Ann or Anne?

Mandy had volunteered at the town book club since the spring, and on Saturday morning she was in charge of the sign-in table. A long list of names lay in front of her, and two women were already waiting at the door.

“Are you Ann?” she asked the first woman. “No, I’m not,” the woman replied, smiling. “I’m Anne, with an e. People always get it wrong.” Mandy ran her finger down the list until she found the right spelling. “Is this your name?” “Yes, it is.”

A tall man arrived next, looking slightly lost. “Are you new here?” Mandy asked him. “Yes, I am. I’m Leo.” She noticed a boy standing a step behind him. “Is he your brother?” “No, he’s my friend Dan,” Leo explained. “He wanted to see what a book club is like.”

Then Mandy realised that something did not add up. She had two names on the list that looked almost the same, and she could not tell who was who. “Is Ann here?” she asked the room. A woman with red hair waved. “Yes, I’m Ann!” At last Mandy understood: the two women were friends.

“Are you friends?” Mandy asked them. “Yes, we are,” they said together, and the whole room laughed. Mandy wrote both names on the list in capital letters so that nobody would mix them up again. “Is the club ready?” she asked, closing her notebook. “Yes, it is!”