I
looked at the dust covered streets wind their way from house to house as they
lead to the main road. Foreign cars and petrol fumes pollute the tarmac as they
move from city to city along the coast. They growled obscenely loud as the more
privileged members of society made their way to their busy lives. None of this
mattered to me as I made my way to my house. The town I lived in was littered
with poorly made squares of corrugated iron and wooden planks. The people who
run this country seem to ignore or just not care about us. Crime is an ever
present threat but for others it is their way of life and how they cope with
living in such conditions. We all called this place home, because for some it
could be worse.
I saw the other
children all playing soccer on the ochre coloured dirt, trying to make the most
of their time. The ball has almost all the covering ripped off from several
years of being passed down year by year. But that doesn’t stop them from having
at least some fun. Those are the luckier ones. They have their schooling
although their education is limited by both their willingness to work and
shortage of money. Kids like me have to work in order for us to get through the
day with bread. They have a source of food every afternoon and morning. And
what is it that makes them so much luckier than me or my brother. They have
parents.
I brought down my beanie closer down my ears as I told
myself not to get distracted by their loud cheers and boos as the one side
scores. It was becoming late and I had to get back to my brother. As I was
passing they were shaking hands and having a good laugh with each other as they
too left to head back to their houses for dinner. I would only be too happy to
join them, but I had work to do. It was getting colder. As night fell and I got
closer to our makeshift house the streetlights came on flickering almost as if
they were shivering with me. When I reached the shelter I gently shook my
younger brother awake to show him the spoils of the day’s work. I had managed
to pickpocket twenty bucks and had got some bread for us to eat that night. We both
dug in and after we were done my brother offered me my sheet, but I declined
and gave it to my brother who was still very cold.
I noticed a bit later my younger brother finally fell asleep;
I took this moment to sit and wonder how I will manage as we get older. We cannot
afford to live our lives just by stealing. The older we get the more risky and
dangerous the jobs would be. I cannot allow my brother to fall into the same
problem I have. Neither can we go to an orphanage; there is always the problem
of corruption and adults who will abuse us, physically or sexually. The more I
think of these problems the angrier and more useless I feel. In order for me to
keep my brother safe is to at least get him to a trustworthy family, he is
younger and that way he is safe from my crimes and hopefully poverty. I adjusted
my beanie as it was starting to make my head itchy. But I need money too,
tomorrow will be the last of my pick pocketing, tomorrow I will fetch us a
prize large enough that I can focus on getting my brother to a foster family.
I woke up the next morning and told the same lie that I
always told my brother. I tell him that I have to go to work in the factory a
few meters up road. I suppose it isn’t a total lie usually, since that is where
I get my easy pickings but today I make a turn for the main road and follow it
down towards the busy bustling city. The road was long and took a good two
hours to get to the city, and was especially hard without enough good clean
water. The city was amazing and yet horrible. The towers dwarfed everything, I
knew that they were big but now I actually came to one. The buildings looked
clean and flaunted their wealth to everyone at the bottom. But what disgusted
me was the wealth being left on the sides of the building and between the
cracks. Small items of food and clothing that if they were combined together
could make anyone’s life in our town so much better. But the smell tells me why
people don’t flock to get someone else’s scraps. After seeing these sights, I
made up my mind, if someone thinks that they can waste this much money and
resources on trash and their ego’s they would not be so sad if they were to
lose just a few more bucks, or even jewellery.
I straightened my beanie and made my way for a more crowded
area, full of people bumping into each other. That way I would not be as
noticeable as I bump into people to make off with their cash. I got to one of
the larger buildings that were closer to the beach. The place was full of
people on the beach paying little attention to their belongings and more to
them having fun. The beach here was much more swim friendly as there were no
rocks jutting out, but the sheer amount of people made fishing seem out of the
question. There are even people out surfing, even if the sea is full of sharks.
I suppose I should be like one of those surfers, fearless and just go in, I’ve
done this many times before, I need to do this for my brother.
1000 exactly
