SHE DESERVES BETTER

chapter 6

'You seem to have such a miserable life, I love the way you guys lived by the way, Becky seems to be so dear to you' Amanda said to Leonard as she sat in front of her on the table while sipping her mug of tea.

'She is just this little cute sister, very determined though' Leonard replied

'You mind telling me about your first robbery? Amanda asked curiously

'I don't do robberies, at least not yet, don't overrate me, I'm a pickpocket' Leonard replied while laughing

'Yeah right, I'm not a woman, at least not yet, don't overrate me, I'm a girl, same shit right? Amanda replied

'I remember it was Becky's eighth birthday, my mother and father were on a journey and had promised to be back on the very day, we waited for such a long time that we started to believe that they wouldn't be there on that day, Becky was so disappointed that she went into her bedroom, grabbed a pillow to her face and started crying loudly, I felt disappointed and I decided to go out to find her a birthday present, I literally had no money by then but I went out anyways, on my way there I saw a catholic nun sitting on the bus stop bench, I went there and sat beside her, she looked into my eyes and smiled and continued to concentrate on her newspaper, she had laid her handbag beside her and on seeing it i slipped my hand and came out with a wallet, I got up and left, I was trembling in fear and regret but I kept going forward giving myself hope that I was doing the right thing for the time being,

'Stop right there! I heard a voice talking to me and after turning back I saw a short man with a big black leather jacket looking at me, 'Why did you steal the lady's purse? He asked madly, I nearly peed myself

'Look sir, I just wanted some few bucks, you can take the wallet back but please don't arrest me, please' I started crying and begging to the man

'Look son, I know you had your reasons to do this, I'm here to show you the right way to do it, here take this card and money, go buy anything you want and when you feel like getting more call me by the number on the back of that card' he said while handling me a card and some money, I was very happy, he took the wallet and allowed me to go, On my way back home I found a pets store and bought one for Becky as she always loved pets, I put a collar on her and headed home, after reaching home I gave the puppy to her and wished her happy birthday, I've never seen Becky that happy in my life, she screamed in joy and hugged me hard, as we were still celebrating we heard a solid knock on the door, she went and opened the door quickly and said, 'Brother there are two police officers outside am sure they are here to arrest dad as usual, bad timing he's not here today'

I felt a lump in my throat and couldn't answer to her, I managed to put on some confidence and decided to face the music,

The officers asked me out and gave me the terrible news of my parent's boat accident that took both their lives and other eight passengers...that was when my solo orphan life with Becky started, after burial of my parents life became extremely hard and that's when I called Mr. Derrick who taught me all about pickpocketing and here we are today' Leonard explained his story to Amanda who just sat there looking at him in pity.

'I gotta go, talk later yeah'? Amanda said as she hardly stopped her tears, she took a tissue paper wrote her phone number down and gave it to him and left, Leonard just sat there.