One Day, One Wish

"Hey! Stop right there," screamed a large man chasing a couple of kids.

These two kids were running like a pair of scalded dogs through Flaherty Square; dodging shoppers and shopping carts trying not to lose speed while simultaneously not trying to knock over some poor lady’s shopping cart.

"This was not one of your brighter ideas, Dani," yelped the smaller of the two children.

"Zip it Toby, if you ain't got an idea on how to lose em, I don't wanna hear it," exclaimed Dani.

As both of them darted out of the myriad of people that occupied the square, they dashed toward yet another unwanted obstacle, two on-duty police officers.

"Go left," yelled Dani to Toby as they shoot around the corner into the alley.

"Police! Stop those kids! They robbed my stand," screamed the panting old man.

The officers, realizing why the kids were running, made a beeline to them.

However, just as they turned the same corner the kids went around no more than a few seconds ago, they were gone. The officers proceeded into the alley.

"They couldn't have gone far," said the younger officer.

"Keep your eyes peeled," said the taller of the two officers.

As they made their way further into the alley, a garbage truck pulled up and lifted a dumpster emptying its contents.

"Did you hear that?" said the younger officer.

"Aside from the truck, I didn't hear anything. Shoot! They must've gave us the slip. Let's go back to the square and take an incident report," said the taller officer.

As both walked away, the garbage truck drove off, unbeknownst to the officers that the pickup it just made had more than just trash inside.

Dani pops out of the trash pile gasping for air as the tumble she and Toby took piled the trash in the dumpster right on top of them.

“Toby?” Dani yelled, looking frantically for her little brother. Then just as she was in the heat of her panic, she heard a muffled voice directly behind her.

“Toby,” she yelled as she saw a small, nicked up hand protruding from the trash. “Hang on Toby,” as she dug him out of the trash and finally pulled him out of the heap. “You ok lil bro?” inquiring about his health.

“If I say no, will you give me the extra apple we snatched from the stand?” he said with a grin from ear to ear like the Cheshire Cat from the beat-up Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland book that him and his sister used to read back when they were in foster care.

“I guess you’re alright,” said Dani as she shoved him back into the pile that she just dug him out of, primarily out of frustration but also so that he didn’t see the smirk she had on her face.

As long as she could remember, she took care of Toby. Her dad was non-existent, leaving her mom when she was still pregnant with her. Then Toby’s dad came into her mom’s life and messed her up bad. The fact that Toby came out as a happy healthy kid was a miracle all things considered. Life would only go downhill from there, for a few days before Toby was born, Social Services came and remanded her from her home. Shortly after their mom gave birth to Toby, he was remanded as well. They only saving grace was that the siblings would not be put into separate foster homes. Instead, being put into a home of what looked like to nice gentleman who had a clean home and food in the fridge, two things that Dani hadn’t seen in a long time.

Looks could be deceiving though. For as she got older, the truth made Dani into the hardened 12 year old she is today. That “clean” home and food that was in the fridge was a mere dog and pony show for the caseworker. A ploy to make his home seem like one that offered everything that children coming from terrible situations would not only need but appreciate.

In reality, all the man wanted was a paycheck from the agency to “take care” of foster children. Offering her and Toby the bare necessities and a room with a broken heater to sleep in. Every time their caseworker would come to do their monthly check-in, she would complain about the room freezing at night. However, as Dani got older she found out that the heater wasn’t broken, but that the old man would take out the valve for the heater so that they couldn’t adjust it; interested in saving a few bucks on gas heat rather than making sure they didn’t freeze every night. Dani would give her brother her blanket at night, knowing that he needed the warmth more than her.

Eventually, Dani learned that her mother signed away her parental rights to them, neither of the fathers were found despite the agency searching for them and the agency didn’t have any reason to move the children during their services meeting. This was devastating to Dani and Toby, but more so for Dani, as she was old enough to process the situation around them. Their parents didn’t want them, their foster parent didn’t care for them and the agency wasn’t doing anything to change their situation. So one day, Dani made a decision for her and Toby. They would leave and never come back. Dani, didn’t want to come to this decision, especially since they would be living on the streets. Regardless, there was no doubt in her mind that one day they would be in a better place than the current situation that they were in.

“That was mean,” pouted Toby and knocking Dani out of her walk down memory lane.

“Let’s get out of this truck before we make it to the dump,” said Dani.

