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Stuart Revercomb

Stuart Revercomb is a marketing consultant and joyously married father of four children. He seems to remember someone once telling him he ought to be a writer. "The Unseen Here and Now" -- Thursdays.

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See if you can figure it out.

I'm standing outside this Chinese restaurant looking through the window. Inside are several customers standing in line. They are all quite different from one another. Some are large, some are small. Their economic backgrounds are clearly diverse, but there is a relaxed feeling in the air -- suits and ties seem to mix easily with blue jeans and uniformed shirts with names stitched above the pocket. It is the familiar spirit of contentment found among people who have known each other a long time. I can't quite hear what they're saying to one another, but their conversation is light and every so often several will laugh together over some joke.

The scene would be perfectly normal except for the fact that each individual is standing on a large wall calendar that displays a different month and year. Stranger still, none of the people in line seem to be asking for anything from the eight attendants on the other side of the counter, nor the seven cooks that sit behind them in front of one stove.

But everyone seems to be happy enough.

Suddenly, a big, robust fellow burst through the door and onto the scene. He glances at a stack of calendars by the door and keeps on walking. The way everyone looks at him makes it clear they know him and have met him before. A couple smile and nod hello, but the big guy just casts a wry sort of smile their way as he passes them and heads straight to the front of the line.

He motions for the manager of the restaurant to come over and leaning quietly over the counter whispers, "From now on I'll take all the Lo Mein you've got every day."

The owner blinks his eyes a couple of times and says, "But Tom, if you take all we've got there won't be any left for your neighbors there." Tom glances quickly behind him.

"Aw, that's OK. I'll pay you more than it's worth and you and I can give 'em enough to buy something else down the street," he says.

"There ain't nothing much available down the street, Tom," says the manager, "And I doubt we could afford to feed them all well no matter what you pay."

"Look," says Tom, "I'm your most important customer, aren't I ? Me and the boys keep you guys in business, don't we? If it wasn't for us you wouldn't serve anywhere near the food you do, and you know it."

"Yeah, I guess that's true," says the manager casting an unsure look first at his employees and then over Tom's shoulder to the people gathered behind him. One of them catches his eye and he responds with a conditioned smile. It disappears quickly as he returns his eyes to Tom's.

"I'll get today's ready as quick as I can," he says, "Come back in an hour."

Tom turns quickly and passing the small group in line doesn't say a word.

Oddly though, he does walk extremely close to each of them, leaving the smudged black outline of his boot sole on each of their calenders as he goes by.

They watch him leave through the dirty glass door and then return their gaze to the manager and his employees behind the bar who are all looking down and seem to be busy at their work. No sooner than he has left, Tom comes back through the door and returns to the front of the line. It hasn't even been a minute, but he says, "I'm back. Everything ready?"

The order is somehow all prepared and ready to go, so Tom writes the check and hands it to the manager. He cocks his head and winks. The manager smiles back. He has justified things in his mind with the idea that without Tom and his crew the rest of these customers would likely enjoy a great deal less business as well. Besides, they'll be getting some money for the sacrifice of having to walk several miles to the next restaurant.

Tom departs, and after waiting 20 minutes or so, the manager raises his hands and quieting everyone gives them the news.

He tells them they can pick up a check for $30 at the door.

A couple of folks quietly walk out, shaking their heads and talking in hushed whispers, but others give the manager an incredulous look.

"WHAT?!" one of them shouts. "Thirty dollars isn't enough to feed all my guys at the mill . That's hardly fair at all !"

"NO WAY!" declares another, "is that what you and Tom were talking about all this time? Sure seems like you could have mentioned this little deal a long time ago while we stood in line. You know Tom's been buying up people's meals for a while now, but I guess he got tired of paying what they were worth from them. I guess he just figured he could get a whole lot better deal by arranging this little agreement with you."

The manager responds with a well prepared statement about Tom's importance to all their livelihoods. One of the customers responds by asking, "What if one of us had the money? Or could raise enough to buy all the food you prepare for all of us? Why does Tom have the right to buy it before we do? We were never given a shot at the deal. Maybe all of us together would have paid more than Tom did for our food. Seems like we should have at least have the same right to offer as he does."

The manager hesitates and then stammers, "I ... I hadn't thought about that ..."

Everyone stands quietly for a while, and after several minutes the customers file out one by one saying nothing. As the last one leaves, a rush of wind comes through the open door rustling the pages of a big calender on the wall behind the counter. The scantily clad women pictured above each month dance up and down as the breeze lifts each page separately and then together and then separately again. Finally a big gust lifts the whole thing from its peg and it collapses in a skewed teepee on the floor. The dirty glass door to the shop swings shut.

Moments later a polished young man walks in. "I'll have two orders of Lo Mein," he says.

The man behind the counter points to a sign in the window.

"Sold out," he says.

Clarification: If you don't live in Roanoke you probably didn't much get this article, and it is certainly possible that it didn't make much sense even if you do live here. It probably depends on how much you have read the news lately regarding the biotech center proposed by the Carilion Health System. Click here for clarification.