Pen Pals {MXTX}

Special: life is paramount

"Mommy! Tongtong's mommy got him two puppies, I want a puppy too!!" A little boy ran into the house, waving his arms around.

A woman sat on an armchair in the living room. She opened her arms and the boy ran over and jumped onto her lap.

"Can I, can I, mommy? I want a puppy too!!" the boy asked excitedly.

The woman sighed. "No, Dong-er, you can not have a puppy."

The boy drooped in his mother's arms. "Why?" the boy asked. The little boy became angry. "Why?? I want a puppy! Why can't I have a puppy???"

The woman looked at her child. She placed a hand on her child's head and ruffled his hair. She said, "We don't have the money. It's already hard for mommy to feed two children, we can't add another mouth to feed."

"Oh..." the boy said. The child was silent for a few seconds. Then the boy clutched onto his mother's sleeves, looked up at his mother, and asked, "How about Honghong? If Honghong doesn't live here anymore, can I get my puppy?"

The woman looks at her son.

She sighed again and patted him on the head. She replied, "Dong-er, you shouldn't say stuff like that. If Honghong-er doesn't live here, mommy can't get you nice toys."

"Oh..." the boy didn't understand. Why does Honghong have to be here for him to have nice toys?

"That's why we can't get a puppy," the mother concluded. She then shifted the child in her arms and made sure he was comfortable. She said, "Now, why don't you take a little nap while mommy sings you a song?"

Comfortable in his mother's arms, the warmth and lullaby quickly soothed the boy to sleep.

When the mother saw her child's eyes closed, she stopped singing and smiled. She brushed strands of hair away from her child's forehead with a hand and said softly, "Besides, one mutt is already enough."

Though it was said quietly, there was another woman who was in the room and she heard her.

This woman is the mother's sister.

"Honghong is the kid's name?" the sister asked.

The mother shook her head. "No, but Dong-er calls him that."

"How long since you took in the child?" the sister then asked.

The mother paused. She furrowed her eyebrows. She said slowly, "I believe it's a couple of weeks ago."

"Huh," the sister commented. The woman tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

There was a soft chuckle. The mother shifted in her seat making sure not to wake up her child. She said, "Our government is so generous, you know. They gave us so much just to house a midget. Just to make sure he gets enough to eat and doesn't die."

The sister was unimpressed. The woman took a pastry from a plate. Before taking a bite, she asked, "Then where's the child now?"

The mother looked left and right. She looked at her sister and then shrugged.

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There was a building at the end of the town. It was abandoned.

Behind the building was a garden. Or what was left of the garden.

At the edge of this neglected garden was a boy digging furiously into the dirt with his bare hands.

The boy was skinny and small for their age, looking like three instead of five. He was wearing a plain shirt and shorts and flip-flops. The boy was hunched over, digging the earth like a dog.