by AA Lee
Children’s laughter and hurried footsteps made her straighten her back. She wondered if she had gone completely crazy by imagining happiness, of all things, but when she turned, she saw kids running toward her. They were carrying sacks full of holes and running as if they were taking part in a race. When they reached the riverbank, they looked at her briefly before they started to pick up trash and put it into their sacks.
“Are you cleaning the river?” she asked, but the children only looked at her and frowned in response. Despite her hunger, a big part of her adored children, and so she looked for a string. Finding a length of discarded twine against a nearby rock, she began picking up trash and tied it with the string.
A boy in a tattered green shirt walked closer and shook his head. He pointed to the shoe that she had picked up and shook his head one more time. He then pointed to a tin can and nodded his head. When she removed the shoe from what she collected, the boy gave her a thumbs up. She did not really understand, but she followed his wishes, hoping that she would learn how to survive by following what the kids did.
She could barely walk, but will alone kept her going, each new can tinkling as she tied them to her string. She thought she was seeing a vision when a can appeared from the river. She moved closer, and sure enough, the can had indeed moved. Her hand moved on autopilot and fished out the can, moving forward and picking those that were also submerged in the river until the boy wearing the green shirt whistled and gestured for her to come.
Without question, she followed them, even though her head was spinning. She struggled to keep up with the energetic kids, who looked like they were in for a treat. When the kids stopped in front of a building, a chair caught her body as her legs gave way beneath her. She shook her head and tried to focus as her vision dimmed.
The kids deposited their trash into a weighing scale. Bright smiles lit each child’s face as they received coins in return. Kenda held her string tighter, hope bringing strength back to her body. When it was finally her turn, she couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear, just as the kids before her had done.
Closing her palm around three coins, she quickly looked around in search of food. Her eyes widened upon seeing the kids a few meters away, all silent while eating bread. She ran, completely forgetting how wobbly her legs were, and held her palm open in front of the seller, pointing to the bread. The old woman covered her nose, picked a coin from her palm, and gave her bread. With a look of disgust, she shooed Kenda away.
Kenda walked away from the stall with a smile painted on her face. She looked at her palm again, thinking about how cheap the bread was. The bread in their village was priced at three times the value of that she had just purchased. She hurriedly put the bread into her mouth, but a hand stopped her. As her vision moved from the dirty, small hand to the face of the person who had stopped her, she realized that it belonged to the boy from the river.
The boy looked at the bread, shook his head and held his stomach, wincing in pretend pain. Cutting the bread into smaller pieces, he put a piece into her mouth. Kenda nodded in understanding, thinking that the boy must have been no stranger to hunger if he knew to tell her to eat slowly.
A lump formed in her throat when the boy walked away. She waved in gratitude, hoping that she would see him again.
Chapter 15
Kenda
Kenda pressed her hand to her side, making sure that the two coins were still in her pocket. She had gone back to the riverbank after regaining her strength. She didn’t want to be hungry again. A part of her was thankful that there was trash for her to sell, but she ultimately wished that the river was cleaner. Seeing the filth strewn around her, Kenda’s heart grew heavy as she thought of the lasting damage the townspeople would cause to the environment.
She straightened her back as two women approached the riverbank. Careful not to step on trash, the two women hopped from stone to stone, carrying trash cans. Kenda sighed as they poured the trash onto the riverbank, spilling some into the river. They are part of the reason why the river is awful, she thought. An unexplainable anger overtook her, and she ran, picked up the trash, and forced it back into their trash cans. The women looked at her as though she was crazy and started throwing the trash at her. Kenda shouted in anger as she fought to gather the trash, only to be knocked over when the two women kicked the trash cans. Kenda’s blood boiled with rage.
“River! Why do you allow these people to pollute you? Wake up!”
Trembling, the two women looked at her and picked up the spilled trash. Kenda didn’t understand why they were suddenly afraid of her, but when Kenda looked back, her jaw hung open as she saw the water rising to her height. She heard the hurried footsteps fading away and the two women screaming. She breathed slowly to calm herself and gestured with her hand for the water to subside. The water slowly went back to its original course like nothing had happened.
“Now, will you please give me fish to eat?” Kenda asked. To her astonishment, a fish the size of her arm leapt out of the water and landed on the riverbank. The cat suddenly reappeared and ran hungrily toward it. “Stop!” she shouted. “Don’t eat it yet! We have to cook it. You might be able to eat it raw, but I can’t.”
The cat stopped in its tracks, despite its apparent hunger. Kenda’s brow furrowed. It looked like the cat had somehow understood her. She bowed deeply and said, “Thank you, river. I will not forget your kindness.” She walked back to the riverbank and looked for stones that she could use to start a fire. After the chase, she couldn’t go back and ask for a lighter in the market. She was afraid that someone might recognize her.
Kenda cleared a space in the sand for cooking and started gathering materials. She found a quartz rock, broke it into pieces, and set it on the ground. She looked for paper that could be used as tinder, and, bending down, she picked up a dry newspaper. She also picked up small pieces of firewood which would be used to cook the fish. After carefully putting the newspaper on the ground, she located the sharp edges on two of the pieces of quartz and started rubbing them together, creating friction. After a few strikes, the rocks produced sparks, and the dry newspaper caught fire. Kenda quickly put the newspaper under the firewood. Due to the dry weather, the firewood lit quickly, but she waited a little more until the flames were substantial enough before putting the fish on the fire.
