I’m not particularly a nosy neighbor, but I am most times forced to see a lot of things happening in the compound when I am at home since both my bedroom and sitting room windows have a good view of the premises.
I had this neigbour whom I took special notice of because of some things I contemplated were unusual about him.
The thing was that most times when I see him, he would be very pleasant and greet me while grinning from ear to ear.
Other times, I would meet the same person and he would act standoffish and behave as if I wasn’t his neighbour at all.
I had watched closely and noticed that he had two girlfriends, which he brought to the house at different times.
Sometimes I see him around in town, but never at home.
There was something mysterious about him which I just couldn’t place my hands on.
Then I trudged to the gate after work a few days back, after a hectic day when he was about to pass by the gate, and fortunately for me, I met his friendly version that day, or so I thought.
He gave me a lift and for the first time, I got to converse with my neighbour — blame my introversion.
Then he told me of how he was ever hardly around as his job made him travel a lot.
He must have noticed how I shot him a bewildered look; he quickly cleared the air, “Oh, you must have been seeing my twin brother around and thought it was me,” he said smiling.
I thought I didn’t hear him very well and asked, “Are you a twin?”
“Yes, a very identical one at that. You can hardly differentiate between us,” he said, with words doused with pride.
“I’m a twin, too, I said.” Of course, I said it with much pride, too.
And there and then we connected in a twin kind of way and chatted heartily.
He told me of how he was hardly around and usually dropped his car with his twin brother who visited the house at intervals.
There and then, I pieced the puzzle together.
The one who usually greets me with all friendliness was my neighbour, while when I thought he was unfriendly was his twin brother.
They all had their girlfriends of which they brought to the house at different times.
He told me that he was going to drop the car with his twin brother as he was on his way to Abuja for an official assignment.
He dropped me halfway home and took another route.
About thirty minutes when I got home, I saw his car coming towards the gate.
I rushed to open the gate — like a good neigbour should do — with all smiles and met a face that scared me.
He greeted me casually and you won’t believe it was the same person that I just chatted with barely thirty minutes ago.
I would have felt a wave of disappointment as usual if I had not looked closely to see that this was the twin brother and not my neighbour.
Apart from the fact that he dressed differently from his brother, we — twins — have a special way of identifying each other no matter how identical– don’t ask me how.
It then occurred to me that I had looked at an innocent man with a bad eye because I had no idea he was a twin and there was no way of finding out.
I accused him of being a snub and a cheat just because I didn’t know.
We nine times out of ten get it wrong when we watch from a distance and just judge people.
Roselyn Sho – Olajide works with an Audit Firm in Jos, Plateau State. She loves reading and writing and can be reached via quest4yln@gmail.com
