Glass Collector by Anna Perera

Author:Anna Perera [Perera, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4804-4995-4
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Published: 2013-08-07T00:14:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Fortune

Aaron’s standing stock still. Run for it. Go. Get away. Forget the chance of a proper meal. You know medical-wasting is the worst job in Mokattam.

Now Aaron wishes he’d begged Hosi to take him back. Anything is better than this and he knows what will happen next.

Noha hands Aaron a plate of rice and oily brown lentils and a huge grin spreads across her wrinkled, kind face. For a moment the rich smell disguises the stink of plastic and old bandages coming from the bags, but it’s already too late. Too late because he’s accepted the food and he can read the payment she wants in her eyes.

Jacob’s pretty sisters watch Aaron with interest. He’s never been inside their two-and-a-half-room home before and they’re surprised their mother has allowed a handsome boy to come this close now that they are twelve and thirteen years old, let alone that she’s amazingly pleased to see him. While Jacob’s always happy to see Aaron, he’s more interested in eating just at this moment.

Casting off his fear, Aaron takes his place on the floor and hungrily digs into the first proper meal he’s had since the engagement party. The delicious lentils are mixed with peppers and garlic and Aaron gobbles them up in record time. Noha looks at him carefully, aware that he’s desperate and has no way of managing on his own. She doesn’t speak until he’s finished.

“Are you ready now, Aaron, to make up for your sins? For your stealing.”

“I don’t know,” he answers sheepishly.

“I think you do,” Noha says with a glint of triumph in her eyes. “Jacob, show—show.”

At this, Jacob springs from the floor with a burst of energy, as if the “fruit cordial” argument hadn’t happened, and leads the way to a tiny dark room, which is off the main room where his mother and sisters sleep beside the stove and sink. There’s a basic bathroom to one side.

Jacob’s half of the room has a yellow boxing glove that clearly serves as a pillow and a worn mat at one end. There’s no need for him to point out where Aaron’s meant to sleep. Beside the mat is an empty space just big enough for him to lie in. Beside that is a cardboard box with a bundle of clothes on top, a dirty white comb and a wax statue of Mary, Mother of God. Aaron picks it up for a second and smiles before putting it back.

“What made you come now?” Jacob asks.

“I got hungry,” Aaron answers simply.

It seems fate that has propelled Aaron to this place and he starts to feel ill, wondering if he’ll get out of here alive. A pang of regret for leaving the pony yard stabs him in the chest, until Jacob puts him straight.

“Shareen and her friends are gossiping about Rachel. You had to leave. She’s got enough to deal with. That nice Fatima, her stepmom, is going to die in a few weeks.”

“A few weeks?” Aaron shakes his head in disbelief.

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