TWENTY

 

IT IS THE NEXT MORNING. A cop is coming closer to the bench where Anij is sleeping.

“Hey, kid. Wake up! Wake up!”

“Mmm . . . Mmm . . .”

“Wake up, kid. This is not your home.”

Anij is slowly waking up. “Oh . . .”

“Yes, it is morning. You need to wake up. You can’t just sleep here. Okay?”

“Okay . . .”

“How many homeless assholes do I have to deal with . . .”

Then the police officer leaves him alone. The police must have had enough trouble with so many homeless people on the streets.

Anij is slowly getting up from the bench. Everything is still hazy for him. He isn’t sure what time it is now, but he needs to sleep more. And his empty stomach is calling to him.

“Not now . . . I need some time to wake up and get to work. Come on . . . Oh . . . I need food . . . What am I going to do today . . . And what was the deal with the cop? . . .”

He is disappointed with the cop. He wasn’t expecting a whole lot, but there was literally no sign of help at all. The cop was so busy with his duties, he just had to leave right away.

Today is just the second day of being alone. And the thought hits him pretty hard. He sits down on the bench properly and starts to think. There has to be some kind of a plan today, no matter what it will be. Otherwise, he will just starve the whole day. That will suck a lot. And it turns out to be that this bench is not a good spot. Who needs a useless and helpless cop?

But coming up with a plan, any plan, is really hard. He is only a very young kid with no education. What can he do . . . He decides to start walking to see what he can find, just like yesterday. There are lots of restaurants in the downtown. Maybe some possibilities there. Let his expedition begin.

“Excuse me. Any free food? I am very hungry . . .”

“Free food? Sorry, kid. I can’t do much about that . . .”

No luck there. So he tries a few other restaurants.

“Excuse me. I need some food. Help me?”

“What? My business is not even doing well. I am in bad shoes already. Sorry, kid.”

Then some other restaurants.

“Sorry. Can I get some food? I am very hungry. No food all day . . .”

“Get out of here. I know what you are up to. Don’t bring any of your friends next time, either, okay?”

Same thing there.

“Can I get some food? No food for all day . . . Please?”

“I don’t do any charity, boy. Why don’t you do some for me?”

A very shabby and awful start for Anij. No one wants to give him any food for free. If they do that, all the other beggars will come to them. So there is the reason. That sounds fair. However, it is very frustrating for a kid to starve for a long time. He is not emotionally ready for all this. Breakfast seems to be so far away; in fact, it is about noon now. He is not sure about himself anymore. All this makes him feel like he is nobody. As a matter of fact, he is nobody. What is he going to do about it? Not much. There has to be some kind of miracle so that he won’t have to go through the garbage dumpsters.

But after trying so many different places so far, the possibilities are getting really thin. So finally, he reluctantly decides to dig in some dumpsters. After turning a few corners, there is a dumpster. It sure looks awful and stinky. Even looking at the dumpster from a distance, Anij feels his spine shiver. He never imagined that this idea would have such a big presence and statement. It absolutely overpowers and devours his mind and body all at once. He starts to walk slower as he gets closer to the dumpster. It feels like a green mile for him. He just needs to taste his last free will a little bit longer. It is such a tragedy that he sees himself doing this. He just doesn’t want to do it.

“I don’t want to do this . . . I don’t want to do this . . . I can’t do this . . . I can’t do this just yet . . . Please, someone help me . . . Someone has to help me. I don’t want to do this . . . I can’t do this . . .”

He can’t stoop that low. But the reality slaps him really hard. He just needs to wake up from the land of comfort and care and put himself out on the streets where the real deal thrives. As the disgusting stench embraces him tighter, his tears are pouring out. Taking another step seems to be impossible. His body tells him to get on with the program, but his brain tells him to reconsider. He is not so sure whether this falls into the category of being a real man. A million thoughts crash through his brain. Now he is just a few feet away from the dumpster. He can almost touch it.

Mikael is walking by with an apple in his hand. He is chewing it with a bright smile. It sure tastes nice. Then he turns a corner, and there is Anij. He takes a moment and watches Anij. It surprises him that Anij is going through the same old shit that he went through before. He calls out to Anij, “Hey, what are you doing?”

Anij stops abruptly and freezes. Sudden shame hits him. He pretends to be doing something else. “Oh . . . Nothing. I don’t know . . .” Anij intentionally walks closer to the dumpster. Of course, Mikael knows what he was up to. But he doesn’t want to embarrass Anij, either.

Anij asks Mikael, “What is this?”

“That is for garbage. You know . . . You throw away garbage there. You don’t touch that stuff.”

“Okay. Thanks. I didn’t know . . .”

“So where did you sleep?”

“Sleep? Oh . . . On the chair . . .”

“Oh, you mean, in a park?”

“Park?”

“Yeah, you slept in a park. Lots of trees and, you know, grass and all that shit.”

“No. On a chair, not in a park.”

“Yeah, in a park. Chairs and trees and . . . Anyway . . . What is your plan today?”

“Plan?”

“Yeah, plan. Found any place for food and sleep?”

“No . . . I try many . . . No food all day . . . Very hungry . . .”

“Really? Shit . . . That shit is tough, man. Living on the streets is not easy, man . . .”

“No easy . . . So hungry all day . . .”

“I can get you some food, if you want.”

“Really? Food? Good. Where?”

“I will show you.”

Anij is so relieved that Mikael is about to help him. They go to a food store. It is located at a corner of a street. Lots of people are walking by and going in and out all the time. It seems like a very busy street, and many other shops are around. Anij is little unsure what Mikael will show him. But he follows Mikael anyway. Before they go into the store, Mikael stops.

