Look Twice Before Entering

Seems more often that not when my twin sister and I get together, calamities are certain to follow.  A relative once likened us to two little raccoons always getting into mischief. 

I hesitate to tell you about this little snafu because it ranks high on my list of most ridiculous things I have done in my lifetime.  To this day, I have never heard of anyone doing this.  I even have a friend who polled her classroom of sixth graders; asking them if they had ever known of anyone who has made this same mistake and lived to tell about it.  No one came forward.

When I was working in downtown Montgomery, my twin sister and I make lunch plans.  She is to pick me up at my office.  I was a little stressed because my meeting ran long, and I was running a tad late, which is so out of character for me as I am always on time; usually early.  Even though my sister has a tendency to be a little late, I figure this would be the one day she is prompt.  I hurry out of the elevator and had just made it out the front door when a vehicle drove up to the curb resembling my sister’s vehicle.  I squinted as I made it out the door into the bright sunlight, hurried to the curb, opened the door and sat down. I set my purse down on the floor and, immediately, my attention was drawn to a pile of papers in the floor which I moved aside thinking to myself, “hmm, her car is usually not this messy”. I then sat up and turned around to acknowledge my sister by saying “oh good, I’m glad you’re running a little late as well”.  As my eyes fixated on the driver, I literally had the scare of my life.  Oh yes, I had mistakenly entered the wrong vehicle.  It wasn’t my sister, but yet a nice lady with no resemblance whatsoever to my sister. I’ve never laid eyes on this poor woman who is now plastered against the driver’s door with a very nervous half smile on her face.  I’m not a scary person, at least, I don’t think I am. I’m relatively small in stature and was dressed in a business suit and heels. How menacing could I look.  However, I don’t think, at this point, any of that mattered to the driver. All she cared about at the moment, I'm certain, was that there is a complete stranger sitting in her vehicle.

When your brain gets a shock like this, your mind races in overdrive trying to compute, at least for me, it took awhile for me to comprehend the situation at hand.  My first thought was, “you are not my sister, what did you do with my sister”?  It felt like I was in some eerie scene from “The Twilight Zone”.  I immediately began to apologize to this poor soul who was most surely scared out of her wits. I tried to explain the situation, but I know the only thing on the her mind was “why doesn’t this woman get out of my car”.  So with apologies behind me, I exited as quickly and as gracefully as possible. In hindsight, I don’t think the woman ever uttered a single word.  I think she was too stunned to articulate. As long as I live, I will never forget the look on her face. The bad part of it was my sister still had not arrived and neither had this woman's passenger.  So, I had to stand on the curb absolutely mortified and in plain view of this woman for what seemed like an eternity; still waiting for my sister.  I  didn't know whether to laugh or cry.