My space.

He sat in a puddle of mud in front of his mud house. He was about 4 years old, Perhaps 5, it was hard to tell . His face was wizened and tired;The eyes empty.The movements he made were without life. He was a sad child.

'plop' 'splash' went the mud puddle as he silently threw some small stones into it. As they sank he stretched out his feet idly to feel about the bottom of the puddle, toes outstretched, feeling for the stones he just threw in.

Mud, Dirt, and litter all over the place. That was all his tired eyes could see. There was the random sheep snuffling like a dog here and there looking for something else to munch on besides the dry thorny bushes which grew in abundance.Sometimes the sheep would come across a crust of bread lying in the street and then it would let out a bleat - probably of happiness.

Whilst staring listlessly at all of this, he suddenly needed to pee. Hurriedly he pushed himself up with his hands and ran stumbling and crying into the house "Mama, Mama! I need to pee ...I need to pee bad!". He ran thru the walled courtyard, into the open kitchen with the mud oven and bread crusts still scattered on the floor until he came across his Mama breastfeeding his baby sister in the sitting room. It was poorly lit and smelt of dust and inscense and his sisters pee.
"What!" exclaimed his mama when she saw him, " What do you want?" Simpering, the boy replied " I need to pee mama, take me please, I am all dirty" At that the mother glanced sharply at him and with a cry exclaimed "What is this mud all over you!" her face distorted in anger and she advanced towards him as he fell to the floor grovelling and crying "Mama...take me to the bathroom...I need to pee...."

She fell onto him with gusto " You dog! You son of a donkey! Do you think I am a maid to wash up when you get muddy like this!" Each word of hers was punctuated by the sound of the stick whistling thru the air before landing on the boys feet,hands,head,back...
"Mama...mama...it hurts..mama...I need to pee.." the boys simperings went unheeded.

Suddenly the boy fell quiet and his sobs gradually subsided. Confused, his mother looked down and she saw a puddle slowly forming around him.
"Oooh you useless vagrant!!" she wailed " Get out of here! get out of here now!" and saying so she picked him up and flung him into the porch.

The boy sat there for a moment. He no longer needed to pee. He had already went just now whilst his mother was beating him. With a little sigh he picked himself up and stood there; a pitiful picture wearing a soiled muddy grey thowb and nothing else. His hair hadn't been washed for days and it was a faded brown color from spending all of his days in the sun. His nose was crusted with dry snot and the flies buzzed around him happily, some landing at his eyes to feed on the mucus gathered there.

He just stood there. These flies didn't bother him. After all, weren't they the only things who stayed around him constantly ever since he was born? every since he was born they were always there......crawling on his face....at the sides of his mouth.....getting stuck in the snot that dripped slowly from his nose and was never wiped off.

After a while passed he shifted himself and plodded wearily back outside. He sat down on his haunches by the edge of his puddle again. He was hungry but there was nothing to eat.He sat some more. Soon he saw a figure of a person slowly coming up the hill. As the person came closer he recognized him and his breathing got shallow. He didn't like the man. But he wasn't sure why he didn't like him. Didn't he give him nice things all the time? And he was always smiling at him. But he didn't like him. He took him to his house and did strange things with him. And sometimes it hurt. It hurt bad.

The boy decided to run inside to his Mama, but as he got up his feet failed him as he remembered the beating he had just received. As he was agonizing over it he suddenly felt a soft touch on his shoulder. Turning around he saw the man standing above him and smiling that smile.

"My poor little lamb....you are so dirty...lets go and get you clean okay? I will give you a bath..." The mans smile widened as he spoke and the boy shrank under his touch.
"Here...look what I have.." the boys eyes widened as he saw the man pull out some chicken and bread from the bag with him. His stomach growled...He so wanted to eat....he reached out his hand to take it, and smilingly the man led him away..
" I will tell my Mama next time" the boy thought " I will tell my mama next time.....when she isn't so angry with me...."

And he followed the man.

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