Terry

“We’ll have to go to school soon.”

Terry knew that. He didn’t like it. But he’d already accepted that life made people do things that they didn’t want to do, and school was just one of them.

Rebecca and Terry logged on to their laptops and began filing a “new residency” report under the identity of their parents. Within three hours of completion, their parents received an email with instructions to visit the school with the children to complete registration. Only one guardian needed to be there.

Of course Terry and Rebecca had already planned for this, and they immediately made their way to the haven under the bridge to find Mr.Chein, a man whom they had met a couple of days ago. Three hours later, they found him at his spot and dropped a couple of pennies into his can.

“Hello Mr.Chein.”

“Hello children.”

Terry observed the forty-something year old man hunched over in front of them. Well, he imagined that Mr.Chein was forty-something, but you could never tell with the homeless. Aside from his name, Mr.Chein had told the children very little about himself, and the children had responded with equal secrecy. But Terry felt that Mr.Chein was too rational to purposely harm two middle schoolers, which is why he trusted him.

“We’d like you to pretend to be our father so we can register for school.”

“Now why would I do such a thing?”

“We’ll pay you.”

“How much?”

This was the hard part. Terry and Rebecca didn’t have much money, and neither did Mr.Chein. All three knew exactly how penniless the others were. But they continued bargaining, pretending they had something to bargain with.

“We’ll pay you $3.”

“That’s not enough to buy me a decent meal.”

“But it is enough to buy you a meal.”

Mr.Chein closed his eyes and smiled. The children, despite their age, were smart. Unfortunately, this meant that they were right. He’d do almost anything for a little money.

“Make it $4 and we have a deal.”

“We’ll do better. We’ll make it $5 under the condition that you continue your role as our parent whenever we need it fulfilled.”

“Do I get payment?”

“We’ll pay you $3 every time.”

“What kinds of things will you make me do?”

“Simple things like this or attending parent-teacher conferences. We won’t need you more than once every couple of months.”

“I don’t look very much like a parent.”

Mr.Chein looked dirty, smelled dirty, and was dirty.

 “It’s ok. We have some things for just that purpose. We’ll help you clean up.”

Besides, Terry thought, despite how you look, you talk and act just fine. And that’s why you’re perfect.

Mr.Chein knew that they were right, again. He knew part of the reason they had chosen him for this particular job was because he talked coherently. He was certainly one of the few adults on the streets who didn’t have a noticeable addiction problem, and who also had some form of education.

He was also of mixed races, his skin and eyes a light brown color that suggested that he was a little bit of everything. Though the children both had green eyes and freckles, his parentage was plausible. Especially with the new advancements in genetics, he would, at least look the part.

“Fine.”

“We’ll come back tomorrow at 9:00 AM. Be ready.”

Mr.Chein knew that they chose 9:00 AM because that’s when the soup kitchens closed. Because that and 6:00 AM, the time the kitchens opened, were the only two hours they thought he noticed.  

With that, Terry and Rebecca walked home. They left the dirty streets of Shatile and observed the houses get bigger. Whereas Shatile had been full of homeless people, their new neighborhood had special police whose sole duty was to rid the streets of the vermin.

Despite his distaste for school, Terry felt a little giddy that night before he went to sleep. He’d finally be able to meet children of his own age again. At first, he didn’t understand why. He’d never enjoyed the company of his peers very much before. But then he realized it. He was lonely.