Brown Paper Bag

It was just a normal workday lunch at the food court. People were lined up to purchase food and scurried around to find a seat to consume their food in the short time allotted by their employer to fill their bellies.

I was just like the rest of them, oblivious to the minutiae of interactions going on around them. My eyes were down, arms wrapped around my tray as I shoveled fried noodles and chugged my soda. Occasionally I glanced at my phone to confirm that there was sufficient time to finish my feast and hit the restroom.

As I stood up and grabbed my tray a stranger captured my gaze. Why she did, I do not know. Perhaps it was the noticeably loud sound of the high heels interacting with the tile with each step. She wore a business suit straight out of a catalogue; white blouse, black sport blazer and black long skirt, and her brunette hair tied in a ponytail. I couldn’t tell if she was attractive from where I was sitting. She had come up the escalator and turned her back to me.

The lady was holding something, I assumed a purse or handbag. She stopped near the far garbage receptacle leading out of the food court towards the boutique stores. She looked around and, once sure nobody was paying too close attention, reached over towards the receptacle. I could now see that she held neither a purse nor handbag, but a large, brown paper bag with the top folded down. She placed it casually with both hands on the edge of the receptacle and continued on her way.

I continued to watch as others dumped their trays and moved along. Nobody had considered what the paper bag could contain. On the other hand, I found it to be rather suspicious. Why did the lady look around before putting it down? Thinking about it now, she seemed to have a smile on her face. Was it sinister? No… she seemed to be genuinely smiling, like she was happy with what she was doing and what was going to happen.

Should the police be called, I wondered? Suspicious packages are usually a good reason to get the authorities involved, or at least I should inform the building security. Either option would be logical, but my mind turned to a third option. What if I were to see what was in the bag? More must have passed than I thought while weighing options because when I glanced at the time on my phone again, I was already ten minutes late.

Now that I was already running behind, I gave in to the urge to do the stupid thing. I was going to see what was in that bag. I made my way to the garbage receptacle and disposed of my trash. There was the brown paper bag. I reached out to touch it and froze. I looked around carefully only to be dizzied by a bump from others disposing of their waste. I stepped out of the way to avoid further unpleasantries. Once the last person had dumped their trays, I looked around once more. Nobody watching… check.

I grabbed the bag gently and made my way down the hall through the boutique shops. I was careful not to disturb the package. It felt solid, like there was a box or something square inside. I came upon an empty bench and sat down, placing the brown paper bag package beside me. The top was folded shut with scotch tape. I gently pulled the tape and opened the top. I had this strange nervous excitement. Was I doing something truly stupid, or was I about to find something amazing?

With the top open, I could see a folded piece of paper on top of a hard box like package now wrapped in black plastic. I slowly unfolded the paper to reveal a short message: To whomever finds this package, congratulations, you took a chance. Now your world is about to change forever.