The Invisible Man

I didn't notice him when first I sat down at the crowded table in Panera's. The bowl of steaming broccoli soup and half a turkey sandwich and the cup of rich dark peach tea held my full attention. I was ravenous. I selected a small table in the back area behind the firepit where there was less commotion, though the whole place was hopping. I chowed down for a few minutes on the sandwich until I took the edge off my hunger.

I took a long slow sip of the hot tea, held the soothing liquid in my mouth a few minutes before swallowing, enjoying the warmth spreading through my chilled body. Then I sat back munching a few chips and looked around at my fellow bread breakers. There were couples and families and student groups and singles and business people and workmen. What a mix of community sections. This is a popular place.

As I finished my sandwich, one lone guy caught my attention. He seemed a bit nervous, sitting in the dark far corner, eyeing the lunch crowd. Every once in awhile he got up, went over to the trash cans, poked around a bit, then went back to his seat. A couple of times he filled up a paper cup with water and swigged it down. Odd. No one else seemed to pay him any attention.

It took me awhile to catch on. He was tracking when someone threw away perfectly untouched food. Sometimes an unopened bag of chips, sometimes an unwanted roll. He examined them carefully, then shoved them into his backpack. Curious, I continued watching him discretely, trying not to stare directly at him. While I finished my lunch, he snagged a number of food items including several apples.

I noticed that he was wearing sandals and shorts, peculiar attire for the coldness of the air outside. His sweatshirt seemed thick and warm though. I wondered. He was fairly young with rough calloused hands. What was his game? How long had he sat in Panera's unnoticed, plucking food from the garbage? Was he just out of work? This place was too far from downtown for this to be a homeless vagrant. He seemed cleanshaven enough.

An idea began to form in my head. In the trunk of my car was a bag of clothes I was planning to drop in a Goodwill box. I hadn't gotten around to it. I knew there was a pair of jeans in good condition and a pair of sneakers that looked to be this young man's size. Right outside the window was a trashcan. It might work.

I gathered my lunch remains and cleared out, heading for my car. I opened the trunk and picked up the bag of clothes, walking back towards the trashcan outside Panera's. I made sure to bump against the window repeatedly, making noise about what I was doing, holding up the jeans and the sneakers before dropping them in the can. Then I walked back to the car and pulled out of the parking space.

Discreetly, I nosed into another space with full view of the can and waited. Minutes later, the young man came outside, looked around, then headed to the trash can. He pulled out the jeans and sneakers and a few other things and quickly tucked them into his pack and took off across the parking lot.

Well, now. I wonder if he really needed that stuff or if he was just a rag picker making money off discards. Either way, no one else in Panera's seemed to have noticed him at all. It was as if he didn't exist. Or was invisible. I wonder how often I have missed invisible people in the normal course of a day. Probably a lot.