Stream of Consciousness Saturday -Mirror, Mirror

Whenever I think about the chicken or egg problem, I think back to another puzzle. When I was a child, someone we visited in the family had one of those mirror sets that allowed you to see the back and front simultaneously through mirrors that opposed each other. Feeling silly, My sister and I would spend long periods gazing into our many reduced reflections, seemingly to infinity. This was much more interesting to us than either chickens or eggs. We knew we came first but were interested in how far back the images went. We could get lost in counting receding reflections or try to throw the others’ count off and start over again.

A more sinister thrill crept in after watching a show or listening to a story in which the images in the mirrors, the ones way, way in the back, did things on their own. They subtly scratched their nose when they thought you weren’t looking, stuck a tongue out at you, or did some other bit of mischief.
Eventually, this led to speculation that these were not just reflections but actual you’s, just living some other place, realm, or reality. We creeped ourselves out so badly that we never played the game again. We avoided the multiple mirrors when visiting that relative’s house and didn’t talk about our games anymore.

One of our medicine chests has a series of folding mirrored doors that create a similar effect of receding reflections. The other day, I was checking the closeness of my shave when I suddenly stuck my tongue out at my reflection. Was there the barest amount of hesitation in its response? Let’s not go down that rabbit hole.