The
city was abuzz with humour. There was so much to do, to see, to think upon.
There is so much to fill the eager young mind of a man with nothing better to
do than to wander, and take what he might want.
Thomas
was just such a man. There was no family for him to consider in his doings, and
little more than money to keep him from wanting. Food was plentiful, and the
merchants often so distracted that a pastry here, a fruit there might go
missing without so much as a single eye noticing his having absconded with it.
Thievery is so much more enjoyable when the belly was full, and so much more
profitable when the day was busy.
Thomas
lived in a room behind the laundry, his small shelter little more than a slight
addition to the main building itself. There were two such sheds, one held tools
for the garden, and his, with a wide window, a small cot against the wall, and
the red tile bricks which roofed it. He needed little more.
The
misteress of the laundry took him in when he was young. She knew his aunt, who
herself had raised him from the time he was an orphaned babe, but whose
sickness eventually left him truly an orphan, with no family. She struck a
bargain with him, those twelve years ago: Keep the garden, tend to the
household chores as requested by the laundry staff, and keep out of trouble.
Thomas
could not speak, his throat being without the organ which makes song. He could
grunt and squeal, but those were not noises which anyone preferred hearing. He
hummed eloquently enough. And whistled.
The
neighbors looked out for him, taking notice of his youthful good looks, his
dark brown hair and eyes always filled with a smile. He could not sing, but he
could smile. And he was incredibly talented with his hands.
Since
he was a child, he was very good at jugglery and slight of hand. Though never
formally trained, he could see the manipulations of the street magicians quite
astutely, and he would practice at night until he mastered the illusions. But
his true joy was stealing. He was a masterful pickpocket. Not that he ever
needed for anything. His mistress took care of all of his needs, she doted on
him like he was her own.
He
remembers the first item he ever took that was not his own. The night that his
aunt passed away, the cemetery man had taken her away in a woven basket, and
the landlord took possession of the household for back rent owing. Thomas found
himself without, and out of doors. The constable had taken him to a home for
boys, and he being barely twelve, suffered a great loss, but greater still, his
first night at the home, was accosted by a much larger boy, a year his senior.
In the night, he was held down and sodomized by the older boy and one of his
friends.
Thomas,
humiliated and defeated, his body aching and his self image shattered, ran away
from the home, and back to his Aunt’s cottage, where he broke a window and hid
under her bed for three days. Fearing for his life, he stayed there until
discovered by the landlord’s daughter. She was there, packing everything to
sell, and happened upon this young boy, cradling a fine silver hairbrush and a
matching mirror. He was under the bed, his clothing soiled with feces and
blood, he had defecated in his clothing like a baby might, and he was
dehydrated and half starved.
She
called for her father, who called for the constable. The neighbors were
questioned as to who might take the boy. Was there no family? Would anyone take
him in? As cruel as it may have been, the landlord was not inclined to keep a
child not his own, and the neighbors could only remember a small handful of the
old woman’s friends. One was the mistress of the laundry, a woman named
Esperanza, who was called for promptly.
Esperanza,
saddened by Thomas’ condition, immediately took him home, holding his hand in
hers as they walked the several streets to her home. She lived near the market,
in an apartment above and behind her laundry, itself an inheritance from her
own father, and all that remained of his hard earned fortune.
There
was a small shed in the back, and she had an employee clean it out, purchased a
cot and blanket for him to sleep with, and called for a seamstress to make
clean new clothes for him.
He
held the brush and silvered mirror for three days before allowing himself to
let them out of his sight. Esperanza dared not take them from him, so tightly
did he grip them to his chest.
“Thomas,
I cannot keep you here without payment. You are nearly a grown man, now, and I
cannot feed you without compensation, do you understand?”
Thomas
nodded. He understood.
“I
will let you stay here in this room, but you must work in the mornings, clean
and do as the workers bid you. Tend the garden and keep it free of weeds. I
will show you which are the weeds. And when you are a little older, I will send
you to learn to make clothing with Lorenzo, the tailor. Do you understand?”
Thomas
nodded. He understood.
“You
must keep busy. Never forget that the world is cruel, and it will take from you
what you do not have the will to keep. You must take from it what you can, and
make it grow in your hands. You cannot speak, but you can think. You cannot
sing, but you can use your hands. You cannot command men, but you can clothe
them.” With that, she gave him a piece of candy from her pocket and took him to
the garden to show him which plants to keep, and which to pluck.
(TBC)