As both of them climbed out of the truck and on to the sidewalk, they made their way toward a place to hunker down for the night. As they walked, Toby chowed down on his apple in bliss skipping until he bumped into a guy dressed in classic rat pack, falling to the floor and his apple rolling into the street. Toby attempts to reach for the apple, but a car comes speeding by and as his sister looks in dismay as she sees in her mind the horror that’s about to unfold, her brother gets yanked out of the way at the last second.

“Toby! Are you crazy?” Dani yells as she runs towards him. “Don’t ever do that again! Do you hear me?”

“I’m sorry sis,” Toby says as his heart is currently beating through his chest.

“Are you crazy kid?” exclaimed that man in the suit.

“I’m sorry mister, my brother and I haven’t eaten anything all day. That apple was the first thing he got in his stomach all day,” Dani stated as she was squeezing the life out of her brother for putting her through another traumatic event today.

“Just be careful will ya,” the guy said with a menacing look on his face.

“Ease up Tony. He’s just a kid,” said the other guy with a feather in his Fedora, looking dapper in comparison to the other guy. “You remember what it was to be hungry and living in the streets. You two, here’s a twenty. Don’t spend it all at one place.”

Dani reached out for the money and as she took it, she asked, “Are you sure, mister?

He looked at her, got down to her height and said, “Don’t worry kid, I know what it means to look out for your little brother.”

As the two guys walked away and enter the hotel, Dani was crying tears of joy. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had shown her kindness. She asked Toby, “Ok, we gotta make this last, but let’s get something to eat. What do you want?” Without hesitation he screams, “Cheeseburger!” Laughing at his exuberance, they go to a food cart and were able to get two cheeseburgers once she showed the owner the twenty she got. As soon as they got their food, they went into the alley to sit down and eat, since the last time Toby was eating, he almost got hit by a car. As they were enjoying their food, a sudden violent shaking and ringing in their ears occurred, followed by a body crashing on top of the dumpster next to them. Much to Dani’s dismay it was the guy who gave her the twenty, and he was in bad shape.

Dani told Toby to go get help but then the guy grabbed her arm and said, “It’s too late for me kid, I can’t feel my legs and it’s hard to breathe.” Dani realized that on the right side of his chest was a shard of glass jammed in and his shirt soaked with blood. She resisted the urge to throw up her cheeseburger she just ate and also realized the cause of the man’s injuries. The hotel room the guy was in was set ablaze and, after putting together what they felt and heard with what she saw, she realized that somebody must’ve bombed that room. The guy was coughing and Dani and Toby looked over him and he said, “Do you kids see a yellow envelope around here?” After a couple of moments, Toby found the envelope and the guy said, “In it is a little black book. Please take it to my kid brother at Founders Hospital. He’s in Room 421, and his name is Dominic. Tell em that Adrian sends his love. He will know what to do.”

Just as he finishes his instructions, the heat left his body. Adrian, a guy who didn’t know Dani or Toby from a hole in the wall, who was kind enough to give them money to get themselves food, passed before their eyes. Dani and Toby looked at each other and agreed that they should make their way to the hospital to fulfill Adrian’s last wish.

As they made their way into the hospital and slipped past security, they find Room 421 and a very large guy standing at the door. “He looks like a pro wrestler,” said Toby. Dani however, wasn’t going to stop now. She walked up to the guy and said, “I have an envelope from Adrian for Dominic.” The guy looked at this little thing in front of her, full of spunk and moxie, then a voice from within the room called, “Thomas, let her through.” Without delay, he stepped to the side, allowing Dani and Toby to enter the room.

“I heard you mention my brother’s name, how do you know him?” asked Dominic. Dani with much hesitation explained what had happened to Adrian and what he asked her and Toby to do for him. “I understand,” said Dominic, clearly distraught but trying not to show it. “Thank you. As a small token of our appreciation, Adrian would’ve wanted you to have this,” Dominic reaches into the envelope and hands Dani a smaller, bulky envelope. She looks in it and sees two packs of bills with $10,000 ribbons on them. “Adrian must’ve saw a lot of ourselves in you two. I wish you luck in whatever life has in store for you.”

With that, Dani and Toby exit the hospital and he asks, “Hey sis, what are we gonna do now?” Dani, taking serious stock of the question replies, “I don’t know, but as long as we are together, we will make the most of it.” Toby stares at her seriously, not really satisfied with the response to which she replies, “Wanna grab a bite to eat?” Knowing the fastest way to make Toby smile was thru his stomach, they walk along the street side by side, siblings ready to take on the world, one day at a time.