I hate it when it's hot…the cold can be fixed with a few blankets and stew…but the heat… well that's just a down hill battle. And you know with the heat comes that ever present stink that over comes everything in this god forsaken city. On cloths, animals, buildings and I think it even invaded my very skin! It wasn't supposed to be like this…this is supposed to be America… the second heaven…with the streets paved with gold…where no one ever went hungry or got sick…
It's funny how people lie…I mean you would think the first guy that can over here and discovered what a hell whole this place was would have spread the wealth you know…give the unsuspecting peasant a heads-up for once and just say, "don't spend you life savings on a one way ticket to hell...save it and buy a sandwich!" but no that same bum had to go around with all his other friends on the first voyage over and spread this damn lie…
God I'm hot…and hungry…and to tell the truth I could use a bowl of stew and a sandwich right now…I don't know why I am blaming the heat any way I mean it only smells because people have to dump their "waste" on to the street and of course the city doesn't hire anyone to pick it up…sorry I'm mumbling…I always mumble when I am hungry. To tell the truth I didn't even spend my life savings on the trip over…no that's on my smuck parents or whoever before them…never met um myself…my parents I mean. I was left in an orphanage when I was a baby…lucky I know. I mean I got three meals a day and cloths on my back. All I had to do was suck up to a few nuns…say a few prayers…get a few points with the man upstairs…and I was golden. But then when I turned nine I was supposed to go to the factory and work and so I did. I went into that damn sweat shop every day to make sure that I didn't lose those three meals a day and the cloths on my back. I saw a bunch of kids around being all high and mighty about it. Like they were to good to go work for a livin…of course I also saw those same bunch of kids get kicked out on their asses…I knew I had to appease these nuns…and I did it for survival. But this city never stops creating more mouths with not enough hands to feed um… and when the nuns saw how much cash I was rackin in compared to even those who were workin…they kick me out too…said that I could provide for myself and that they needed my bed for someone who couldn't. See I stuck out…the kids that were going would skip out on days or hold out on their earnings…I though that by going every day and givin everythin I had that I would be taken care of. But we all have to learn sometime that life isn't fair.
Sorry I have just been mumbling on and I forgot to introduce myself…my name is Maxine… but I only answer to max…ha I say that like someone is even going to be interested enough to call on me in a simultaneous moment in which I anxiously want to answer. But no, I mostly keep to myself. It is dangerous enough to be a girl on the streets, the last thing I need is to be someone people know. See when people know your face…name…whatever one of two things happen, they think they have some sort of claim over ya… and your life isn't your own any more…you have to think of how your actions reflect them and how you then suddenly have some sort of responsibility to make sure their ok. This is bad for so many reasons but the one that always keeps me running is the fact that I can barely make sure I am ok the last thing I need is to have to keep checking the schlep next to me for vitality signs. The second reason is that the more you are recognizable the more you can be picked out in crowed and if you can be picked out in a crowd…by the wrong person…then who knows what could happen to you. I mean think about it…if it is a cop then you get sent to the refuge…if it is a thief you get robbed, if it's a gang you can the crap kicked out of ya, if it's late at night in an abanded alley way you get raped and if it's a nun seeing you get to much money then you get thrown out on your ass….yup personally I'd rather remain a mystery to others…and in this way fully know myself comin and goin. This may seem selfish but my life, person, and the few belongings in this knapsack are the only things that I own out right.
I'm sixteen now and I think I have been moving long enough…going from place to place gets tired and confusing…I mean most slums look the same and trying to find safe alleys to sleep in is hard enough without trying to remember if it was in queens that you took a left after that sleeping bum or a right…yup I think I am going to stay in one place for awhile.