A Familiar Face

The mother looked at her baby. The little one was barely a year old. She took him up, showed him a doll with a bell inside and wriggled it back and forth so it made a sound.

– Look at the little doll, she said. Dolly dolly dolly doll! Ringy ringy ring! Ring! Is it a funny doll? Isn’t it a nice doll? Do you like the doll? Does the doll like you?

The child smiled and took the doll. He shook it back and forth prattling happily. He let go of the doll, which fell to the ground. It was impossible to tell whether he let it go on purpose, just to see what would happen, or if he lost it. He babbled something and smiled a bit wider, but when the doll just remained on the ground, he twisted his face and decided to cry. The mother sighed and bent down to pick it up.

A couple at the next table observed them with increasing curiosity.

The baby stretched out his little arms for the doll, and when his mother finally gave it to him, he laughed and said:

- Grazie! Grazie, grazie, grazie! Grazie mille!

The mother tickled him and laughed with him.

– Yes you got your doll! Are you happy now? Really happy wappy lappy happy? Who got the nice doll? Can you say ”thanks”?

Finally, the woman at the next table could not restrain herself, and with a slight accent she said:

– He just did, didn’t he?

– Did what? the mother asked, surprised.

– He just thanked you, the man at the next table clarified.

– He didn’t, did he? I did not hear it.

– He said ”grazie”.

– And…?

– That’s thank you in Italian, you know.

– No, I did not know that.

– He has been speaking Italian to you all the time, while we have been sitting here.

– Italian? He can’t have.

– I assure you. Is his dad Italian?

– No. I do not know anyone who is Italian. I’ve hardly ever met anyone who’s Italian. I’ve never been to Italy.

– So how come your baby is speaking Italian?

– I have no idea. He can’t be. Are you sure?

– Gianni! Gianni! came a voice from the other side of the square.

A lady with auburn hair was looking around with worried eyes. The baby babbled something and yelled. The auburn lady turned towards them and came running. She said something to the baby, who hugged his doll and babbled something back. There followed a brief discussion in Italian between the auburn lady and the couple, and the man finally turned to the mother.

– She says that this is her child. Could that be true?

– Oh, dear! Not again!

– Again?

– I have prosopagnosia. I do not recognise faces. We have been at a playground, and when I left, I took a child I thought was mine. 

The couple turned to the Italian lady and explained. After a minute, they turned back to the mother.

– She says that there actually was a baby of about the same age with the same little green jacket. From a distance, she at first thought it was hers, but it obviously wasn’t. That child spoke only Japanese. He’s still there.

– Japanese? My child doesn’t speak Japanese. At least not as far as I know. I wonder for how long he’s been doing that.