The Street Stories....

The Street…

It’s not a surprise that the most important part of everyone’s life is also the most underrated one. Every person has a relationship with the street but no one ever actually listens to the street. The street has many stories of its own and indeed each one is unique. This is just an effort to reveal and point out some of them. This is the first in that line....

The Urchin

The boy stood near the corner and looked across the street. The shop was colorful with all its lights and festive goodies. The people were standing in front of the store and talking excitedly. Everyone seemed to have some story of their own. The owner looked longingly at the throng of people and made a mental calculation of his profits.

The baker was the most famous one in the entire city and now at the time of Christmas everyone was here because of the special cakes he made during the holiday season. The boy was an urchin, a homeless street urchin. He was hungry and seeing the people in their warm coats and fur jackets eating made him feel more hungry and cold. He looked around and saw his friends trying to sneak into the crowd. A few wallets here and there and they would be well set for the holiday cheer. But he wasn’t so comfortable with stealing and so he was made the look-out. He saw the baker talk excitedly to his customers. He felt hungry and wanted to eat something. Then he saw it. The women who was getting in the car dropped a cake as she was about to go out. He decided to make his move and ran across the street to pick it up. As he was doing so, the baker suddenly noticed the group of urchins among the crowd. He shouted and made an exasperated notion with his hands. The people saw them and immediately someone shouted something about the cops. But another guy decided to take matters into his own hands and hit the nearest kid. The area was suddenly engulfed in the screams of the kids and the expletives used by the people. All the respected people suddenly seemed to change into menacing demons. They threw their cloaks of manners and became animals. The urchins were mercilessly beaten and dropped to the curb of the street. Suddenly everything became quiet and slowly the usual routine returned. Nobody thought twice about the urchins who limped back to the other side of the street, only to find their look-out missing. Immediately a murmur rose and someone said something about “beating him to the ground”. Everyone started searching for the boy.

The boy was still nursing his wounds when he saw his friends. They looked menacing and wounded. Seems like the ‘good-natured’ baker and his customers found out about them. He didn’t get the cake. As he tried to pick it up a street dog came and bit his hand, forcing him to let go of the cake. Still he fought for it only to get his leg bitten. Now seeing his friends he realized that he had forsaken them. He shuddered at the thought of the punishment, but he was guilty and had to be punished, for such was the code of the street. He closed his eyes as his friends cornered him. He could hear their shouts and curses and could feel their incessant blows on his frail body. Suddenly he heard or felt no more. All he could feel was a strange calm. He didn’t feel any hunger also and his body started to fall down. The urchins went away and the only person left was a hungry kid who bled to death on the cold streets of the city.