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Foxy Lady
Star
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2014
- Location
- United Kingdom
‘Excuse me, are you alright?’
The question shook me back to the present. I’d gradually got used to shop assistants calling me Mrs Wherry. Some even commented how unusual it was. I’d found myself forced to use Wherry as my name. Online orders, for example, required the purchaser’s billing name and address. Even in shops it was easier to use the name on the card. How else could I explain why I had a different name without arousing suspicion?
So more and more of my post came in my new name. Some because it related to my accounts, some because I had had to use the name, and the rest because someone was arranging for it to be sent to me. It would not have come as a surprise to find the name on my door at work changed, but it wasn’t. There, I was still Ms Chandler. At least for the moment.
Having two identities can be useful. I’ve got to admit that I got a secret thrill out of using a false name, like I was some secret agent or a criminal on the run. But that didn’t stop me wondering. What was going on? Who was doing this? And just as important: why were they doing it? There had to be a point, surely. It couldn’t just be some kind of joke or experiment. Could it? That was what I was pondering as I sipped my coffee in Starbucks.
‘Excuse me, are you alright?’
I turned to the man sitting at the next table.
‘Sorry,’ I said, ‘I was distracted. What did you ask?’
‘I asked if you were OK. I wouldn’t have spoken, only you look like something’s troubling you.’
‘You wouldn’t believe it if I told you,’ I replied.
‘Try me,’ he said. So I did.
‘And that,’ I concluded, ‘is why I am puzzled. Who is doing this and why?’
He moved across to join me at my table.
‘Maybe those are the wrong questions,’ he suggested.
‘Really? What question would you ask then?’
‘How?’ he replied. ‘Work out how the person got the name changed on your accounts and that may tell you who did it and that may help you understand why.’
‘I’ve thought about the how bit, but I just don’t understand it. It would take a lot of technical expertise to be able to forge my new cards to work just like the old ones and then get into my accounts online and change my name there. That would require access to all sorts of specialist equipment to print the cards and insert the data.’
The guy laughed.
‘You’re trying to make this too complicated. The how bit, as you call it, is real easy.’
‘OK,’ I said, ‘tell me how, but first tell me your name.’
‘That’s even easier,’ he grinned. ‘I’m Andrew Antrim. Call me Andy. And what shall I call you?’
‘Call me Dona,’ I smiled. ‘And then tell me how this could be organised so easily.’
TO BE CONTINUED
The question shook me back to the present. I’d gradually got used to shop assistants calling me Mrs Wherry. Some even commented how unusual it was. I’d found myself forced to use Wherry as my name. Online orders, for example, required the purchaser’s billing name and address. Even in shops it was easier to use the name on the card. How else could I explain why I had a different name without arousing suspicion?
So more and more of my post came in my new name. Some because it related to my accounts, some because I had had to use the name, and the rest because someone was arranging for it to be sent to me. It would not have come as a surprise to find the name on my door at work changed, but it wasn’t. There, I was still Ms Chandler. At least for the moment.
Having two identities can be useful. I’ve got to admit that I got a secret thrill out of using a false name, like I was some secret agent or a criminal on the run. But that didn’t stop me wondering. What was going on? Who was doing this? And just as important: why were they doing it? There had to be a point, surely. It couldn’t just be some kind of joke or experiment. Could it? That was what I was pondering as I sipped my coffee in Starbucks.
‘Excuse me, are you alright?’
I turned to the man sitting at the next table.
‘Sorry,’ I said, ‘I was distracted. What did you ask?’
‘I asked if you were OK. I wouldn’t have spoken, only you look like something’s troubling you.’
‘You wouldn’t believe it if I told you,’ I replied.
‘Try me,’ he said. So I did.
‘And that,’ I concluded, ‘is why I am puzzled. Who is doing this and why?’
He moved across to join me at my table.
‘Maybe those are the wrong questions,’ he suggested.
‘Really? What question would you ask then?’
‘How?’ he replied. ‘Work out how the person got the name changed on your accounts and that may tell you who did it and that may help you understand why.’
‘I’ve thought about the how bit, but I just don’t understand it. It would take a lot of technical expertise to be able to forge my new cards to work just like the old ones and then get into my accounts online and change my name there. That would require access to all sorts of specialist equipment to print the cards and insert the data.’
The guy laughed.
‘You’re trying to make this too complicated. The how bit, as you call it, is real easy.’
‘OK,’ I said, ‘tell me how, but first tell me your name.’
‘That’s even easier,’ he grinned. ‘I’m Andrew Antrim. Call me Andy. And what shall I call you?’
‘Call me Dona,’ I smiled. ‘And then tell me how this could be organised so easily.’
TO BE CONTINUED