Rob,
 
Your story gave me cold chills.
 
Yesterday, I baked chocolate shadow cookies.  I don't bake them often.  They are my youngest son's (now 26) favorite and whenever he would need cookies for school that is what I would always bake for him.  My husband and I talked about the strange event that happened years ago.  I was baking shadows on that night too.  It always reminds us....
 
One Sunday evening after church about 15 to 18 yrs. ago, it was about 10 pm. (my son always told me at the last possible moment when he would need cookies for school) the whole family was in the kitchen while I baked.  The boys were eating warm cookies and then it was their bedtime.  It was in the winter and it was quite cold out and several inches of snow were on the ground.  We, too, live in a rural community.  There was a knock at our kitchen door and when my husband answered it there stood "an elderly man of color" (just like what happened to you).  He said he was taken a survey in the area and could he talk to us.  My husband looked out and there was no car to be seen.  The man said someone had dropped him off.  It was so cold and he looked like he was freezing, so we asked him in.  Please understand that we had not had the opportunity to associate with many black people, there are just none who lived in this area.
 
I asked him if he would like some warm cookies and milk and he sat down at our kitchen table and ate them.  He looked at our sons and told us this was the best time of our lives, to enjoy it with our family all at home.  He said he and his wife had raised seven ( I think ) children and they were all grown now and told how they used to gather in the kitchen while his wife baked.  When he finished he thanked us and headed back out into the cold.
 
We later realized that while he had said he was taking a survey, he was not carrying any papers or folder.  He never asked us any questions pertaining to a survey.  We looked out a few moments later to see if he went to the neighbor's homes and we couldn't see him.  There was no car that had stopped to pick him up, at least none that we saw.
 
So, everytime I bake shadow cookies, we talk about the old man and who he might have been.  I was amazed when I read your story, especially since we were just talking about him yesterday.  :)
 
Thanks so much for sharing it.
Bea