Double Trouble

I And I

Me and my doppelgänger
Were walking down the road
When a man walked up
Who neither one of us knowed

I said, “Hey there, stranger”
He said, “You know me, friend”
I said, “No, not me, gov’nor”
“Maybe you know him”

He and my ghost commenced to talking
And it was plain to see
My ghost didn’t know him
Any better than me

That’s the trouble these days
When you’re out walking with yourself
There is always someone
Who thinks you’re somebody else.

********

Me and my doppelgänger
Were out taking a ride
In my big four-fifty-four
Electric power glide

When the cop pulled us over
I got a nervous blink
He walked up to the window
And said, “Are you who I think?”

I said, “No sir, I’m not
“And neither is he
“We are someone else altogether
“As anyone can see”

He ran a check, anyway
But there was nothing to be found
He said, “You boys can just go”
So I put the hammer down.

********

Me and my doppelgänger, we’re pretty tight, you know
Wherever he wanders, that’s where I go
We don’t take no crap, we don’t take no hell
We just head on down the road, moving parallel

********

Me and my doppelgänger are beyond the pale

We were born to wander and to live alone
Put together in time and dimensionally
We are proud to be out here all on our own

We make our own rules when we're out on the road
We don't pay no fines, we don't pay no toll

We laugh at thunder and dance in the lightning
When the weather gets too heavy, we hop a freight and roll

We’ve met a lot of great men who weren’t so great
We’ve met modern day saviors who couldn’t even stop the rain
We’ve heard the word of God from a surface-to-air missle
And felt the hand of Allah from a hijacked plane

We’ve seen the fire in the sky in the morning light
We’ve seen the buildings tumble into the maw of the city
And when the dust cleared and there was nothing left
We saw the sun setting down on the horizon so pretty

********

Me and my doppelgänger, we think alike, you know
Wherever I wander, that’s where he goes
We don’t take no crap, we don’t pay no mind
We just thank sweet Jesus for the sweet sunshine.

_____________________________________________


I saw myself walking alongside myself, I believe in June or July of 1984.

I was staying at a weekend farm my family has in SE Texas, located in the Big Thicket, a relative sliver of indigenous hardwood forest land, the remains of a vast aboreal forest that once stretched from Texas to the Atlantic Coast of the US. There were three other people staying with me at the farm that weekend.

The farmhouse sat in a large cleared area, amidst 40 acres of land in all. The rest of the acreage was heavily wooded, and the back property line bordered on millions of acres of replanted pine forest owned by one of the large paper/lumber corporations; but the property was not really isolated or secluded. A farm-to-market road ran in front of it, about 1/4 mile from the house. Three miles down the farm road was a four lane state highway.

Around 10:00 or so that evening, I announced that I was going to walk down to close the front gate to the property, along that farm road. This was something that was normally done in the evenings, and no one paid me any mind. I walked out the back door of the house, then down along a driveway to the open pasture, toward the gate. I was following the outline of the dirt driveway across the open land in front of the house. I had a flashlight but was not using it. The farm was far enough away from "civilization" that there was very little if any ambient light, and I was trying to see how far I could get in the dark without using artificial light. On this night there was a half moon, and once my eyes adjusted I could see fairly well.

About two-thirds of the way from the house to the front gate, the cleared area ended, and the rest of the way down the driveway was through thick woods on both sides and a heavy canopy overhead. It was sort of a tunnel effect, and I knew it would be too dark for me to see anything once I got in there. So I was reaching to my back pocket for my flashlight, when I had the distinct sensation someone or something was walking nearby. I immediately thought of a wolf, or a bobcat or a feral hog, all of which I had seen running around those woods at one time another, and none of which I particularly wanted to encounter in the dark. I stopped suddenly to see if I could hear a footfall. I could not. I was still about forty feet from the woods, out in the open, so I looked around in the moonlight, but could not see an outline of anything. I started walking again, and immediately had the same sensation of not being alone. This time, I kept walking but glanced to my right, and that is when I saw myself.

It was an exact copy of me, clothes, hair, gait, everything. I stopped, and so did it. I did not feel fear, but did not turn to face the apparition full on, either, for fear of somehow losing it if I did. We stood and looked at each other (an awkward way of putting it) for several seconds, though it seemed longer. My spirit wraith never spoke (and neither did I), but somehow I got the sense it was trying to tell me, "Do not worry too much. Everything will be fine." Then I felt the strong compulsion to start walking again. I was right up to the edge of the woods by then, so I looked over to my right once again. And it was gone.

I should say at the time I had just been through the breakup of a long-term relationship and some setbacks otherwise, and was fairly depressed and had been drinking a lot recently, including that night. I am certain whatever I saw was not a drug- or alcohol-induced appariton, however. Either my desperate need at the time for some positive reassurance caused me to imagine this second me, or it was some other external stimulus that caused me to see myself, walking with myself, that night. I can say that at the time all my instincts were that what I saw was entirely outside myself, but somehow connected to me. And unlike many doppelgänger stories I've read, I sensed no malevolence at all. I felt quite calm and somehow reassured, not only at what I think my twin was trying to convey to me, but also at the thought that there was another me out there, with another agenda entirely, but also concerned for my well-being. Something like that.

I have had my share of bad times since, along with the good. I had other periods of excessive alcohol consumption, as well. However, this is the only experience I have ever had involving anything that could even remotely be considered paranormal.

In addition, I have never discussed this incident seriously with anyone.

I don't believe in ghosts, or aliens, or any of the other standard paranormal things one thinks of. But to this day I am sure I saw something that night.