When Levi finished his work at the clinic, he went out for a walk. 'It's May, the weather has become softer,' he thought. When the soft air hit his skin, he involuntarily took a deep breath.
In recent days, she had been sending Jun out all the time, trying to keep him away from the clinic and herself.'This is the best for both of us,' she fooled herself.'Jun is used to the street, she thought, after all, he must have been on the street for a long time.... He felt ashamed of himself for thinking that, yes he should have kept the boy away, but the thought of sending him back out on the street made him sick to his stomach.
'Maybe I can find another job for him,' he thought. 'Yeah, sure, another job somewhere else, that would be best. As Levi was walking with these thoughts in his mind, he saw Jun from the opposite street.
Jun was talking to someone and his expression didn't look very pleased.
'Whoever Jun is talking to is bothering him,' Levi thought. Just then Jun fell to the ground with the materials in his hands and Levi made a sincere sound as if he was hurting himself.
But the man was still picking on Jun. Levi found himself punching the man before he realised how it happened and immediately helped Jun and they came to the clinic together.
Levi was feeling very angry, anxious and scared. Jun, meanwhile, was saying something to Levi in a low voice:
-Materials ... always broke, Jun said.
His fear had passed a little, but this time he was afraid of Levi ...
- You're hurt, let's clean the wound, said Levi.
-I'm sorry, I'll pay for the equipment,- said Jun.
Levi didn't hear the words. His eyes were focussed on the bruises and scars on Jun's skin and the silent collapse. He hated himself and hated the thought of sending Jun back out on the street.
-The wound on his leg is a little deep, but the ones on his palms are just scratches, it will heal in a few days, Levi said.
Jun was about to cry, he couldn't get a word out of his mouth except to apologise. Then Levi asked him the question that had been on his mind for months to comfort him and satisfy his curiosity:
-'How did you end up on the street? Who was that man? How did this happen?' said Levi.
He was angry but not at Jun, scared but not for himself.
Jun was surprised by the question, Levi should have been angry with him, should have kicked him out of the clinic for getting him in trouble, but he wanted to know about Jun after months. So Jun took a deep breath and started to speak:
-'Well...me. It's been a long time...Actually, I was a poor but happy child until I was 8 years old, my mum used to clean people's houses, I couldn't go to school, but the people whose houses my mum cleaned taught me to read a little.
Then one day my mum left me on the side of a building with a small blanket and 2 loaves of bread and told me to wait for her. Then she left. I waited for a few days where she left me. Then I found our little house with difficulty, but no one was staying there. When I asked our neighbours where my mother was, they told me that she had packed her things and left a few days ago. I waited near our house for a few weeks in the hope that she would come back, while our neighbours gave me some food, but they were poor too, so after a while they stopped giving me food, so I stopped waiting for my mother.'
Jun's voice became more forked but he continued:
' I wandered the streets of the town looking for food and work. The town wasn't very big, it was called Thornwich..., maybe you know it. After a while I decided to go to another town by the river to see if I could find work.
This one was called Marlow. It was a town by the river, damp, lots of people, sometimes sailors came. I kept going to the sailors and asking them if there was any work for me, but because I was weak, no one would give me work, they would just give me some food and send me away.
After some time, an old man gave me a few days' work and I was able to earn money to stay in Marlow for a few months. I was already living on the street, and the money I earned was only for food. I stayed in Marlow for a few years, sometimes helping the sailors and sometimes helping other people. I was 12 years old now, and I could guess my age from the change of seasons.
Then I went back to Thornwich to see if Mum had gone back to where we used to live, but another family had moved into our old house and Mum was nowhere to be seen.'
Jun paused for a while and took a few deep breaths, a normal reaction for a child going through what he was describing. Then he continued again:
'Nobody I used to know was in that town anymore, but I stayed there for a few more years in the hope that I might meet someone. Luckily I found a big blanket and people passing by on the street would give me some food. I stayed there like that for two more years, but at night the street was a different place, Levi.'
Levi heard his name from Jun's mouth for the first time, and his heart beat faster, almost happy. Jun was surprised at himself, but he quickly continued:
' every night the strong ones were hurting the weak ones, hurting them in some way, especially the children... there were a few other children like me on the street, some of them had escaped from the orphanage. I also thought about going to the orphanage but I didn't go, hoping to find my mum later. My friends who escaped from the orphanage said that the orphanage was hell, bad words, beatings and worse...
The street seemed safer to them.
But not every street in Thornwich was safe, one day one of my friends was killed in the night while he was sleeping, I don't know who did it, I don't know why, but I was very scared and I left Thornwich that day.
I had been living on the street for six years, but it was the first time I had ever been so scared, so I left and came to this town, Norbury, which was a bit more developed and where the rich people lived.
As soon as I arrived, I asked a few places if there were any jobs for me, but who would give a job to a beggar like me. Then I had to go back to begging on the street. Every day thousands of people passed me: children holding their mothers' hands tightly, people going shopping with their fathers, and I didn't even know my father's name, rich people, labourers, and thousands of other people.
Sometimes a few people gave me food, sometimes a small scarf or gloves.... At such times I felt very lucky...
But the nights were full of nightmares, at night someone would come from the darkness on the street and do whatever they wanted to the beggars. So I was beaten a few times, a few times they even took my clothes.
He, the man who knocked me down ... He's the one who comes out at night and does what he wants, takes what he wants. A couple of times he took the food and things that were given to me.
Now he's heard I'm with you and he's trying to cause trouble. He asked me why you took me with you and I said you took pity on me and then he laughed badly and I fell down and then you came.'
Jun told all of this in one fell swoop, as if he was waiting for this question, even though he cried a little while telling it, he restrained himself, after all, this was the story he had known for years. And he continued:
-'That's it,' Jun said with a broken smile, 'I've tired you a lot today... I'm sorry,' he finished his sentence.