It turns out what she had actually said was "Oh, hello, Josh, how nice to see you!"
Once I'd moved out of the way and she was still stood there staring at me with a smile on her face, I realised she must have said something else.
"Josh?" she asked, wondering why her old buddy was ignoring her.
I didn't quite understand what she was talking about, so I paused for a moment and tried to make sense of it.
"No, that's not Josh," said my Mum, “it’s Adam."
"Oh, is it?" she replied, clearly very surprised and also at least a little bit sad.
"Yes, I'm Adam," I said, now understanding the confusion.
"You must have a double then,“ she said, addressing me again. "You look just like Josh, same height, same face and especially the hair."
"Well, I'm sorry but I'm afraid I don't know anybody who's identical to me," I replied.
"Oh, that's okay!" she said and then continued her walk around the supermarket.
It was all quite strange, I thought. I'm sure we've all had a time when we've mistaken a stranger for somebody we know, but then there's always that moment of recognition after a moment or so, but this woman still thought I was Josh even after she'd approached me and been looking at me for quite some time. In fact, it was only after she was actually told that I wasn't Josh that she gave up hope of me being him. If only I had realised what she had said in the first place, perhaps I could have gone along with it and saved her any embarrassment, but then again, goodness rarely stems from deceit! Let's hope she and Josh had a good laugh about it the next day.
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