I wonder about another's way of life.
It is Sunday morning, just after their visit to the temple, and she walks with her parents to her Daddy's business partner's house. They carry boxes of food filled with noodles, fruits, and rice ready for the picnic. She also carries her favorite warm blanket that she could never sleep without. They pass another building and her mother's old friend stops to greet them and have chit chat when she hears a muffled whimper coming from the narrow alley between two buildings.
With her parents occupied, she wanders over to the sound and finds a curious little boy with brown hair and brown clothes with arms around his middle. She wonders why he's crying and why he's all alone and why he doesn't have shoes and why he looks so dirty and why he's a little stinky.
In the ways of a small child, she gives a shy greeting.
"Hello."
The boy looks up at her with tears and fear in his brown eyes and she doesn't like it one bit.
He backs away and blocks his face with small arms.
"Go away! I don't have anything!"
She frowns.
"I don't want anything."
Silence. Then, the boy lowers his arms and places them back over his stomach. She looks and looks at his hunched form and holds on a little tighter to her blanket.
"Why are you crying?" she asks him.
The boy glances back up at her before wiping his nose with his arm. He mumbles something.
"Huh?"
"They took my bread."
"Who took your bread?"
"Those kids that move rocks and stuff. They took my bread and I'm hungry and my stomach hurts." He starts crying again.
She's more confused than ever.
"Why don't you just go to your Mommy and Daddy for bread?"
He looks up at her angrily.
"I don't have a Mommy or Daddy that can give me bread!"
That shocks her and she suddenly feels very sad.
No Mommy. No Daddy. She couldn't bear the thought of it.
She stands there and listens to him cry again. Then, she runs back to where her parents are and takes the box of noodles back to the crying boy. She holds it in front of his face.
They look at each other and she gives him a small, sheepish smile.
"I know it's not bread, but it tastes really good! I promise!"
She thinks her Daddy will be mad for taking the food without permission, but she knows she had to do it.
He quietly takes the box of food and starts eating. She plops down on the ground in front of him and watches him carefully.
"I'm sorry," she starts, "I know I'm not a Mommy, but I can be your friend!"
She grins and sticks out her hand to him.
"Hi. I'm Asami"
The boy looks at her hand, then shakes it. He smiles at her with a mouth full of noodles and no tears or fear in his eyes.
"Lee."
She comes back to him week after week after that with food in her arms. Her parents come with her after some time with food in their arms for the other children as well.