The Stranger

She is enjoying lunch with her best friend and colleague at her usual table in her favorite cafe. The cafe is located on the ground floor of her office building. She meets her friend here for lunch seemingly every weekday. On this day, however, her colleague notices a striking young man sitting two tables away. The young man is sitting alone and enjoying lunch himself, but is consistently looking in their direction.

The colleague taps her on her shoulder, “Look over there, but don’t stare. Do you see that young man? He keeps looking in our direction.” She takes a quick look. Her colleague asks, “Do you know him?” She replies, “No, I have never seen him before. “Surely he is not looking at us, we are way too old for him.” They both chuckle to themselves.

The young man finishes his lunch and signs his bill. He gets up from his table and proceeds to walk in their direction. The colleague taps her again on the shoulder, “Don’t look now, but he is coming this way.”

Suddenly the young man is standing before their table. He addresses her, “Good Afternoon.” Good Afternoon.” She replies and asks, “Can we help you Sir.” The young man digs into the front pocket of his slacks and pulls out a small object. He places the object on the table directly in front of her. She picks the object up and notices that it is a small polished wooden piece, cut smoothly into a thin oval, about an inch long. “What is this?” She nervously asks. “It is the letter ‘I’ from the alphabet and I want you to have it.” The young man turns and hastily walks away to avoid answering any further questions. He exits the cafe onto the sidewalk and disappears out of sight. “Well, that was odd.” her colleague proclaims. “Yes it was.” she replied. Still confused about the entire interaction, she places the small wooden ‘I’ into her purse.

The following day, She is having lunch with her colleague again at their usual table in the cafe. They both again notice that the same young man is in the cafe sitting at the same table as yesterday. Only now the young man is enjoying his lunch without looking in their direction, seemingly to have no further interest with the two women. “Maybe he has given up on these two old ladies.” her colleague jokenly states. They both chuckle to themselves and pay the young man no further attention.

The two ladies forgot about the young man, enjoyed their lunch and engaged in conversation. The young man suddenly stood before their table, startling them both. He addresses her again, “Good afternoon.” She again replies, “Good Afternoon.” She stares at the young man with a confused look as he digs into his front pocket. He pulls out another little wooden letter and places it on the table in front her. She sees that it is cut into the letter ‘A’. Before she could speak, the young man turned and hastily walked towards the door of the cafe, out onto the sidewalk and disappeared.

This scenario played itself out the same way for several more days. Each time the young man pulls out a wooden letter of the alphabet from his pocket and places it on the table in front of her. The letters that he gives her seem randomly chosen. She is unable to make sense of what these letters are supposed to mean or signify, but she keeps them and puts them into her purse.

On the tenth day, she again sits at her favorite table in the cafe. This time she sits alone without her colleague. She appears depressed. Tears lines are slightly visible on her face from where she had cried earlier. She quietly orders her lunch. All of this is visible to the young man who is enjoying his lunch at his same table. The young man calls for the waitress and pays for his meal even before finishing it. He gets up and walks over to her table. He addresses her, “I would say Good afternoon as usual, but I can see you are sad and have been crying.” She nods her head yes. “May I sit down.” the young man asks. She replies, “With due respect, sir, I would rather be alone.” the young man tries again, “Please?” She looks at him, “If you insist. I see you are not going to leave until I invite you to sit down.” The young man takes a seat.

There is an awkward and silent pause before the young man speaks, “Why are you so sad today. What is wrong?” She explains,”Today is a significant date to me.” He responds, “Significant date and you are sad. Did you lose someone close to you on this date?” “Lost someone, yes. I never had the chance to know him.” She continues, “I gave him up at birth. Today is his birthday.” the young man asks, “Do you know where he is now, how he is doing?” She responds, “No.” He continues, “Have you ever thought about finding him?” “Many times.” She replied. “Why didn’t you?” She begins to sigh, “I regret giving him up, but couldn’t bear it if he hated me for it.” The young man tries to comfort her, “Maybe he would understand that you were trying to give him a better life.” She mumbles, “ I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” The young man pulls out a notepad and writes, “Here is my number. If you change your mind.” She takes the number, folds it and places it in her purse. “I doubt it, but thanks.” She tells him.

The young man gets up and starts to turn, then stops and turns back towards her. “I almost forgot.” He pulls out another wooden letter ‘N’ from his pocket, places it on the table and slides it in front of her with his finger. “This is the last letter I have to give you.” Before she could speak, he hastily exited the cafe to the sidewalk and disappeared.

She frantically pulls the handful of the wooden letters that she saved from her purse and poured them onto the table. She knew now that these letters must have some significance, but it is a riddle she is unsure how to solve. The seemingly random letters made no sense, until she had an idea. She thought to herself, “What if I put the letters together in the order that he gave them to me?” She thought back to remember the order and began arranging them in that order. When finished, she gazed at the string of letters and began to cry uncontrollably.

‘ IAMYOURSON ‘