When Your Doppelgänger Dies

The Meeting of Dante & Beatrice in Paradise painted by Dante Gabriel Rosetti.

I met Aaron in the third grade. We were playing dodge ball at school when I noticed a frail, mousy kid cowering behind Jenny Lichtman. He looked just like me. He had my dirty brown hair, big Jewish schnoz and ever-present squint as if life was too much too handle with open eyes.

I felt an immediate revulsion. I lifted the red rubber ball and hurled it toward him striking him in the face. He yelped like a wounded…