What to do about food

It’s a little after 1am and I’m in front of the fast food shop.

There were already a few homeless people glimpsed in the shadows, all waiting for the blinds to come down on the front door.

I watched from further away than the homeless people.

As soon as the pile of rubbish was piled up and the shopkeeper was out of sight, the three men who had been hiding in the shadows started walking towards the shop at once.

The blinds at the front of the shop were still open.

The blinds were still open in front of the shop, and a young man was sitting in the street, drunk and chatting happily.

I followed them to the pile of rubbish and approached the shop in step with them.

As I followed them across the road I saw a car coming, I could have hurried past it but I stopped, “No need to rush, it’s not too late to let this car pass.” But I stopped.

The speed of the cars in the crowded streets of Shinjuku is very slow, and the drivers are very cautious because of the drunks and people who suddenly cross the road.

As one car passes, several more appear, one after the other. I waited until all the cars had passed and then crossed the road, but the trio were gone.

I looked around, but could not see them.

I had hoped to see some of the tricks of the trade, but in the short time I had been waiting for the car, I had lost sight of them.

What’s going on?

As I paused, one of the members of the group appeared from a dark alleyway beside the shop, holding a rubbish bag in his hand. He threw the bag into a pile of rubbish and walked towards the station.

I wonder if he’s already taken what’s in there?

I hurried into the alleyway from which the man had come, and saw two men in the dim light with their hands in their rubbish bags.

I’m a little surprised, but I don’t say it out loud.

It was the other two of the three men we had lost sight of. They glanced at us, but didn’t seem to care and didn’t stop rummaging through the rubbish bag.

In the past, I would have walked away, saying, “Gosh, I’ve seen something I shouldn’t have,” but now I can’t say the same.

If I run away here, I’ll just be hungry again. “I dared to approach and asked ” Do you have one? “, even though I didn’t know what was going on.

One of them said bluntly, “Yes, there is”, with only his face turned towards me. He continued, “Do you want one?” I was not expecting that.
I was expecting him to yell at me, “What the hell are you looking at?”

I thought he was going to shout at me, but he was much more friendly. I didn’t say, “yes, of course,” I said politely, “Yes.”

“Then put this back,” he said.

I was a little surprised that he wanted me to put the rubbish bag back where it belonged. I was a little surprised to hear him say that, because he was worried about what would happen to the bag after I had rifled through it.

I was a little surprised to hear him say, “Do you want? and worrying about the rubbish, the homeless man actually seems to be a decent human being, a kind person who cares for others.

I thought that they were all hard-hearted people, but they are not.

After they left, I put my hand into the trash bag that was left behind and felt various textures on my hand, mostly paper trash that you might find in a hamburger shop. One of them, wrapped in paper and about the size of a baseball, is soft to the touch.

I pull it out of the rubbish bag, it’s squashed, greasy, smells like coffee, but it’s definitely a hamburger. I dug my hand in again and found another one that felt the same, so I pulled it out too and hurried to put it in the plastic bag I had with me.

Quickly tying up the trash bag, I did as I was told, returning it to the pile of shops from the alleyway, and then, with an unsuspecting look on my face, I walked quickly towards the quiet south entrance.

It was a squat sphere, but thankfully it was wrapped. I carefully peel off the wrapping paper.

What emerges is a hamburger in its original form, but it is definitely a hamburger. When I put my nose close to it, I could smell the coffee, which had been thrown away with the coffee, but nothing else.

I took a small bite and didn’t swallow it immediately, just to make sure it didn’t taste funny.

After I had eaten everything, I wished I had eaten more slowly, but it was too late.

I hadn’t eaten since this morning, so I felt strangely satisfied just to have some food in my mouth.