The New Old Me

        The New Old Me

Suzanne Marsh

“Hey, I thought I saw you the other night at the Hello Pussycat Lounge.”

“You must have me confused with someone else. That is not someplace I would go.”

“Kathy, I saw you with my own two eyes!”

“Rhonda, I don’t know who you saw but it was not me.”

I turned and walked away, I felt rather insulted since I do not go to bars, then again that just is not me.

Rhonda stood watching my exit from work. We worked together at a small law firm of Dick and Dick, two brothers who had opened a law office in downtown Temple, Texas. Several days later, Rhonda, approached me again:

“Kathy, what were you thinking when you went into the Hello Pussycat again?”

“Rhonda, we have been through this already, I have not, nor will I ever set foot

in the Hello Pussycat!”

I was becoming exasperated, with Rhonda and ill at ease about who she thought she saw. A week later my employer Greg Dick called me into his office:

“Kathy, where were you two nights ago?”

“Home, reading a Stephen King novel, why?”

“Rhonda said she saw you at the Hello Pussycat, then she followed you to a house on

G Street known for prostitution.”

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head:

“Mister Dick, I don’t know who Rhonda thought she saw but it certainly wasn’t me!”

Mister Dick, sort of smiled:

“Kathy has it ever occurred to you or Rhonda you might have a doppelganger right here

in Temple?”

I was flabbergasted:

“A what?”

“A doppelganger, a look alike, except yours seems to like lounges and houses of ill repute.”

Mister Dick, snickered.

“What do I do? Try to find this person?”

Mister Dick replied in his courtroom voice:

“That might be advisable before she causes you trouble.”

I wondered where I would find this doppelganger, since I did not go to bars much less houses of ill repute. I returned to my desk, thinking about a double I had no idea I even had. Did she really look that much like me? Who were her family and friends? I decided to investigate. I told Rhonda about my plan to simply ask questions to see if I could locate this woman. That was easier said than done, believe me.

I began my quest, early one Friday night. Rhonda, and I drove around downtown Temple, looking for anyone who bore a resemblance to me. We saw no one, Rhonda, blonde that she is stated:

“I know I saw you there Kathy, it had to be you, I haven’t seen anyone who looks anything like

you.”

“Rhonda, we are just going to have to continue looking for her until we find her. Even

Mister Dick asked me what I was doing at the Hello Pussycat Lounge. That was damn

embarrassing.”

Rhonda, sighed, she kept telling herself we would find this person soon hopefully. Time went on, Rhonda had not seen this woman again at the Hello Pussycat Lounge, which was fine with me. The mystery seemed to have disappeared, that I thought was to my advantage. Like anything else it proved not to be true.

A year later, I was having lunch at Harris’s BBQ when I was approached by a large burly man, with a beard, wearing jeans and a shirt:

“Hey, come on honey, I want a good time.”

I wanted to shrink under the table as he continued:

“I’ll meet you on Avenue G in twenty minutes.”

I took a deep breath:

“I am not meeting you anywhere, get lost.”

He persisted:

“Oh yes you are honey, I just paid two hundred dollars for an hour of your time. I had to look

hard to find you>’

I began to think about what Mister Dick had said about if I did not find this person there could be trouble. Here was trouble staring me right in the eye.

I stood up and was about to leave when one huge meat hook grabbed my arm. I stomped on his foot with the heel of my boot and ran. I was beside myself, with fury. I had no idea who this man was, he thought I was someone else. I knew I had to find the other me, but I sure could not go from house to house on Avenue G to find someone who had my face. I went back to the office, a bit harried but all right. Rhonda, glanced up to see the anger in my eyes:

“What happened to you? I thought you were going to have quiet lunch at Harris’ BBQ.”

“Rhonda, there is definitely another me here in Temple somewhere, some creepy guy just

tried to get me to go with him.”

Rhonda, thought for a moment:

“Maybe, you should talk to the cops, get Greg Dick to go with you.”

“Rhonda, in the three years I have been here that is the most sensible thing you have said!”

Rhonda, smiled as she returned to her work, that was piled high on her desk. I sat down, took a deep breath, then called the police. I told them about the big burly guy that tried to whisk me off to Avenue G. They said they would investigate.

I remember the day well, it was a foggy damp day, typical for Texas during the late autumn. It was almost the end of November, when I looked up from my desk to find myself looking at me. My jaw dropped down, but no words came out of my mouth. She smiled as she spoke:

“Hello, I have an appointment with Gregory Dick, my name is…”

We stared at each other in disbelief, not knowing what to say. It was like looking in a mirror except this mirror talked back:

‘What is your na na name?” I managed to stammer.

“My name is Sylvia Hanson, and yours?

“Kathryn Ross. I will let Mr. Dick know you are here.”

It took me several moments to gather my thoughts before I let Mister Dick know his client was here.

“Send her in Kathy.”

He opened the door, stood there thunderstruck:

“Kathy where in the hell is my client?”

Sylvia sort of chuckled as she replied:

“Mister Dick, I am Sylvia Hanson not Kathy.”

Mister Dick, was the first to suggest that I had a doppelganger, but coming face to face with her was an entirely different thing:

“Ah, please come in.” He offered her a chair.

“Mister Dick, I need a good lawyer.”

“What is the charge, Miss Hanson?”

“Prostitution.”

Gregory Dick, for all his years in a courtroom, was dumbfounded. He still was not convinced it wasn’t me, so he called me into his office:

“Miss Ross, come in her NOW!”

All I could think of was what had I done to make him address me as Miss Ross. I entered his office, Mister Dick was wondering if he needed to lay off the booze for a while, he was seeing double. When he finally managed:

“Miss Ross? Miss Hanson?”

We, replied:

“Yes”

Mister Dick began:

“This certainly clears up the mystery as to who was at the Hello Pussycat Lounge? Miss

Hanson, where are you from?”

“I arrived here in Temple four months ago; I got stranded here when my car broke down.

I needed money so I did what I always do. Dress up hit the streets, I am originally from

New York City, New York.”

Mister Dick turned to me:

“Mister Dick, I have lived in Temple all my life. I graduated from Temple High School and

went to Temple College. You hired me three years ago remember?”

The new me and the old me looked at each other, smiling; at least now we knew why folks were so confused. I had a doppelganger, not who I would have chosen to be my double but then again life is always an adventure.