The one-footed, ponytailed, book-stealing Texas latte fiend

I found something rather odd this weekend, and I thought I'd share it with you. First off, bibliophiles out there may be aware of the work of New Hampshire-based author Joe Monninger, who, in addition to writing both fiction and non-fiction, currently serves as the Artist-in-Residence at my alma mater, Plymouth State. If you have not already read his memoir "A Barn in New England", you should. Anyway, I was reminded of Joe this weekend- beneath a bench in Boston's Public Garden, I found one of those little Nike drawstring "backpacks". Since it looked relatively new, I went through it in an attempt to identify the owner.

The strange (and sometimes alarming) contents were:
1. $3
2. twenty six folded Xerox copies of a coupon for a free pastry with the purchase of a latte at Au Bon Pain (expired Aug of 2006)
3. One large (clean) men's sock- just one
4. The head of a "rubber ducky" bathtoy- just the head
5. An interview with Crispen Glover printed from some website
6. One of those "shoppers' club" keytags from "Market Street"supermarket, which Google tells me only operates in central and west Texas
7. A fluffy purple hair scrunchie (odd considering the men's sock)
8. A copy of Joe Monninger's "Home Waters" book, stamped as being from the Minneapolis Public Library, and further stamped as being"officially dismissed" from said library.

There was nothing further in the bag, and after waiting 20 minutes or so around that bench, the owner never turned up. What we can surmise about this person- they shop for groceries inTexas but use Minnesota libraries; they have long hair; they have one foot; they really like Au Bon Pain pastries but don't own a calendar; and they either really like or really hate rubber duckies. I emailed Joe about this, and I think he was as amused as I was. While quite talented, Joe is not exactly a household name (yet), so it was certainly odd to find his book within this odd conglomeration of crap in a little Nike Bag. Small world, eh?