Son

1 In the beginning

"Get the hell out of here" the old man shouted throwing a bucket of dirty water after us as we shot out of the door. The seven of us laughed as we ran down the harsh brown street.  Each house had an embodiment of decay as they passed their time and were over used with the large families huddled in the two bedroom houses. The street was wet and our feet dressed in ragged busted up second third or fourth hand trainers hit the floor. There was a few other kids out playing but mostly the desolate Street was deserted a carriage raced down the road but I narrowly avoided it and some of the others threw a few rocks. "That old geezer is such a old git. Where we gonna go now?" Lawrence one of the older boys asked kicking a stone in the dim alley we resided in. "We should probably get back. Old Mearch will be shoving his boot up our arses if we late for supper again" James groaned and we shrugged and headed back to the foundling school.

"Nahh mate that'd suck" one of the boys grimaced as another grinned "nah getting a job wouldn't, old Cache has got one and he spends out tonnes".

We came up to the steps to the old worn out red brick building that had faded after the thousands of boys who had stomped down the corridors.

We trudged in with our hands in our filthy pockets our faces stained we hurried as we heard the dinner bell. We each picked up a battered metal bowl and joined the long line of hungry boys with grubby hands and faces. The woman at the front dishing out the over boiled food dropped each serving down without even registering the hungry faces.

"Aw what's it today Link?" A skinny boy behind me asked and I sighed and shrugged "same as it is every day boiled" the boy in front of me added "and tastes like cat piss" we grinned but also cringed knowing it was the truth.

As we sat at the long wooden tables the sound of whispering over took the dim hall "oi you heard that there's someone visiting today" one of the guys whispered to the table in general "and whys that, it's can't be an inspection they haven't given us a wash. They always let us have a wash the day before" Another boy who was taller than the rest of us spoke up "one of the fellas on the coaches had the uniform of a gentleman and he was only parked down the road, that's why there's so many wardens today" he said between shovling the food into his gob. "Bull he probably pulled over to piss cause that's the only thing the toffs would do in this stinking town and the more wardens are probably just for something else" a boy growled frowning. "Don't be an idiot toffs don't piss and especially the ladys" a younger boy pointed out. "Yeah that's true, they'd piss on this place if they could" the table nodded. Suddenly the noise immediately stopped and everybody stood up. Our table snapped up onto our feet in unison. Mr Mearch had walked in and we were required to stop and stand. He had another bloke with him as he strolled round the room. Occasionally the fella next to him pointed at boys and whispered to him after a few minuets boys started shuffling on their feet uncomfortably. Soon he had come to our row and was behind us. He paused for a second but swiftly moved on i didnt dare turn and look.

Once he'd left a warden shouted that it was lights out in 30 minuets. Everyone groaned especially the boys who hadn't finished their food and tried to rush it down before they were forced out. We headed to the rooms that held bunks that creaked with every slight gust of wind.

"Who the hell was that?" One young boy whispered a few minuets after lights out. Another answered "that was that rich fella, I can't remember his name but my dad told me about him once he said 'no es bueno, no es bueno, mantente alejado del mal'" Another faceless voice in the dark sat up the bed heaving with a creak "What the hell was that?" And the boy scoffed "Spanish dipshit it means no good, no good, bad man, evil" he sighed and the boy laid down before speaking again "So you from Spain land? Or something?" And the boy laughed "it's Spain, and no El Salvador" I sighed and turned over trying to sleep against the humid night.