That happened to me a couple days ago. But it went a bit further than the "well, I guess you have a twin somewhere" response that is typical when you give them a pity laugh and gently inform them they're wrong.
Allow me to elaborate.
For starters, it happened in the bathroom. It was awkward from the get-go. I was washing my hands, ready to get back to writing my project sheet about feathers, when a lady I had seen around HobLob a few times before told me, "I know you from somewhere."
Dumbly, I replied, "From somewhere other than here?" I grabbed a paper towel and began drying my hands.
"Yes," she said. "I know I've seen you before, and I've been trying to figure out where."
She then told me she thought she had figured it out the night before. "Did I teach you in children's church?" she asked. I said no, that I hadn't grown up in OKC. She asked me where I grew up.
"Tipton," I said. "It's a tiny town. You've probably never heard of it." I finished drying my hands and edged closer to the door.
"Well, I've heard of it," she said. "But never lived there or anything."
She then told me that she was so sure I had been one of her children's church students that she had searched out, finally found, and studied a picture of the family she thought I belonged to.
At this point, I was feeling extra awkward. I've never (to my knowledge) had someone I don't know research me after seeing me in passing a couple times and being convinced she knows me.
I just gave her the pity laugh and told her I wished I could help her, as she was obviously quite hung up on my mysterious presence in her past.
She ended the conversation with: "You must just have a doppelganger, then."
"I guess I do," I agreed. And we parted ways.
For the time being...
***
On my way to the bathroom today, I came face-to-face with my stalker again.
"This time I did figure out where I know you from," she began.
"Oh yeah? Where from," I asked, intrigued.
"Well, I used to live in Altus, which is close to Tipton," she said.
I nodded, thinking maybe she actually had seen me around. I was unprepared for her next question.
"Did you used to work at Walmart?"
"Uh...no," I said, while thinking, How specific...
"Oh," she said, clearly upset that she was wrong once again.
She then told me that she used to pass through Tipton on her way to church in Frederick and asked me if I had ever gone to Bible Baptist Church there. Once again, I had to give her a no.
"Well, I guess I really don't know you after all," she said. "I guess I'll just give it up."
I wasn't sure how to respond to that. I mean, was she hoping we'd be besties or something? Keep in mind, she's probably in her fifties. So I simply said, "Well, I'll keep trying to figure out where you might know me from," and we parted ways again.
What was I thinking? Now we really might have to be BFFs. I can see it now. We'll bond over bathroom breaks and joke about the first time we met. We'll have crochet parties on the weekends.
Unless she feels awkward about researching me--and admitting it--and from now on uses the bathroom twice as far down the hall to avoid me at all costs.
Either way, I'll let you know what happens. And if you see my doppelganger around, please let me know.
*Side note: Early on in this story, I mentioned a project sheet about feathers. You can do some really cool stuff with feathers. When the project sheet is published, I'll fill you in.
No comments:
Post a Comment