I’m reminded of the story that was told about meeting a relative when he was visiting family in Kenya. The older relative thought he was a boy named Mark (? IIRC). Then his aunt, or grandmother mentioned that this was Barack/Barry, and that Mark had been killed in a car accident or something? I’m going off pure memory on this, so bear with me if I’ve remembered wrong. That COULD explain the whole “twin” theory.
EXCERPT:
...I remember how, a few days after my visit to Sarah’s, Auma and I happened to run into an acquaintance of the Old Man’s outside Barclay’s Bank. I could tell that Auma didn’t remember his name, so I held out my hand and introduced myself. The man smiled and said, “My, my-you have grown so tall. How’s your mother? And your brother Mark-has he graduated from university yet?” At first I was confused. Did I know this person? And then Auma explained in a low voice that no, I was a different brother, Barack, who grew up in America, the child of a different mother. David had passed away. And then the awkwardness on all sides-the man nodding his head (“I’m sorry, I didn’t know”) but taking another look at me, as if to make sure what he’d heard was true; Auma trying to appear as if the situation, while sad, was somehow the normal stuff of tragedy; me standing to the side, wondering how to feel after having been mistaken for a ghost.