Jintao strolled across the dock. Gulls cried their laughter high above, the white birds with nothing better to do. He shoved his hands in his pockets. He’d get out of this place. Someday. If only tonight was that day.
Ships sailed on the distant horizon like the night couldn’t contain them. And perhaps it couldn’t. They were free, after all. The breeze tugging at their sails and the current edging them to farther places. What could be freer? Jintao turned his back to them. He’d never be, the poor boy he was. He could only wish he would.
Jintao left the dock and snuck into town. The old shop sat on the right, with the red dumpster hidden well behind it. Creeping in the shadows, Jintao snuck to the red container of his next meal. The lid was already open, and the familiar stench of rotting food trickled into the air.
Jintao slid a cardboard box to the dumpster and peered in. Empty. Empty with nothing but a few wet paper towels sticking to the bottom. His stomach grumbled. There would be no meal today. Not for him, not for Mother, and not for big sis. He sunk to the cardboard and sat. Jimmy was gone, and so wasn’t Brack. Sam was gone too, but it was better that way. He beat Mother and didn’t bother sharing his meals like he was supposed to.
Shivers slapped Jintao’s shoulders, almost as hard as Sam had when Jintao snuck a can of Sam’s expired peas to Sakura. Sam didn’t need them, and he wasn’t going to eat them, but sharing his trash was more than he was willing to give, especially to two poor little kids who had nothing to offer.
Jintao shoved his face into his palms. Why? Why did the dumpster have to be empty tonight? He was so hungry! Sakura had to be too, and Mother was getting too weak to find them a new male friend to hopefully put a roof over their heads for the night.
Tears soaked Jintao’s palms and his body shook with every whimper that escaped his throat. None of those ‘friends’ provided like they should have! They weren’t even friends! Mother always introduced them as that, but they never acted like one! If they ever did anything, it was offer their scraps for food, if that!
Jintao wiped his tears away. He needed to become the man of the family, but he was already failing! No food? He couldn’t return empty-handed! It would hurt Mother! It might even kill her for how weak she was!
Creaking echoed in the alley as a cold breeze blew through. Jintao pulled his exposed knees close, wrapping his arms around them and rocking. He couldn’t return home. Not with nothing to eat.
“Oh!”
Jintao jumped to his feet.
A woman carrying a garbage bag stood next to the dumpster. “You startled me,” she put her hand to her chest.
“I-I didn’t mean to, m-ma’am,” Jintao backed away.
“What are you doing out here so late at night?” The women stepped toward him.
Jintao spun. He wasn’t staying around here to be throw into jail! His foot caught on a sinkhole, sending him to the pavement. “Ouch!” he curled, hand to his knee.
The woman pounced on him faster than the last policeman he saw. “Easy there,” she snatched his shoulders. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Hands off me!” Jintao spun to his back. “You can’t take me! I didn’t do no-thing wrong! My mom needs me! She can’t come save me! Leave me alone!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” the woman let go.
Jintao kicked to his feet, already crawling away. He rushed across the street, stumbling past puddles and dodging the other sinkholes.
“Wait! Come back,” the woman called.
Jintao covered his ears. She’d have to take some other poor kid hostage! Not him! He slammed against a wall, a tug of pain shooting through his right shoulder. This had to be far enough away. He peeked around the corner. Good. She wasn’t following him. His heart beat against his chest, and he slid down to the pavement. Throbbing filled his knee, and he pulled it up to the flicker of a distant streetlamp. A trickle of blood soaked the worn jean material just below the hole where his scrapped knee stuck out like the last thing he had tripped over. Jintao laid his head on the cold wall. Another thing for Sakura to fuss over, and another thing not to return home for.
