Who is the man who looks like me?
Recently a delivery man arrived at my house. 鈥淵ou live here now?鈥� he said. I was confused, because I鈥檝e lived in that house for nine years now. He said he saw me earlier, which was very unlikely, because I hadn鈥檛 been out that day, as I was enjoying a lazy Saturday. I didn鈥檛 know what he was talking about, but somehow I wasn鈥檛 surprised, because this has happened before.
Once, while walking down the street, a woman said hello and called me a name that definitely was not mine. Another time, a man started talking to me about fire extinguishers, because he thought I was there to sell them. Years ago, police stopped me to ask my name, because I looked like a person of interest. In their defense, MY OWN MOTHER actually thought the police drawing they released looked like me.
I did not do the crime, don鈥檛 worry.
People have asked me when I got a new brown leather jacket I鈥檝e never owned, or what I was doing in places I hadn鈥檛 visited. Often these people are friends and relatives, which makes it even stranger.
The worst one was when I thought I saw someone who looked like me, wearing a jacket I owned at the time, as an extra in the film Angels and Demons. If there鈥檚 someone who should know what I look like, it would be me, and yet there I was, looking at someone who I鈥檇 be convinced was me if not for the fact that I knew for certain I was never an extra in any movies.
I don鈥檛 know if this is one man or several. I鈥檓 going to assume it鈥檚 more than one, since I鈥檓 guessing the guy who did a crime wasn鈥檛 the same guy who was in the background in a movie filmed in Rome and California. Criminality isn鈥檛 great for international travel.
I鈥檓 sure that the other guy has questions of his own, and I鈥檓 sure that he鈥檚 been spotted by people in all sorts of places where he hasn鈥檛 been, and he鈥檚 recognized by many people who he doesn鈥檛 know.
Some people do have 鈥渙ne of those faces,鈥� a look where you鈥檙e convinced you know them even when you鈥檙e pretty sure you鈥檝e never met them before. I have met people like that too, including recently, where a group of five of us all had the same thought 鈥� 鈥渨here do I know that guy from? I鈥檝e definitely seen him before鈥� 鈥� after meeting a guy we were pretty sure we had only met that day.
There is someone out there who looks like me, but I don鈥檛 know if I want to meet them. What would you even do if you found yourself face to face with someone who looks like you, but isn鈥檛? Maybe it鈥檚 for the best that he鈥檚 a mystery to me, and I am a mystery to him, though I鈥檓 sure he鈥檚 had many equally confusing encounters in his life as well.
