Chilhood

They are everywhere.
However, we don't see them anymore. They are part of the city landscape.
We've already got use to them.
They are the kids who stand up everyday at the corners of the streets. The ones who don't go to school. The ones who eat from time to time, and do not wear shoes.
The ones who steal, beg and cry.
People feel pity and are afraid of these kids.
Those are generations already marked, and they will grow marked too.
Those children, probably won't have many options of a future. Those generations have been the subject of many discussions in the Parliament, although not a single practical procedure, no matter the Government in turn.
Those children grow too fast.
Suddenly, they turn into 5, 6 or 12 year-old-adults.
Those kids do not celebrate Children' Day and they do not have Winter Holidays nor Christmas.
Those are children with "stories".

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S is 10 years old.
No... correction: he believes he is 10 years old.
In fact, this is what he says when someone ask his age. Because S has no identity card. For him, it is better like that. It is better not to exist. It is better to be registered nowhere.
He only knows that he was born at the Pereira Rossell Hospital.
Last time he saw his mother was two years ago, when, as every other day, she left him begging at a corner of a street and she never came back.
He doesn't want to remember the night that followed that day: it was the coldest night he has ever experienced in his whole 10 years of life, or... in the 10 years he believes he is.
Icy, despite of being a September night, it was icy.
The feeling of loneliness and abandomment had reached his bones.
He knows that he fall asleep somewhere. He does not remember it, or he does not want to remind it. Since then, he lives in the streets. There was when he understood that he was alone, completely on his own.
He suspects he has siblings somewhere. He fantasies that sometime, his mother will come back to collect him. He almost believes that this may happen. Almost. He has lost his hopes and expectations a long time ago and, also a long time ago, he stopped thinking of her.
"I've almost forgot her face", he muttered.
As for his father... well... better not to talk about him.
Every day, S is at the same corner in that posh neighbourhood.
He only changes the place ("his stop") depending on the seasons. There are corners more suitable for summer times while others pay much better in winter.
This is what you learn in the streets. He knows that very well. He has already been in the streets for 10 years. Or maybe a little more. Who knows?
What is certain is that NOW he owns an old bag with the "Power Rangers" on it, that he found out somewhere. He also carries a rolled mattress and a big piece of plastic in case it rains.
Full of expectations, he told me that a woman who gives him something to eat from time to time, promised him a pillow.
Full of expectations, he also said that he heard a vague romour about an Emergency Plan that "gives you money for being poor".
However, S does not like charity.
He has no idea what he will be when he becomes an adult.
He wants to learn a trade. He doesn't even think about attending school though: "that is a waste of time", assures me with no trace of doubt at all. With all the confidence of a 10ish-year-old-kid who lives since two years ago, on his own, in the streets.
He also assures me that he hasn't fall that low (yet). He had plenty of offers though.
Some time, not long ago, he tried some drugs. It was not "pasta base": "That one eats you in no time. I've already seen it in many others before".
During the day, he begs for coins. He cleans windscreens, he juggles with two balls or simply, he takes his "shoes" off and he performes what he, himself, describes as a "sad face". This strategy is wonderful for winter time. However, he knows very well that he can go down with an illness, and this is not allowed.
Despite of being a kid -I mean, despite of being a 10 years-old-adult-, he has his own rules. The main rule the streets taught him is the importance of eating something, at least once a day. Something "big", "heavy". If he manages to find this, the day is already paid.
He, himself, says that he has some fairy godmothers he visits from time to time: when things get hard; when nobody opens a window to give him a coin. Then, his fairy godmothers are in charge of giving him something to eat and if it happens to be his lucky day, they would give him old clothes.
Last winter was a tough winter for S. He knows for sure that the more he grows, the less coins he will get. Because nobody will believe his "sad face".
He himself, explained this to me: "people pitied more smaller, younger kids". The streets also taught him that.
He knows that he has to start to think in his future. He doesn't want to steal like others do.
However, nights in the streets are very long.
And extremely cold.
Lonely nights.
No matter the season...