Mistaken identity

In my defence, my brother fits nicely into a type. He's taller than me, like most grown-ups are. He keeps his hair very very short. He wears black sunglasses, bright t-shirts (when he's not at work), and drives a small black car.

On Friday I was standing in the street with Supernerd and we were waiting to cross the road to get to the cafe for our morning coffee. Supernerd looks over to the traffic stopped at the lights and says to me "Isn't that your brother?" I look over and see him. Black car, bright green shirt, very short hair and sunglasses are all present and correct, so I wave. The guy ignores me.

So I tell myself that he just didn't see me there, and I wave again. I think Supernerd might have waved too, because the guy looked at us like we were from another planet.

Then we both stoop over a little to get a better look into this guy's car, as he's sitting on the side away from us, and we realise at the same moment that it's not actually my brother.

We straighten up, look away and giggle at how silly we are. Then the lights change and we head for the cafe.

Standing in the cafe waiting for our drinks we are talking about how my brother would never drive whatever brand that guy's car turned out to be, and lo and behold, the very same guy walks into the cafe and stands next to Supernerd. He's got the very short hair, the bright green shirt and the sunglasses.

We are both astonished at this turn of events. Supernerd turns to this guy and strikes up a conversation so that we can apologise for randomly waving to him. Turns out this guy drives a white car and has no idea what we are talking about.

I guess he wasn't the very same guy.

My Dad told me that when you're mistaking total strangers for someone else who only looks like your brother, that's when you know that you're really wrong.