Why There is a Package of Crumbled Pop-Tarts in My Console

Today, Mal and I took advantage of our family annual membership to the Austin Aquarium (which has gotten SO much better/bigger than when it opened!). Mal is getting more comfortable around the fish, which is cool. He's still freaked out by BIG fish on his level, and I understand that.

Oh! There's a lemur cage when you first walk in, and this beautiful black-faced and otherwise brown lemur was sitting on a branch watching people come in. He had a super long stuffed snake (available in the gift shop!) on the floor. I figured he must really liked stuffed animals, because look...

I seriously thought this hammock of about 10 lemurs was stuffed animals for a hot minute! They were just piled in there, and until I REALLY watched the one face you can actually see and it moved a bit, I thought the other lemur (the only one that doesn't look like these ring-tailed) just LOVED his stuffies. :D

They all got up later and were grooming each other. Man, they're adorable!

After the aquarium, of course Mal wanted to look around the gift shop. While he did, I was kind of accidentally eavesdropping on what seemed to be a job interview (or a contract pitch?). We were just in the vicinity and I have good hearing.

Anyway, one of the employees said, "Thanks; we'll talk to a manager and get back with you." The guy they were talking to then asked if he could see the r/o system. The employee said, "I have to get to work, but hold on and I'll get someone to show you around." The guy explained that was his milieu; he had gone to Haiti after the earthquake and tsunami in 2010.

At some point, I had to use the restroom, and when I got back, this guy had changed shirts. I might not have noticed if he hadn't left his starched pink (with blue stripes!) shirt and tie draped over... what appeared to be almost everything he owned, in one of the chairs in the reading area.

Mal had me look at some books with him and showed me a few trinkets while I took in information: He had a backpack, a large "tote" that is bigger than my 13-gallon trash can, a coat, the clothes he was wearing, and the clothes he'd just removed (I assume he had on a t-shirt under). He was well-kept enough not to have that "transient" look in his eyes and manner. But he was carrying an inordinate amount of stuff.

By the time the other employee came out and told him that he could only show him pictures of the reverse osmosis system, it was obvious that this gentleman is on the Autism spectrum. He looked at the pictures and asked questions for a while, then the employee left.

"That's the smallest r/o system I've ever seen. I'm used to dealing with ones that are this big," he said, referring to the chair.

"Did I hear you say you were in Haiti?" I asked.

He said yes, that the Texas National Guard responded in Haiti shortly after the 2010 tsunami. I asked him where he was: Port au Prince. I explained that when we went in 2013, we found it to be a lovely country, but he insisted I was glad I did not go during recovery; I'm sure he's right. He couldn't remember exactly how long they were there.

Mal was bored and ready to go by this point. I'd ordered half of our meal from Chick-fil-A (yay, mobile ordering!) and he complained, "I'm hungry!" I told him I was almost done, but the gentleman, who was packing up all of his stuff to leave, said, "If your mom will let you, maybe later you can have a PopTart."

I thought he was just being aspirational, but then he dug through his pack and reached out toward Mal... with a sealed PopTart foil.

He said, "You have to be careful with those, because they're kind of broken up; but that's easier for your mom. She can put them in a bowl and pour milk over it and call it cereal. That's what my mom used to do."

So. That's why I have a package of crumbled PopTarts in the console of my car. I don't know what to do with them. I don't know what flavor they are. Sometimes I have hypoglycemia emergencies, so maybe I'll be desperate enough to open them and eat it then. The guy was being genuinely kind; I just didn't expect a stranger to give my kid PopTarts at the aquarium. It reminded me a lot of the homeless guy who used to give us wet wipes. Sometimes, you find kindness in the more interesting places.