Walking back to his car Frank heard someone utter. “Psst Buddy” out of the shadows. Wow, his first case and his first “Psst” from the shadows all in the same week. Things were really shaping up.

Frank walked towards the shadow to investigate but he became a bit disoriented. It was 6 pm and the Sun was shining directly on the bare front of a building. There should not have been any shadow to hide anything. A faint shimmer passed in front of his eyes further perplexing him.

Just then he realized some time had passed since the “Psst” and he’d been standing directly in front of the shadow for quite a while and it seemed to be waiting for him to speak.

“I’m sorry I’m confused,” said Frank.

“There’s no shame in admitting reality,” replied the shadow.

Either this guy is obtuse by his very nature or he’s being a smart ass, thought Frank.

“Um, did you want to tell me something. The “Psst” you uttered indicated you did.”

“I overheard your conversation with the barman”

“Strange, I didn’t see you in there.”

“I was there none the less.”

“Ok, for the sake of moving this along let’s just say you were there.”

“Well I heard you were looking for someone that looks like this gentlemen.” said the shadow producing a picture of Steven Simpson.

Strange, thought Frank. No visible arms or hands.

“Yes I am looking for Steven Simpson. “

“This gentleman may not be Steven Simpson. Steven Simpson has a doppelgänger.

Are you familiar with the term?”

“Yes. It’s some German word for a person who looks like someone else.”

“In a nutshell yes.”

“So I need to just find the other guy.”

“Well, one of the other guys.”

“Excuse me?

“Well there exists the probability that there may be more than one look alike in this town.”

How long have you lived in Boulder Mr. Bronski?”

“Oh just a couple months.”

“Well that’s not entirely true is it?”

Frank was a bit taken aback. He had actually lived in Boulder for 2 years a long time ago but left under auspicious circumstances. He had not made many friends back then and the type of people that he did know were most likely dead or incarcerated. So for a complete stranger, or shadow in this instance, to know that he was not brand new in town made him nervous. But really the shadows knowledge shouldn’t make him any more nervous than a talking shadow in the first place.

“Um no it is not true.”

“And you didn’t notice anything strange about the town?

“Besides the “trustafarians,” Naropa Gatherings and students burning couches? No not particularly.

“So you didn’t notice the unusual amount of Doppelgängers in town?”

“I might of had a few unexplained experiences with people I thought I knew but in those days there were, um, extenuating circumstances of the hallucinogenic variety”

“Those circumstances could have applied to many people but they did not cause doppelgängers.”

“So if Boulder has more than an average share of doppelgängers what is the cause?”

“Pull up a piece of the sidewalk and I’ll tell you.’…

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