Free The Elephant of Surprise (The Russel Middlebrook Series Book 4) by Brent Hartinger

would gather around the Dumpsters. It wasn't easy to get inside—supermarkets have Dumpsters that lock for a reason. But I got to know them. Eventually I started 'accidentally' leaving it unlocked. And I got to talking to them. I liked them. It wasn't too long after that we lost the house."
    "So you were homeless?"
    "Not really. I mean, I could've stayed with relatives. Or I could've left for college three months early and stayed on the campus. But something just hit me: I didn't need a job if I didn't have a place to stay. If I joined the freegans, I could take the summer off, and then go to college in the fall."
    "And so you did."
    "And so I did."
    "What did you think?"
    It was like his eyes reached out and grabbed me by the shoulders. "It was amazing! Living with the freegans was the exact opposite of the last five years of my life. I didn't have to be anywhere I didn't want to be or do anything I didn't want to do. For the first time since I could remember, my life wasn't just about doing what other people wanted me to do, what other people expected of me. I was free!"
    That's just what Venus had said: freeganism meant being free. But then I thought: free to eat out of Dumpsters and drive a bike held together with twist-ties?
    He must've seen what I was thinking on my face, because he said, "I know how it sounds. It's so hard to explain. Remember, I used to live like everyone else, like you do. I know what it's like to live in both worlds. But most people don't know what it's like to live like a freegan, not wanting things, not worrying about the future."
    "Not worrying about the future?" How could this be? Wouldn’t you always be worrying about the future—about your next meal, or what happens when your one pair of shoes wears out?
    "That's just it," Wade said. "The world provides. It always does. You don't always get what you want, but you always get what you need. It takes an attitude adjustment. But once you make it, you don't have to spend all your time thinking about the future, wanting and planning. You can just live in the moment. Can you imagine that? Being totally satisfied with your life exactly the way it is?"
    "I guess," I said. "And suddenly it's not your responsibility to change the world."
    "But that's just it! Before, everyone expected me to change the world, but I never knew what that meant. Now I do. It's not until you stop worrying about your own selfish wants and needs that you become aware— really aware—of what's going on around you. How do archeologists study a culture? They look at the trash, at the stuff that got left behind, right? Well, that's what we freegans do too! We see things the way they really are, the secrets people keep. When you live the way we do, when you don't spend your whole life looking at a television or a computer screen, you can't help but take a good long look at the world. And you see things, things that were hidden before, people that are forgotten or ignored. A lot of folks want you to go on ignoring these things and these people, but you can't. Once you really see them, once you see that they're people just like you, you can't not see them again. So when it comes to changing the world, I feel like now I know exactly what needs to change. And I want to change it—not because someone thinks I should, but because I want to. And I think I am changing the world. It's not like I dropped out of life by becoming a freegan. I still live in the world. I just see it with different eyes. It's this weird paradox. By giving up all the things I thought were so important, I care a lot more about life and about the world. I realized I didn't need to go to college to change it! And I will change it. I'll do what I have to do to change the world. Whatever it takes—anything at all."
    Wade's enthusiasm was infectious. It was impossible not to smile. I was sure that the odds of my ever becoming a freegan were about the same as my dating girls again, but I had to admit it was an