“Finally home, two little kids, so heavy… really tired me.”
Pushing the cart into the yard, Old Bray closed the door.
Ignoring the two little kids in the alley, he found a rocking chair for himself and lay down to rest first.
—
In the evening, as the sun set in the west, a silver-red beam of sunlight sprinkled over the entire small courtyard.
It looked messy everywhere, unorganized, yet surprisingly warm.
Buzzing…
It seemed like countless flies were buzzing and flying, the sound wasn’t loud but extremely annoying.
Cierra had never been so restless sleeping, suddenly she opened her eyes.
By now it was already half past six in the evening, the sunlight shone brightly through the beige gauze curtains, making the room exceptionally bright.
She slowly opened her eyes, looking at this unfamiliar ceiling.
The house was very old, so the plaster on the ceiling had peeled off almost entirely, making her worry that the plaster might suddenly fall and hit her while lying in bed.
In the corner of the wall, several small black octagonal spiders were busy spinning webs.
This was the first time Cierra had seen a spider, she wasn’t afraid at all, on the contrary… she found it fascinating.
After all, she couldn’t see such interesting little things in a villa.
Outside the window, a conversation could be heard, sounding like an irritable old man.
“Kid, eat if you want, if you don’t, starve! It’s already good enough that I brought you back. Don’t be picky!”
“Have you ever thought about how many people in this world starved to death?”
After speaking, he snorted, then picked up the bowl in front of him.
The bowl contained half a bowl of sticky stuff, looking like porridge, with black burnt bits floating on top because it was scorched.
It looked very disgusting, but Old Bray seemed to be enjoying it as if it were some delicacy.
He inhaled it in a few gulps.
The little boy looked at him in astonishment as he finished the porridge and even licked his lips.
Because he ate too quickly, some white flour had stuck to his beard.
“How is it? It tastes really good, do you want to try it too?”
Seeing the boy staring at him intently, Old Bray thought he was hungry and handed a small bowl to him.
Trying to communicate with the boy in a pleasing manner, “Little kid, what’s your name and how old are you this year?”
“Thank you, Grandpa, but I’m not hungry right now.”
“I’m William, eight years old… Grandpa, can you lend me your phone to call my family?”
He got separated from his mom because he saved his little sister, and he could imagine that if he went back later, he would be locked in the little dark room for self-reflection.
And Mom would be very angry too.
“What’s that? A phone?”
Old Bray shook his head, then lay back on the rocking chair, leisurely closing his eyes to enjoy the breeze in the sunset.
Unfortunately… this gust of wind carried a stench of garbage, making the little boy hold his breath.
The old man seemed to be used to it, acting as if he couldn’t smell it at all.
“Little guy, do I look like someone who can afford a phone?”
At these words, the little boy hung his head, “Do you really not have a phone?”
How… how could this be?
In this era of intelligent high technology, you can go out without money or brains, but you must bring your phone!
It could be said that everyone has one, even the children have them.
He naturally has one too, but he mainly went out to the hospital this morning for a check-up, so he didn’t bring it with him.
If he had known, he should have brought his phone, otherwise he wouldn’t have been in the situation now where he can’t even make a call to ask someone to pick him up and take him home.
“I do have a phone, but…”
“See for yourself.”
The old man from the corner handed him a black plastic bag and threw it in front of him.
Boom-
Listening to the sound of it hitting the ground, the contents inside were not light.
The young boy curiously walked over, squatted down and opened it to see that it was filled with mostly broken phones.
All kinds of colors, all kinds of models… but they were all broken.
The old man touched his nose, continuing to speak deceivingly, “These are all phones I picked up from the trash can. I heard they can be exchanged for a pot and pair of scissors.”
“They are all unusable. If you want to make a call, you can pick one you like from inside, take it to repair, and get a SIM card. That should do.”
William was speechless.
He had to repair the phone himself?
If he were at home, it wouldn’t be a problem at all, but now he didn’t have anyone around him. Not to mention the money for repairing the phone, he doesn’t even have money for a taxi.
“I… I don’t have any money, grandpa. Could you lend me some money? I’ll pay you back twice the amount when my family arrives.”
But Old Bray just covered his money bag and shook his head.
“No, no, no! The money is saved by me for almost my whole life! If I lend it to you… when can I get married?”
William turned into stone once again.
Old Bray looked at least seventy years old, at this age… he still had to find a wife?
He increasingly felt that this old man was unreliable, “Grandpa, I will definitely pay you back.”
“But that won’t work either! You should know that I am famous in this area for financial management. Go ask around… who has successfully borrowed money from me in all these years?”
“I can’t ruin my reputation for a little kid like you.”
The young boy coughed twice, the delicate and fair face with a pair of exquisite eyebrows slightly furrowed, his eyes as dark as obsidian staring at him.
Since Grandpa was unwilling to lend him money, he could only earn money to repair the phone with his own hands.
But what could he do to earn money now?
The young boy looked troubled, and at that moment, he saw a pile of waste products next to him, and a bright idea flashed in his mind.
He raised his face, straightened his back, walked up to Old Bray, and reached out to hold the armrest of the rocking chair.
As he moved, the rocking chair stopped swinging.
Old Bray also impatiently looked at him, thinking that the young boy was not giving up, so he opened the old wallet to show him.
“Don’t look at grandpa with that look. I’m not unwilling to lend you money… look, I really don’t have any money.”
There were only a few scraps of paper and two or three coins in the wallet, which were not enough to repair the phone at all.
At that moment, Old Bray heard the little kid ask him seriously.
“Grandpa, can you take me with you to collect garbage? When I save enough money, I can call my family to pick me up.”
The old man never expected that the help he was asked for was to take him to collect garbage?
He looked down at the little boy’s clothes and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
“You’ll have to change your outfit too.”