My little sister just came back from a class trip to Washington, DC. Apparently they spent a week touring the various landmarks and museums. While talking to her about that over the phone, I suddenly remembered something very odd which I witnessed several years ago in DC. In art school at the time, some friends of mine and I had gone down to the National Gallery for an exhibit which I no longer remember.

During some down time, I was sitting on a bench in sort of a lobby/foyer area by one of the side entrances. Across from me was an empty bench. I was sitting there, minding my own business, when an ordinary-looking man came in. He didn’t look at me, he didn’t sit down. All he did was quickly and discretely reach underneath the bench. He then had a full-size manilla envelope in his hand. Apparently it had been stuck under the bench all along. He again didn’t look at me or anyone else, didn’t do anything else bizarre or suspicious, and went back out the entrance to the street.

I sat completely shocked for a minute, then jumped up and out the door to see if I could find where he went. Maybe I would have followed him. Who knows. But he was gone - disappeared into the crowd. And that was that. I think in spy language they call that a “dead drop.” Who knows what it could have been. I wonder how often that type of shit must happen, and how often in that location. I should have gone back and set up a watch, but whoever it was, they probably rotate according to some schedule. And if I’d intercepted the envelope, maybe I wouldn’t even have been able to decode the message. I’ll never know, but it’s wild to have personal evidence of that type of thing occurring.