The Stranger I can still remember the first time I saw him. It was around 4 am on an otherwise normal weekday morning.   I usually get to the shop between 3:30 and 4 and turn on the open sign automatically when I walk through the door.   The bakery doesn't officially open until 5, you understand, but, in a little town like Big Lake, who stands on ceremony, right?  

We're all creatures of habit, and, with me, if I don't flip the switch when I walk through the door, it might never get turned on the rest of the day, and I don't usually get any customers earlier than 5, anyway, so what's the problem with a sign announcing I'm open a little earlier than I'm supposed to be?

Well, I was going about my normal rounds of getting ready for the day's baking schedule, when I looked up and saw him standing at the counter.  Just standing there.  I didn't see him enter, and I didn't hear the bell on the front door, which was kinda strange, because I chose the bell especially because it tinkled quietly, but readily when the door opened. And, I thought there was a lot of charm in the old style door entrance bell instead of those insufferable buzzers you get nowadays at every convenience store you go to, the kind that drive you crazy when you enter, and you can't imagine how anyone could put up with that sound hour after hour and day after day.......but there he was......just quietly leaning there, almost like he appeared out of nowhere.  

Now, let's get one thing straight;  I'm not like some people out there who throw salt over their shoulder when they spill it, and I don't go out of my way to avoid crossing the path of a black cat walking in front of me, so I don't have a problem with things that go bump in the night and all that.  So, I didn't give much thought to him just standing there so suddenly.    Now, don't get me wrong. It's not like I'm particularly alert to all that's going on around me, or anything.    The truth is, I'm constantly being told that I live in my own little world, and don't pay much attention to things happening around me.  

For instance, my folks took me to San Angelo to be born, but brought me home three days later, and I've been here ever since.  But, in spite of the fact that I was brought up in this town, and spent all my growing up life here, I still depend on my wife, who was actually born here, to remind me of  who it is I know and who I don't.    That's just one of the things wives are really good at doing, right?  They thrive on stuff like that, like reminding you of things you've forgotten, and finding things you've lost, and I'm glad to help out with the cause whenever I can.  

So the fact that this strange looking little guy suddenly appears at the counter at a time when almost no one else is around didn't particularly bother me.  Hey, stranger things have happened, but that's another story for another time. But, there he was, just leaning on the counter, like it was a bar, and he was just looking at me, sorta like he knew me.  Now, some people might have described him as strange looking.  

I guess the sunglasses at 4 am might have seemed a bit curious to some people, but when you've been around as much as I have in the early morning hours, you really do get to where illogical things don't surprise you anymore.  Like the weird stuff you learn by delivering a on a morning paper route, for example.

You see, I ran a  route for over 8 years before I started the bakery.  No, it wasn't the boy on a bike kind of local route, and I know that some of you have done that.  When I hear someone talk about that kind of paper route, my reaction is kinda like Crocodile Dundee's in the movie, when the street punk comes up to him with a knife, and he's not particularly impressed, and then pulls his own large blade and says, "Now, THAT'S a knife!!"    (That's a great line, and you gotta love that movie.) No, it was a three-city, two-area-papers kind of route that took in 160 miles of West Texas roads every day, starting at 3 am.  Now, THAT'S a paper route!!!     

Anyway, it's amazing the things you can learn about a town and the people in it from observing all that goes on in the early morning hours before everyone wakes up and starts moving around.  

I mean, you get to know where all the vehicles are normally parked, and it's noticable when one of them is parked where it isn't supposed to be.  Sometimes, you even learn more than you want to. He was kinda pale.   No, not Crocodile Dundee, the stranger at the counter!   Stay with me here, we're back at the bakery, now.                     

To Be Continued..................