A Poor Ethiopian Boy

Ribs showing, he trudged after her, nudging her, his sad eyes in constant search for food. mercy, or both. The stench of his sweat, grime, and urine wafted off of his malnourished body. His cleft lip distorted his handsome face, his body looked like a dilapidated hut, his bones like termite festered wood, about to collapse from the weight of his translucent black skin. A track of dried tears could be seen trailing south from his eyes, one for each loved one he'd lost, their memories replaced with these visible salt tattoos. He occasionally stopped to sniff the litter along the path, in hopes of stumbling upon a discarded sandwich or money. Occasionally, someone would kick him aside, others thinking such behavior to be inhumane, settled for verbally abusing him instead. After 18 hours of stumbling from here to there, in the grisly heat, he'd finally collapsed. Dousing his hopes for a meal with the dirty water he had to drink. Some days he was so thirsty, sweat refused to tumble out of his over dried pores, his dull skin flaking off at the lightest touch....