a haunting man stood by the side of the road holding a cardboard sign. through the thick rain, it was hard to make out any details except that he was wearing a trench, an old baseball cap, and was holding a cardboard sign, which, like his face, was difficult to make out through the downpour. he never moved, just stood there, shoulders hunched, leaning on the signpost.
was he hungry? sick? tired? or broke? should I let him into my broken down pickup truck, stalled on the side of the road? or just sit here in the rain, staring at him?
i clenched my Styrofoam coffee cup closer and stared. slowly he looked up and stared back, his eyes were hidden by the shadow of his hat, but i could feel them boring into me, searching through my soul. the power in my car sputtered, the lights flickered and my radio turned on and flipped through its channels. it stopped on a woman's voice soaring through an operetta, hitting every high note imaginable. i couldn't make out the foreign words, but i didn't need to; she was speaking of love and passion, life and beauty, glory and freedom, everything that made a person whole.
my heart bleeding, i tore my eyes of the radio to look at the man, now standing in the middle of the street, eyes fixed on me, cardboard sign dangling by his side. he nodded at me and we stared at each other for a few long moments. suddenly a smile slowly traced its way across his face and he thrust his arms to the heavens and laughed, "that's it!" lightning struck him, sending sparks flying off the asphalt; the woman on the radio kept singing, her voice soaring higher then ever before.
when my vision cleared, i looked out onto an empty highway. i threw myself out of the truck and ran to the spot in which the man had been standing. He had disappeared. all I found was a cardboard sign on which had been written, "in search of my deeper meaning."
after that my entire life lost its meaning. i couldn't think or concentrate on anything with out my mind wandering back to the man on the highway and the words on his sign. my job as a stewardess for worldwide airlines, was boring me, i was tired of spending my life cooped up, wearing that stupid skirt suit, directing people to the emergency exits and passing out little bags of peanuts; my life was lacking something and I didn't exactly know what.
about three months after my truck had broken down, i turned my radio on and found myself listening to a familiar voice, singing an operetta that had once before tugged at my soul. it was calling to me, begging me to reevaluate my life and pointing me to what my life was missing. without a second thought i left all that i had come to know and cherish and, taking up my own cardboard sign, i went in search of my deeper meaning.