“I will show you one thing. But that is it. No more favours from me. Okay?”

“Okay . . .”

So they go in. The store has all kinds of food, packaged goods, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, canned foods, some magazines, and many other things. There is an old fat guy at the counter, who is in dreamland. There are some people shopping at the store. They pick up their items and take them to the counter. One customer wakes him up.

“Hello? Hello?”

“Ah . . . Sorry. It is just too warm today.”

“You always say that. Well, it is really warm today. But you know, you’ve got to watch out for burglars.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. This town is so quiet. I just go to sleep and nothing happens.”

“Yeah, true. But it is always better to stay awake, you know.”

“Thanks very much, ma’am. Now I am awake. You see?”

“Oh, right. So how much is that altogether?”

“Let me see . . .”

Mikael and Anij exit the store. They walk for a few minutes away from the store. Then suddenly Mikael asks Anij, “So, what did you think?”

“Oh . . . think what?”

“What did you see?”

“Many food?”

“No!”

“Oh . . . People?”

“No!”

“I don’t know.”

“Nothing else? Did you notice anything?”

“Ah . . . Nothing . . .”

“Shit . . . You should be better than that. You got so much to learn.”

“Learn what?”

“Did you see that man sleeping?”

“Yes.”

“Then?”

“Very warm today. I could sleep now.”

“No! No! No!”

“What? Nice and warm . . . No?”

“No! The man was sleeping at the store. That means it is easy to put some stuff in your pocket and leave. Understand now?”

“Oh . . . Yeah. But he is in the store.”

“That doesn’t matter. As long as he is not watching you and following you, he doesn’t know what you are doing, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So?”

“So?”

“Okay. I will show you once and that is it. Okay?”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Let’s go in one more time. Watch and learn.”

They slowly walk into the store again. The guy at the counter is again sleeping like a baby. Mikael puts on a sickly smile and passes the clerk ever so gently. There are a few other people in the store. It is not a problem for Mikael, since he is a real pro. For so many years now, he has never been caught, even when there are many people around him. He walks slowly to a chocolate bar shelf and pretends to be picky about brands — like many kids. Anij is standing beside him doing nothing but watching. Mikael takes a brief moment to check if the clerk is still sleeping. Of course, the clerk’s head weighs about a thousand tons. Every two seconds, he tries to pull his head up but it inevitably falls down again.

Then Mikael checks up on the other people around him. They are concentrating on making their selections, nothing else. Shoppers these days are so hard-core. Mikael slowly turns his head to the chocolate bar shelf and rolls his eyes to the clerk and other people once again, just before he gets into the action. His right hand grabs three chocolate bars, and he takes a closer look at them as if he wants to smell them. And he puts them back. Anij is right beside him watching all this. Anij is not too sure why he puts them back. Anij is nervously and constantly checking up on the people and the clerk every second. No one cares about their misbehaviour. It is strangely compromising. But it still shoves his nerve to the cliff. Anij looks back at Mikael to see the glory of his trickery. Then Mikael puts on a frown face and speaks to Anij loudly.

“Let’s go. They don’t have it here.”

“What?”

“They don’t have the chocolate my mom wants. My mom told me the name and it is not here. Let’s go.”

“Ah . . .”

Mikael grabs Anij’s arm hard and starts to walk out of the store. Then abruptly Mikael speaks to Anij again, quite loudly. “Maybe this is not the right store.”

They exit the store. Anij still has a bewildered face. But they keep on walking slowly, without a word.

Once they are pretty far from the store, Mikael asks Anij, “Did you see me?”

“I see people and the man.”

“What? You didn’t see me doing it?”

“Doing what?”

“Oh, crap . . . you missed the whole thing, didn’t you? See? I got three chocolate bars! In front of your face! You idiot!”

“What?”

Mikael shows Anij those three chocolate bars from his pocket. Anij is very surprised and he stammers, “How? No . . . When?”

“See? That is why I am the best in this town. That is probably why you didn’t even see me doing it. I am that good. Mmm . . . I love me. Hahaha.”

“Wow. You are very good! No, the best!”

“I know.”

“I eat now?”

“Yes. You might as well. I did it to show you how I do it. So you can eat them.”

“Thanks!”

Anij takes the chocolate bars and eats them with blazing speed. One in each hand, just like any other kids. Anij will be happy for at least another few hours — until he gets hungry again. Mikael watches Anij until he finishes the chocolate bars. Then suddenly Mikael stands up. “Okay, it is time for me to go.”

“One question.”

“Okay. What is it?”

“Teach me your skill. Please?”

“What skill? Oh . . . You mean how to steal?”

“Yeah. I don’t like hungry. Okay? I like eating. Please?”

“No. You have to learn by yourself. It is very hard to teach, anyway, and I don’t want to get caught up while I teach you. Okay? I am not responsible for you.”

“Please? I am alone. No friend. No one. Please?”

“Oh, well, I am going now. Maybe I will see you tomorrow.”

“No. You teach me your skill. Okay?”

“See you.”

Then Mikael leaves abruptly without any warning. He really doesn’t want to get involved in someone else’s business. That is the number one rule for being a thief. At all costs, don’t get mixed up with other shits. Mikael starts to run as fast as he can. He knows that being a thief doesn’t cut him any slack. What good is it, anyway? Even though he has known Anij for only a short time, he doesn’t want Anij to live in skid row, because that is where he is heading. And it sucks. But it is none of his business.