had come in just hours before and bought postcard stamps.
I'd chalk this up as a random coincidence, except that the same thing happened last week. I went to pick up my new contact lenses, and the optician thought that I had been by earlier that afternoon.
Perhaps I have a generic look, but that doesn't explain why people confuse me with my friend Sybil, who looks nothing like me. Some of my best friends call me Sybil on occasion. And when the two of us worked at the same office, my own boss routinely called me by her name, and visa-versa.
This alarmed Sybil because I was a bit of a slacker--tending to come in late, or not at all--whereas she was a superstar, often working well into the night. Sybil feared that I was sullying her good name.
One time, when I was in college, I had to take steps to keep another Sadie from sullying my good name. I had never met another Sadie before (besides cats and grandmas) so I was excited when I learned that Sadie Smith* had matriculated. I entertained fantasies of our becoming best friends. People would refer to us as "the Sadies" and we'd arrive at keg parties together, perhaps in matching outfits.
Sadie Smith had no such aspirations, I discovered. When I ran into her at a party, and introduced myself, she said hi, and sounded a bit bored. "We're both Sadies!" I explained. "Mmmm hmmm," she noted.
Clearly, Smith was not Sadie material. And a little bit of research showed my hunch to be correct: Her born name, it turned out, was Rainbow Sky.** Her parents had been hippies.
I helpfully spread this information around my small campus, and soon enough I was back to being the only Sadie in town.
* Name changed to protect the innocent. Also, I can't remember her last name.
** I actually do remember this detail, and it’s even more dippy than the pseudonym I made up, trust me.
9 comments:
It's vice versa.
-ed.
(Saul think she's so smart with his Columbia degree...)
As a kris'-ten, I've had to endure many other similarly named people invading my space. I had to sneakily sabotage one's application to ITP last year.
My doppleganger lives in Toronto and I would provide proof, but I can't find him on google for some reason.
Steve and I were at firehook last weekend and steve claims he saw a woman who looked just like you, but I swore wasn't you, b/c I had just talked to you on the phone. Antoinette piped in that SHE had seen you on the metro the previous week at Gallery Place which, to me, seemed impossible. I think there's a glitch in the matrix.
Someone get this girl's phone number next time you see her!
Wait - there are people who worked here who mixed up you and Sybil?
I have a doppelganger somewhere out in Wheaton/Kensington, Maryland. I heard that she has a string of kids trailing behind her. Definitely not me.
Yeah! My boss used to call me Sybil all the time.
I only wish there were a doppleganger of you in Minneapolis. I miss you terribly. Perhaps a double would be able to ease the pain over a long brunch.
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