Read The If Game for Free Online Page A

he was someone he wasn’t. He said, ‘All right, if you think I know you, tell me who I am. You don’t even know my name.’
    â€˜Not know you? I’ve known you since you were a baby.
    You’re Deedie,’ the woman said. She turned round to address the rest of the company. ‘Here’s Deedie, playing the usual games, pretending he doesn’t know us. What do you think of that?’
    Stephen had the impression that the people seated round the table were all standing up and staring at him, with angry eyes. But he didn’t wait to see more. Shaken to the core, he turned and ran for the door in the wall. The key was still in his hand. He pushed it into the keyhole, turned the wooden knob and, to his relief, found himself on the pavement outside.

7
    Stephen went home, disturbed. It seemed that here, in the town he’d lived in all his life, there were people who thought they knew him, whom he was supposed to know. It had been bad enough when it was only the old man. He could explain that to himself as a mistake made by an old man’s failing eyesight. But the people today hadn’t been old and there were several of them. Worse, and more puzzling still, they had known his name. Not his name today, but the name he’d been called by when he was very young and couldn’t pronounce ‘Stephen’ himself. It was enough to make him feel dizzy, without the extra pressure of the feelings he had when he saw a door and knew he had to go through it.
    There must be some sensible explanation. He would have to tackle Dad, and that needed courage. Dad hated to be asked questions and generally managed not to answer them. Stephen considered. He tried all sorts of explanations of what had happened, but they all seemed ridiculous and impossible, until the great idea suddenly struck him. This would account for everything, even Dad’s attitude. That evening he waited until the meal was over, but before Dad could get interested in any of the television programmes or start reading the paper again, Stephen said, ‘Dad! I want to ask you something.’
    His dad pushed his chair back from the table and said, ‘Go on, then.’
    â€˜Did you adopt me?’
    He saw at once that the answer would be ‘No’. Hisdad’s face expressed utter astonishment. He said, ‘What on earth put that idea into your head?’
    â€˜I told you about the old man who thought he knew me?’
    â€˜You haven’t seen him again?’
    â€˜No. But I met some other people, and they thought they knew me, too.’
    â€˜What sort of people?’
    â€˜I don’t know. A lot of women.’
    â€˜What did they tell you?’ Dad asked.
    â€˜They didn’t tell me anything. They just seemed to think I knew them. So I thought perhaps you’d adopted me and there was someone from wherever I came from who looked just like me. Like a twin.’
    â€˜I did not adopt you and you never had a twin,’ Dad said.
    â€˜It’s funny, then. I don’t mean that sort of funny. I don’t like it.’
    Dad was silent for a time. Then he said, ‘When you say they seemed to know you, what did they say?’
    â€˜They talked as if I’d been invited to the party.’
    â€˜What party? You didn’t say a party.’
    â€˜A birthday party. For the little boy.’
    â€˜You didn’t say a little boy, either.’
    â€˜He was called Chris. They seemed to think I knew all about them.’
    Dad thought. ‘Was that man there? The one you said started talking to you.’
    â€˜Ages ago, you mean? No, he wasn’t.’
    â€˜These other people. What did they look like?’
    Difficult. He hadn’t really looked at them carefully. He said, ‘Ordinary. But they knew my name. What it used to be.’
    â€˜What d’you mean, “used to be”?’
    â€˜They said Deedie. One of the women said she’d knownme since I