#my aunt just reminded me of this story today and i thought i'd share it

[moonlightchess]

A brief but unnerving story:

When I was about 5 years old, my much older cousin Wayne, who was in his early 30s at the time, was stationed with the army somewhere in Germany, in the south I believe. I only ever really saw him at holidays but he was a big, loud, funny man who used to send me packages of German candy and such, and I loved him. One day he called my grandmother, who raised me, and asked her, “Where’s Teddy? Right now, where is she?”

“She’s playing in her room,” my grandmother said, confused by the alarmed and urgent tone in Wayne’s voice. “Why?”

“Are you sure?” he asked, instead of answering her.

“Yes! I can call her to come say hello,” she said, increasingly unsettled.

“No!” he said, and then he started mumbling to himself for a bit before explaining. He’d been walking through a small German city, entirely pleased with his day because he’d been given a slightly rare German coin as part of his change for a purchase at the store that afternoon. That was when a small girl’s voice behind him spoke, in German, but also very distinctly with my voice.

“Do you have any money, sir?” she asked, and the voice was so familiar that Wayne whirled around, stunned, even more so when the little girl standing in front of him was my exact double.

“Teddy?” he blurted, and the little girl held out her hand.

“Any money, please?” she repeated, and Wayne was so flabbergasted that he actually stumbled backward, shaking his head.

“No,” he finally managed. “I’m sorry.”

“What about the coin in your pocket?” the little girl asked, and he nearly bolted into the crowd.

“How did you know about that?” he demanded, but the girl only grinned and melted back into the crowd, disappearing between the legs of commuters. That was when Wayne made a mad dash for the nearest pay phone to call my grandmother. It’s been over a decade since that incident, and to this day he swears it was true. So wherever you are, little German doppleganger of mine, guten tag.

#spooky #halloween #doppleganger #germany #my aunt just reminded me of this story today and i thought i'd share it #october and all