Mirror Man
What can you learn from the man in the mirror?
Neck Pillow Kitten
Zoro was small enough to curl up in one of my neck pillows for a nap.
…Time for this week’s story…
Mirror Man
For most of his life, Clyde never quite fit in with his family. He had no kids, no wife, no girlfriend, and a lot of vacation time built up at a job he enjoyed enough. Much like his family, however, he could never quite mesh with the people at work. In fact, he had trouble getting along with most people, but not for a lack of trying.
With his parents moving into assisted living, he took responsibility for their assets. They had long been the caretakers of his grandparents’ property. Clyde loved that house and everything in it. Growing up, he spent most of his time with them, so he valued their house and belongings more than that of his parents.
Clyde got the utilities connected and showed up with a duffel bag, ready to stay for days. Many of his memories of the house were from when he was in diapers. His grandfather died when he was five, so all his memories of him were from before then. His grandmother died when he was a teenager and he had not stepped foot in their house since.
With gusto, Clyde pulled sheets off furniture and wiped everything down. He went from room to room, barely stopping to eat. Working his way up the house he finally reached the attic. He pulled the sheets off stacks of boxes one by one until he came upon an old mirror that sparked some memories. It was a tall mirror that reached down to the floor and stood on sturdy, ornate wooden legs.
“Hey! I used to love making this thing spin.” Clyde examined the mirror, then pulled on the top for it to fall forward and spin around to the back, which was covered in brown paper. As a toddler he would lean into it and it would spin around, sometimes smacking him in the butt when the top came down.
“I don’t remember the back being covered up.” Neatly tucked between the wood and the mirror, Clyde realized his grandfather had placed the brown paper there himself. He pulled the paper off and examined the mirror, exposing both sides. “That’s better.”
Clyde cleaned up the attic with his reflection as his only company. Exploring the contents of many boxes he would sometimes share his discoveries with his reflection.
“Can you believe grandma was a beauty queen? She never even mentioned it. This girl at work used to be Miss Florida and it always seems to come up.”
Dinner was delivered from a nearby Thai restaurant. While he ate in front of the mirror bantering with his reflection, he noticed something odd about the food bag. For some reason, the color of the logo and print were different in the reflection. His bag was red, but the reflection was blue. His blue jeans, however, were the same. Everything else seemed to color match, until he looked more closely. His chopsticks were slightly off-color, as well as one of his bank cards. The colors were not consistent, either.
Clyde put down his bowl of spicy noodles and stood up to examine the mirror carefully. He pressed his finger to the glass to do the two-way-mirror test. Exactly like a two-way mirror, his finger touched itself, except instead of glass he was met with the warmth of flesh. Panicked, he pulled his finger away, but it was stuck. He had to yank it off like it was suctioned to the glass.
Staring at the mirror, gasping, Clyde’s eyes darted around the mirror. There was no way to explain what had happened so he stared in awe until he was struck by a faint memory.
As a toddler, he crawled up the mirror, using this same sticking effect to his advantage until he reached a high point on the mirror and it spun wildly, flinging him off. He did not do it again, but the memory was also lost to him until that moment. There was something important to this, and he had to pursue it.
When pressed against the mirror with both hands it was as if he was touching his own hands on the other side. He pushed and pulled until one arm fell into the mirror and the other pulled back an arm from it. He looked at his reflection and they both agreed with a glance to lean into what was happening. They tilted their bodies to slide sideways through the mirror until they had traded places, both pulling away to jump and celebrate.
“Woah! This is awesome!” They both spoke in tandem and perfect sync. “Okay, let’s both go live a day in each other’s lives and see how it goes? Cool. Oh!” They pulled out their keys, wallets and phones, then traded them through the mirror.
As agreed, they lived a day in each other’s lives. They returned to work even though they had time off. The cute receptionist was actually friendly. Visits to family, friends, and some places around town were fun. Late that night they met back up in front of the mirror with no coordination, bursting into the attic at the same time to share the stories of their days. For the first time, their dialogue was not in sync. By pointing at and calling out the things in the room with different colors, they managed to coordinate and took turns sharing their day.
After a few hours of talking, they surmised they were both happier in each other’s worlds. They got along with people better, the food was better, and they felt better. It was where they were meant to be. After trading places as toddlers, they never fit in growing up. Now, they had a second chance.
They decided to live their lives in their intended realities and would catch up monthly. By stepping into the world they were meant to live in, they both found love. They were both able to share lives that, ever after, progressed happily.