Emotion

Chapter 2: Don't Ask Questions

"Hey, why I always gotta do the hard jobs?" Oliver brought up while they were walking down the dirt road.

"Why you always gotta ask questions!? 'Cause I said so." was alway his answer.

"So you know what to do, Oliver?"

"Huh? Yeah. Yeah I know. I just gotta go to that food stand down there, and grab some food when they aint looking." Oliver said, a little annoyed.

"Good." was all Harrison said, and then he slapped him on the back, as if to congratulate Oliver on getting the right answer.

      Oliver roled his eyes and started walking ahead.

       He never really knew what he was doing, till he did it. Maybe that was the reason he was always so confident, he did give himself time to doubt.

         Though his hands went cool and he started to scratch his pointer finger with his thumb, his jaw was set as he walked up to the stand

     "Um. Morning Sir?"

"Young man." the man said, slightly noding his head. "What would you like boy?"

        Oliver took off his hat and brought it out of view from the man in the stand.

         The man had a round face with warm skin and wrinkles on the outer corners of his eyes and mouth, and even though the man wasn't smiling now, Oliver knew from the mans gentle eyes and the way the man leaned on the counter with one of his big arms, that he was a kind man.

"Well sir, I ain't lookin' for no food, but for directions. See I'm lost..."

"Young man I'd love to help you, ", the man interrupted, " but I can't understand you with that talk."

    Oliver knew he couldn't speak English very well. He never really went to school, and when he did he never payed attention. After the 9th grade, he dropped out and started hanging aroung Harrison and his friends.
He felt his face burning from embarrassment. But the man was smiling, as if joking.

"Ha, well I don't come from a rich town like this. " he laughed, scratching his head.

        The man let out a strong laugh, it had grown from his stomach and made him sound as if he may cough up his lungs. As the man tried to control his laughter, Oliver snatched a few grapes from the front of the stand and tucked them in his hat.

"Boy, what's your name? You sure aren't from around here if you thinking we rich."

"Well I just meant this is a nice place, you know. I came off the train." he said, pointing in the direction he came. The man's eyes followed where the boy pointed. Oliver put two apples in each of his pockets. The man looked back at Oliver with suspicion.

"So," The man said with one eye squinted from the sun. Olivers pointer finger was becoming raw from scratching.

"So, um, Im lookin' for a friend " he lied, as he looked around to see the street signs. 5th and Marick.

"He said he lives on Marick. "  said Oliver .

He looked at the man , who's eyebrows were set down, as if to think where Marick would be. As the man was deep in thought, Oliver didn't try to steal anything, he just examined the man. When the man looks up again, Oliver quickly brought his eyes to a magazine and asks how much it was, though both of them knew he wasn't gonna buy it.

"Marick and what?"

"10th." he replied

"It's five blocks, that direction"

    Oliver slides his hat on, from his forehead back, so the man wouldn't see inside, and so the food wouldn't fall out. Only baseball players did it like that .

"You play?" the man asked, picking up an orange as if it were a baseball.

               "Oh, Yeah . Gonna be a professional one day." he lied again. He never knew what he wanted to be when he grew up, but he knew it wasn't that. "Thanks for the directions."

        Then he put his hands in his pockets to hide the lumps the apples were making and walked away . He turned the corner and started running. A few more stands were on this corner. Oliver took the apples from his pocket and ran to a meat stand where there were all kinds of meat, chilling on ice.

"Sir, may I have a bag for these?" he asked holding up the apples. "My bag broke. That's was I get for swinging them 'round, right?" he tried to laugh, but the man didn't, he just handed the bag to Oliver and turned his back to talk to another costumer.

Oliver took a slab of meat and some ice and ran as fast as he could before the grumpy man turned around again.

     This is what Oliver had to do. He felt no shame. He felt nothing. All he felt was his lungs burning and his legs getting tired. He turned another corner, making a u-turn back to were he came , towards where the train was. Toward where Harrison was.