Dreaming Miracles

It was another day for Luis. Luckily the sun was shining, rain wasn't in the forecast, and nothing crawled, slithered, or walked into his sleeping bag that night. For once it didn't feel like a burden waking up, it was actually enjoyable. He slept under a Pine tree somewhere in the nature park, off of the trail. Unsure of when or how he even got there but it didn't matter, it was another day and he was alive. After a few minutes he got up, rolled his sleeping bag, secured it to his backpack, and traced the foot steps he made the night before. He wasn't trying to escape the city, now he was going to it.

Luis was hungry, and there was only two ways he knew how to solve it. Either find food, or find a way to make money to buy food. This was never easy. A job was difficult to keep because he had no where to live, and whatever money he had was given to him by people that were generous enough to help. He knew the best plan was to cover as much distance as possible to find an opportunity, but even then it was a lot of effort with no guarantee. Stone, dirt, and grass met the concrete kingdom and Luis entered a different world. A world where people were valued by what they had and did, not by who they were. Here he didn't feel at peace but it was the only way he knew how to survive.

To get to where he was going he had to walk though a suburb, the edge of the kingdom. This was the place where people lived. Houses in rows, children playing in yards, some neighbors barbequing together and relaxing. As he walked Luis would look down the alley ways, looking for something of value, maybe open up a trash bin to see what it contains. Normally there wasn't anything to be found besides garbage but with the situation he was in, anything would help. He chose this one ally that looked promising because some of the bins were full and there were a few cats running around. Luis checked the first bin and found it was full of branches and leaves, like someone cleaned up a yard. He walked up to the next one, opened the lid, and almost vomited instantly after smelling its contents, he even stumbled a bit to regain his senses all while gaging and spitting uncontrollably. this was why he didn't like these ally ways, you never know what you're going to get.

The ally turned into a T and he looked both ways, the left was the path to the next street with only a house on each side of it. The right side however had some commotion. There was one house that had people going in and out of it, a few trucks were parked in the front, there was even a car in the ally way. It looked as if someone was moving away. People were throwing items in garbage bins, some of them were loading trucks. Luis just had to know what was going on. He walked out of the ally way and around to the front of the house with all the action going on. On the front lawn of the house was a big sign that read "Estate Sale". He knew this was an opportunity. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out what money he did have, even counted the coins, which totaled twelve dollars and fifty-three cents. Two fives and two ones, with some coins. Something just felt right.

Luis walked up to the house and was greeted by a man that was dressed nicely, "hello sir, welcome. Please feel free to look around, just remember, if you break it you have to buy it." "Don't worry, I didn't come here to break things" Luis replied. They both chuckled a bit and Luis was in. After stepping inside he was quickly overwhelmed. The house smelled of vanilla, the walls were covered in antique pictures and decor and at least twenty people were moving about. Everything in sight had a price tag, the carpets were recently cleaned, and not a speck of dust in sight. Luis began his search though the house. The first room was the kitchen, wine glasses, fancy plates and silverware, even the appliances were towards the higher end. All of which were out of budget, but fairly priced. This gave him hope. His next move was towards the master bedroom. Here he found a king size bed resting on a beautiful wooden frame. hand painted pictures as well as solid oak furniture. the room was beautiful. the closet was filled with cloths, from fur jackets to full suits, and a dozen pairs of shoes to go with them. Luis picked up a pair of shoes he liked, only to realize they were not his size, or within his budget either. The room felt too good for him.

After leaving the master bedroom he moved on to the next room which happened to be the study. Two of the walls were used as a giant book case from ceiling to floor, filled with books. This really interested Luis, reading was one of the few things that he enjoyed doing. He looked at all the books and saw some authors he recognized. Ernest Hemingway, Edith Wharton, and Scott Fitzgerald were some of the ones he recognized. He looked at the sign that was taped onto the the wall next to the door. Five dollars for three books. what a steal he thought. He started going through them carefully taking them off the shelf and opening them to see what condition they were in. All of which were well taken care of. After examining a few books he found this one, it was a little black book. He pulled it off the shelf, opened it, and was stunned by a surprise. It was hollow, and in the center of it, was two stacks of cash, each with a band that had $10,000 on it. Luis started shaking, and looked around to see if anyone saw what happened, only to find out he was the only one in the room. Quickly he grabbed two more books, took a few breaths and calmed himself. Everything mattered right now. Every breath, every step, every movement. He held the three books close to his chest and started making his way towards the front. As he stepped out he asked the same man that greeted him "where do I pay for these", "you can pay me" the man replied. Luis got out a five, handed it over and told the man "thank you, have a good day" and proceeded to leave.

After walking away Luis went back to the ally he came from, sat down against the brick wall, and opened the black book to make sure it was true. It did indeed have twenty thousand dollars in it, and it was all his now. Luis collected himself, he felt as if he was suspended in time, as if reality didn't exist. He pulled a quick one and got away with it. He thought, and contemplated what his next move would be. He was unsure. Should he put it in a bank? Should he stash it somewhere where no one would know? Should he buy a car? A house? He thought about it, and knew exactly what he wanted to do. He got up and proceeded on his path to his destination. This time instead of rummaging through the diners dumpster for leftovers. He would go in, sit down, and enjoy a nice hot meal before making his next move.