He is always smiling.
A few days ago we noticed him while we were working on our computers at the park. He was just sitting on the step watching us…
Smiling.
He was there the next day too. When we waved at him, he came and sat next to us, content to just sit with us while we were working.
He laughed at everything, the joy bubbling right out of him.
That night he followed us home.
And I woke up the next morning to him knocking on our door with a bag of guava fruit for us. I told him to come back in the afternoon when we were going to the park. He smiled and said okay, but then he sat on the street outside our apartment all day. Little by little he gathered friends until there was a whole posse of boys sitting on our stairs. For hours they just waited for us to come out and play, sometimes ringing the doorbell but mostly just patiently waiting. When we finally left the apartment for the park, they had all fallen asleep on our porch.
It was then that I noticed Javier’s shoes.
After that I started to notice other things…
He was wearing the same clothes again. Always the same blue jersey, red baseball cap, tattered shoes and huge smile.
He didn’t go to school like the other kids because he worked in the afternoons at an empanada shop.
He was fascinated with our baby wipes, taking the one we gave him and scrubbing his body with it.
He never wanted to go home and he ravenously ate anything we gave him.
Two girls on my team finally convinced him to come by stuffing their shoes in their backpacks and going barefoot with him.
Our hearts broke for him because we had grown to love that smile so much.
But what is to be done with Javier? We can buy him new shoes, we can share our snacks with him, we can be his amigas for a few weeks, but what about when we leave?
And what about the fact that Javier's condition is paradise compared to that of others in countries we are heading into? I know this is just the surface of deep, murky waters we are diving into.Furthermore, why is he always smiling?
As I sit here at the end of the day, questions keep storming in begging to be sorted. But my mind is jumbled and these questions don't seem to have answers.
