SURPLUS AGENTS (based upon a true story)

  
  Now...imagine that when you were on the bus as a mode for proper transportation, no matter it be be business or pleasure, you had always seen this man.  Under a storm or on a mission of pleasure, you would see  him & sometimes out of many, he would be on the bus with you. He may get off at your stop, he may not, but for years, you looked at him each & every time that you've noticed him.  A typical stand out in the crowd. Always wearing the same colored blazer,slacks & shirt. UN-kept hair & beard.  You also thought that this man was a homeless mass of people.  He never had been known to speak by your eye, yet he seemed to be able to.  Through the nights & the rains that fell, the location never changed: Downtown.  

You would always see him downtown & he always seemed to ride the bus with a pass or for free.  Not a tall man, but about your height, whatever that height may be & he was never rude. Always direct & not so much indecisive.  You have looked at this man for about 3 years now.  Wearing the mask of a stranger & more undone when you know that it would be most pleasing just to know about the contents that he always carried in his brown leather brief case.  You had seen it so many times that when he rode the bus with you, you even could see that is had a dual gold combination dial & was made from brown leather with a tan obvious stitch in the seams.  How he placed both hands across his lap & said nothing to any passenger, least it be excuse me, pardon me or thank you to the driver.  Yeah.

 Then one spring day, you are on a seat near him & he speaks to you.  You remember the conversation, it went:


Him:  Hello(pushing his black rimmed glasses to his face, as he looked towards the front of the bus & you both sat to the rear. Finishing pushing his glasses to his brow, he turned to you & grinned)

You:...hey, what's goin' on bruh, how's the day?(in "whathefuckawethisniggaspoke!",expression internally)

Him: (placing the handle of his briefcase in his palms as it dangles between his legs & scoots closer to you.) There out here, you know....

You:(frowning with disdain concern, but cautious) Who?

Him: SURPLUS AGENTS. They wear the same kind of clothes that I do & they monitor us &  our behavior patterns.  They try to sync into what we are thinking, you understand?(raising his eyes & eyebrows in a spooking hinting Groucho Marx type of way.)

You: (Humorously intrigued, but interested) Really? Who are they watchin'? Black folks like me & you?

Him:  (he looks forward & around the bus, though the window is in the back of him, as he replies) Most of the time, but not all the time.  You see, once they know that you know about them, things change for you & now it's too late for me.  They are out here.  Looking & talking as we speak.( he rings the bus stop to get off)

You:  (Stunned by this & somewhat shocked & still.)  Thank you.  (you follow by offering your hand to shake in gratitude.)

Him(shaking your hand, directing the gaze into your eyes)...they
are always watching.

 He then exits out of the backdoor & you look to see if he would look at you as you see him standing at the bus stop & he hops on the first bus that was behind the one that you were on.  

Sometimes, when you would ride the bus downtown, you would always look out for him.  You had never seen him again & wondered if the SURPLUS AGENTS had captured him & put them away in a somewhat secret covert agency warehouse that was more like a prison, or killed him & he was cremated a John Doe?  Or perhaps he was never there at all? Wondering of the spell that he had shared with you & the awareness of what he had seemed to warn you about: SURPLUS AGENTS.  

Never saying their intentions, just that they are watching.  You continue to tell this tale to anyone that will listen & some do & many don't hear you.  This hasn't been deemed a mission of your shadowed-maybe  destiny, but it is a factor of it.  You are still you. No matter.  Now your goal is to recognize them, before you allow them to know about it, due to what was said to you, may be true.