The Wrong Man

Railroad Fever: Songs, Jokes & Train Lore, a highly entertaining 1998 compendium by Wayne Erbsen of Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, N.C., includes this short-short horror story worthy of Jorge Luis Borges or Philip K. Dick:

The train stopped at a small depot and down stepped a man carrying two heavy suitcases. He finally found his way to the only hotel in town but was disappointed to hear that all the rooms were full. Having no place to stay, he pleaded with the clerk, who found a good-natured retired colonel who let him sleep in the extra bed in his room. Before he went to sleep, he asked the clerk to wake him at 6:30 a.m., as he had an early train to catch.

The next morning the bellhop greeted him with, "Good morning, Colonel." To his surprise, the doorman said the very same thing.

When he finally got on his train, he made his way to the washroom and looked in the mirror. "My God," he said, "they woke up the wrong man!"