The Children of the Wind

     Isaac stood on the corner no taller than five feet tall. His hair was green along with what somebody might call a goatee. He was only fourteen and he had been on the streets for three years. He had a piercing in his ear and between his lip and his chin. He wore a tee shirt with Levi's blue jeans. He wore a pair of brand new Doc Marten's. He was not going to wait around long enough for somebody to ask him where he got the boots.

      Isaac never forgot how he wound up on the streets. When he was seven, his dad took off and never returned. His mom raised him the best that she could. She worked two jobs to keep him in good clothes and to have food for the table. Then one day, she got sick and could not work anymore, so Isaac went out to steal some food. He was eleven at the time and he was caught stealing from the local market, but when the manager found out that Isaac's mother sick, the manager would not press charges. Isaac's mother eventually died within the month, so Isaac had to find some other way to live. He put her in several plastic bags, so nobody could smell her. Then, he put her in the garage with a blanket over her to keep her warm in heaven because he knew his mom was an angel, now. He tried to beg, but the cops would ask him why he was not in school, so to avoid the harassment he tried to steal, again. When Isaac went to steal again, he ran into a guy named Herb. Herb was a pickpocket and very good at it, so he showed Isaac how to make lots of money. At first, Isaac had to run from people to avoid capture. The city finally found Isaac's mother's body and that meant that Isaac could not go home, so he lived on the streets with Herb. Isaac got good at being a pickpocket and Herb was proud of his progress. One day, Herb got into an argument with a man, who stabbed and killed Herb, so Isaac was now alone for the first time in his life.

     Today, Isaac wandered the streets in search of victims. When he spotted the mark, he would move in for the kill. He had to be careful because sometimes the cops would run sting operations and he did not want to get caught up in one of those operations, so he took his time. He got a cup of coffee and walked around with the coffee to avoid suspicion. He walked around town and talked to the street vendors while he looked in the windows of the stores. He searched for what he considered the perfect mark. When he spotted the mark, he walked over to the person and he accidentally bumped the person. He apologized and walked away from the person and area where that had occurred just in case the mark noticed something missing. He usually found an alley where he would check the wallet. He looked into the wallet this time and found a hundred and ten dollars. Also, inside the wallet were a couple of credit cards, which he could sell. He dumped the rest of the wallet in the trash and went to Joe's to sell the credit card. Joe gave him ten dollars a card because there was no guarantee. After he saw Joe, he went to the diner for breakfast. Marie spotted him and asked him if he wanted to sit at the counter, again. He told her yes.

     "Is that a large glass of orange juice, today?" Marie asked as if she knew that he ordered that for breakfast.

     "Today, I want a very large glass of orange juice."

     "Very well, have you decided what you want to order, yet?"

     "I'll have two eggs over easy, hashbrowns, bacon, biscuits, two pancakes with lots of butter, thanks."

     "I'll be right back with your orange juice."

     Marie came back with his orange juice and he started sipping on the orange juice as he waited for the breakfast. The breakfast came and he tore into the food as if it was the last tomorrow. When he was done, he did not even turn over the bill to see how much it was. He handed the bill and a twenty to Marie and told her to have a nice day. She told him thank you.