Sebastian - 5. Chapter 5

A shockwave of pain ripped me from my sleep. I found myself on the icy cold dirt floor. Looking around wildly for the source of this upheaval, I came face to face with mom. Her face was distorted into a scowl, her eyes shooting daggers at me. I realized she’d dragged me out of bed by my hair.

“What the hell are you doing asleep instead of at work?”

I looked around wildly trying to figure out what time it was. The old clock sitting on the table said 2 pm.

“Five hours?” I thought “how did I sleep that long. And oh shit I should have been out working three hours ago.”

I sold newspapers in the morning. For lunch and dinner I walked around town selling Empanadas and Churros. Lunch was always the best time for selling them. I almost always brought home at least three pesos, and at times as much as five. Missing the lunch shift would really piss dad off.

“Get some clothes on and get your ass up to Señor Kotik’s and beg him not to fire you. You know what’ll happen to you if you lose that job.

I didn’t know exactly what would happen to me, but I imagined it involved a beating and a day or two without food. If they didn’t just outright kick me out. The thought of being out there on my own scared me. It was the only reason I came back to this place every night. With work schedules I managed to stay away from them almost all the time. I only had to see them for a few minutes at night and in the morning.

A shudder running through my body reminded me that I was standing there half naked and that it was cold as hell. Looking down I realized just how exposed I was. My shorts didn’t do much to cover me. The elastics around the legs and waist had all given out a long time ago. The leg holes drooped open. The waist drooped down to where you could just see the pubes I’d gotten recently. The material was worn thin and there was a hole in the stitching where the two halves had been sewn together between my legs. I scrambled into my clothes again. In a hurry I wasn’t careful enough and my toes caught in one of the holes in my pants, leaving another half inch of my knee exposed.

I headed out at a run to Señor Kotik’s. I arrived, breathless, ten minutes later. I burst into the door of his shop. He looked down on me with a guarded expression, obviously waiting to hear my excuse.

“I’m sorry” I managed to splutter in between gasps for air. “I fell asleep. I was so tired this morning. It won’t happen again I promise. Please don’t fire me.”

I did my best to hold back the tears. The fear of what would happen to me if I lost my job and the guilt I felt for having overslept almost overwhelmed me. I’m sure a few tears managed to leak out.

A sympathetic look passed over his face.

“Hey, I won’t have any of that crying shit here. So you missed a lunch run. So what? Your still one of the best boys I have working for me. I don’t know how you do it boy. All the others will only work for one of the meals yet you work both of them and I know you do the papers in the morning. Do you even take time to play with your friends?”

A wave of relief passed over me. I’d still catch hell for the money I didn’t make that day but I still had my job so I hoped it wouldn’t be that bad.

“I don’t really have any friends, and besides my family needs the money.” I replied in a mere whisper.

“What your family needs is a good kick in the ass. How that drunken bum of a father of yours makes you work is a disgrace. You’ve worked here what? Three years? I’ve never known you to be absent except the one time you were sick. And in that whole time I’ve never seen you with friends or doing anything but working. Shit boy. You need a day off just like the rest of us.”

“Thank you sir for not firing me, it would have made them mad.”

He looked at me a blank expression on his face. But I could see the anger in his eyes.

“Umm, Sir?”

“What now boy?”

“I really don’t feel like going back there right now. And I need to make up for the lost wages. And since there’s only an hour until the dinner run anyway, is there anything you need done around here?”

A blank expression came over his face.

“You know I can’t give handouts to everyone that needs them. I’d go broke if I did. And I never show preference to any of my workers.”

My face fell. I’d really hoped he would have something for me to earn some money. It was the only way I could think of to avoid a problem at home. I must have been close to tears again. God I hated knowing they had this much power over me.

“Sebastian,” he said gently “did you eat lunch today?”

I shook my head no, still looking at the floor. I wondered why he would even ask.

“Come inside there’s some leftovers from the lunch run that will go to waste anyway. You eat something then come back out here and I’ll see what I can do to put you to work.”

The Kotik’s had their rooms behind the shop. I’d been back there a couple of times over the last few years. But I’d never been invited to eat there. He put a few of the leftover empanadas on a plate and got me a glass of coke. I couldn’t believe my luck. I’d only tried coke once. It was one night last summer. Dad had been mixing it with whisky. When he passed out there was a couple of swallows left in the bottle. I’d snuck over and finished it off. It was warm but still, I liked it.

I was hungry but I forced myself to eat slowly, savoring every bite. I sipped the coke trying to make it last as long as possible. While I was eating I thought about the events of the day. Except for sleeping through the lunch run, it had been a good day. I’d already had two meals, I got the sleep I needed, and I didn’t lose my job.

When I was through I rinsed off my dishes and went out to find Señor Kotik.

“How much do you usually make during a lunch run?”

“Normally I make three pesos.”

“Okay, here’s what I’m going to do. I’ll pay you three pesos to sweep up in here and the sidewalk out front. Then you can mop up the floor in here. I could really have used your help getting these ready to go but I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He said looking me over.

I blushed, I knew I was dirty but there wasn’t much I could do about it. The only way I could get cleaned up was by taking a bucket of water into the backyard to wash myself off out there. But during the winter it was too cold to do that every day. I forced myself to do it once a week. I hated the way I smelled too.

“Oh, and I need you to do it quickly. This isn’t going to become a normal thing. And I really don’t want any of the other kids seeing you doing it.”

“Yes sir”

Still blushing I hurried to do as he asked. It didn’t take me too long and before I knew it he’d given me the three pesos and pushed me out the door with a basket full of Empanadas and Churros for the dinner run.

I’d had such good luck that morning by that foreign kid’s house that I decided to start up there again. The sun had come out enough that day to burn off the mist that had been there that morning. The sky was that hazy winter blue and the sun’s weak rays felt good on my shoulders. I felt good. It wasn’t something I was used to feeling. I relished it though knowing full well it wouldn’t last.

The lady at the house next to the foreign kid’s stopped me to buy some Churros. While I was there I saw the kid out of the corner of my eye. I wondered why he would be looking at me. Hadn’t he ever seen a poor kid before? And I didn’t think I was much to look at. He is cute though and I like the way he smiles at me.

I wasn’t very surprised when I saw him standing there with a plate. He pointed at the empanadas. It must have been the good mood I was in but I grinned and asked him.

“Would you like some empanadas?”

“I don’t speak Spanish.” He replied

I decided to tease him again. I don’t know why it amused me so much, hell he couldn’t understand what I was saying. But still I thought it was funny.

“Suck my dick.”

It wasn’t very original but I still found it amusing and my smile got bigger. I put empanadas on his plate. He stopped me at six and gave me five pesos. The empanadas were 50 cents each so I got his 2 bucks change and tried to give it to him. He waved me off again just like that morning. When I realized he was giving me another big tip I smiled so wide I thought my lips would crack.

“Thank you.” I said.

“Your welcome.” He said.

I looked at him for a minute wondering what it would be like to be like him. To be able to eat every meal. To have warm clothes. To have a real house to sleep in. then reality hit me and I berated myself for even thinking it. Nothing was going to change. I turned away and shuffled off feeling a lot worse than I had earlier.

It wasn’t till I’d walked several blocks that I realized that my basket was empty except for four empanadas. I decided to use the two dollar tip to buy them for myself and hurried across the street to a small park where I could sit on a bench while I ate. As I got up to leave and go home I realized I’d had three meals today. I couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.