Long Way From Home?

Posted by Lt. Dan Taylor

There is a young man who I have seen in my work a couple of times recently. As far as I can remember he has been wearing the same shirt every time. He is clean, his are clothes clean, his facial hair is trim and tidy but he has the feeling of someone lost or homeless.

Some of the girls have said they get the creeps from him. I can see why. He is always there for a couple hours just staring off into space or just watching people around him with a detached semi-smile on his face. He doesn't look menacing or crazy. Just... there.

Whenever he comes to the counter he knows what he wants and can talk well enough but has a slowness that goes with the whole creepy/lost feeling. Today he bought a tin of tea, out of the blue, and then asked me:
"Could you tell me where I am?"
"You mean, like, what streets we're at?" I asked. He shrugged a bit as if to say: 'sure.' So I told him the cross streets as I pointed and he almost reluctantly followed my gestures. Feeling as if I hadn't answered his question I asked:
"Where are you trying to go?"
He took a long sort of look at me then said:
"Well...Originally: Hershey Pennsylvania."
My face must have shown my complete bewilderment because he nodded and said:
"Well, thanks. 'Night." Then he sort of meandered out.

I still feel a little unsure about the whole situation. It had the feeling of in a movie or book when an angel or something comes to someone and asks them questions that they need to ask themselves but in a less literal way. "Could you tell me where I am?" or "Where are you trying to go?" Hershey Pennsylvania? It was so odd that I can't help but wonder about it still.