hen, two weeks later, I saw the boy again, I was more aware of my position in a society where it’s not that uncommon to see a little boy who should be in school standing on the corner selling fruit in the burning sun. My parents bad raised me to be aware of the advantage we had been afforded and the responsibility it brought to us. I pulled over and rolled down my window, He had a bunch of bananas and a bag of peanuts ready. I waved them away. “What’t up?”asked him. “I…I don’t have money to buy books for school.”I reached into my pocket and abnded him two fresh 500 naira bills.“Will this help?”I asked. He looked around nervously before taking the money. One thousand naira was a lot of money to someone whose family probably made about 5,000 naira or less each year.“Thank you, sir.”he said.“Thank you very much!” When driving home. I wondered if my little friend actually used the money for schoolbooks. What if he’s a cheat(骗子)?And then I wondered why I did it. Did I do it to make myself feel better? Was I using him? Later, I rcalized that I wondered why I did it, Did I do it to make myself feel better? Was I using him? Later, I rcalized that I didn’t know his name or the least bit about him, nor did I think to ask. Over the next six months, I was busy working in a news agency in northern Nigeria. Sometime after I returned ,I went out For a drive. When I was about to pull over, the boy suddenly appeared by my window with a big smile ready on his face. “Oh, gosh! Long time.” “Are you in school now?”I asked. He nodded. |