Stranger than...

"Excuse me," this fellow says, approaching me on the city sidewalk this morning. "Could I ask you a favor? Take my picture and email it to me, so I can update my resume?"

I thought he might have been homeless--sweaty but clean, lugging all his worldly possessions in a huge duffel bag and fanny pack. His forced smile seemed troubled and harried; perhaps sleep-deprived.

I pondered the randomness for a second and then obliged.

"Okay," I replied. "Sure." Since I had my camera in my jeans pocket (as I pretty much always do), it was a convenient request.

"Oh man, thank you," he said. "Maybe a close up, then a full length body shot, then one without the bags?"

"Yeah, no problem."



He added, "How bout a profile shot?"

The stranger reviewed the pics, expressed his approval, and then wrote down his email address. When I asked his name, he simply added the initials M.A.

I told him I would send them off in a half hour. And I did. A quick google search for his email address turned up this expired Portland Craigslist ad, still lingering in the search engine cache:

EXCLNT. DRIVER 4 LONGER DELIVERY TRIPS clss C
Date: 2009-07-18, 5:29PM PDT Reply to: snappersnufflufugus@netzero.net. I'm looking for a driving job, something that takes me out of the portland metro ...

Feels like a true, sad mystery. Glad I didn't blow him off.

Hope the photos help him.