“Here, have some. It’s warm and delicious.” Kenda threw the fish’s head to the cat.
“What?” Such was her shock that Kenda almost thought that she had imagined the interaction.
“You can talk?” Kenda’s own piece of fish was forgotten.
“Yes, I can. You can talk! What kind of cat are you?”
“It’s weird, though. Your mouth is not moving the way I hear you.”
Kenda started eating. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier that you can talk?”
“Here, have some more.” Kenda threw another piece of fish to the cat, which it caught in mid-air.
“What are beggars?”
“Not where I’m from.”
“Not at all. So, tell me about these beggars. This place is new to me, and I’m getting lost.”
“That’s sad. I can see why you mistook me for one of them.”
“That’s because I don’t know their language.” Kenda threw the last piece of fish to the cat, and the cat happily ate it. “My village is very far from here, and we speak a different language.”
“You do?” Kenda’s eyes widened again with renewed excitement.
“I don’t think you’re talking directly to me. It looks like we’re communicating through our minds, and not using the sounds of our mouths.”
“Wow! That sounds amazing. So how did you end up on the streets?”
The glow of excitement that had previously filled the cat’s green eyes was replaced with sadness.
“I can’t believe they did that! They should’ve kept you because their kid loved you.”
“Poor you. Come here.” Kenda picked the cat up and put it on her lap.
“Have you ever thought of… maybe… taking a bath? Other humans might want you if you are cleaner.”
“Well, there are special circumstances behind why I haven’t been able to wash. Besides, I will need new clothes. Cats don’t have to worry about that. They just need to be clean.”
“I have an irresistible proposal for us both not to be hungry, but I think it’ll only work if you take a bath first.”
Chapter 16
Kenda
The cat sat on Kenda’s lap. Its dry white fur looked thicker after its bath. “What about a name? Everyone should have a name.”
“Can I call you Lucy, then? It sounds pretty.”
“Hey! Don’t go to sleep yet. We have a deal, remember? I’ll find a job, and you translate for me.” Kenda nudged the cat.
Kenda sighed, stood, and started walking, holding the cat in her arms. It was already afternoon, and if she didn’t find a job, they would have to go back to the river and ask for fish again. She dreaded the thought of having to sleep outside in the cold once again, after a few days of not sleeping inside a house.
She veered away from where she had been chased by the seller that morning and walked toward the end of the market. Her feet felt like they were burning after walking on hot sand and stones all day, so she was eager to go back into the shade. While walking, she looked for people who needed help so that she could offer her services.
Kenda hurried close to the short-haired woman as the woman stacked the fruit in her store. She picked up several apples which had fallen to the ground and put them on the table where the woman was putting them on display. The woman looked at her and smiled.
“Saeamat.”
Kenda returned the smile. “Do you need help in your store?” Kenda used her hand to indicate picking up the fruit and sweeping the floor.
Kenda pointed to her chest. “Me, help you.” She pointed to the woman before pretending to carry fruit from inside the store to the table outside to display them.
The lady nodded her head in understanding. The cat started translating after the lady opened her mouth.
“Please?” Kenda begged, holding her hands together. “Just for food.” She pretended to eat.
The lady shook her head several times, gave her an apple, and shooed her away.
Kenda’s heart sank. She’d had no idea that it would be this difficult because she didn’t know the language.
They passed by a restaurant with a lot of customers. She saw the server busily taking orders and putting customers’ food on the table.
Before she could go inside, a worker in front of the restaurant stared at her. “Alin imo?”
Once again, Kenda tried to offer her assistance by gesturing with her hands, mimicking serving food and taking orders.
The pale-skinned employee’s brows drew closer.
“Masako ako.”
Kenda pointed to her chest. “I will help.” Then, she acted like she was a server.
“Halin,” the employee said, annoyed.
“Please,” Kenda begged.
“Halin!” the employee almost shouted, as if her loud voice would make Kenda understand the foreign language. Kenda walked away as some of the customers started to stare at her. Some of the men looked at her in amusement, while others offered looks of disgust.
As the sun began to set, hungry and disheartened, Kenda and Lucy went back to the river.
“Where do you usually sleep?” Kenda spoke aloud this time because nobody was within earshot. After asking the river for sustenance, she carefully removed the fish’s bone before eating.
“No permanent place at all?”
“Hmm… sounds like street life is tough. We can’t stay out here in the open. I’m afraid I will get sick if it rains.”
“That sounds scary. I’m a human, though, so I doubt they will be stronger than me.
”
“Come on, then. Show me the way.”
They walked the streets adorned with round lights. Kenda was fascinated by their capability to provide light without a naked flame, and she hadn’t seen anyone light them, either. In Daa, they used torches that did not last long before burning out, requiring the user to carry extra supplies for creating more when traveling on long journeys. The lights in town were attached to big poles which, in turn, were connected to each other by cables, like vines traveling from one tree to another. The night before, Kenda had stared at the city from the riverbank and marveled at how much the night sky looked to be full of stars.
They continued walking until the distance between the lights grew greater. Kenda didn’t like the dark; she much preferred the bright streets of the town.
Kenda and Lucy passed a smelly canal where the water did not seem to move due to the quantity of trash submerged within it. They continued walking until they came to a concrete bridge.