Excerpt from
Delusions of Sanity.
... It's strange, isn't it, how some people end up marrying someone who looks just like them. I know, that seems to come completely out of the blue, but there is a method to my madness.
You see, most mornings I stop by a coffee shop on my way to work. Sometimes to get a toasted sandwich for breakfast, sometimes just to get a drink, and occasionally just to pay the bill for the library's catering account. And every morning when I arrive there's always this couple sitting in the corner. Every morning without fail. Her with her coffee milkshake and him with his cappuchino.
The thing that always gets me about this couple though is the similarities. They both look so much alike! Honestly, you'd swear they were brother and sister ... at least you would until they started making out.
And this is a bit of a trend I've noticed in our society. You can see it in any Sunday paper on the weddings page. The number of people marrying partners that could be related to them is astonishing! Zeus knows, even my cousin married a girl who looked so much like him I almost did a double take the first time I met her.
I wonder why that is? I mean, you'd think the whole don't-marry-your-brother-or-your-kids-will-have-two-heads taboo would stop those sort of shenanigans, but it doesn't seem to have any effect. I wonder if they even realise they're doing it!
Of course, I remember reading an article once in a magazine that said we're instinctually attracted to people who have similar features to ourselves. Something about a subconscious desire to preserve genetic integrity. Of course, they were talking about things like the ratio of eyebrows to eyelids and the width of nostrils. Not the freaky similarities you see with some of these couples.
Hmm, it's interesting, isn't it. Perhaps I should write a paper about it, do a thesis or something. Of course, I'll have to be careful with my line of questioning. Somehow, I don't think "So, were you unaware you were marrying someone who looks like you're sister, or are you just into that sort of thing?" is going to go down so well...
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