Stories
A Letter from a Friend
My name is... no... never mind. My name isn’t important. My age! I think I’m... I’m... not quite sure. But that isn’t important either. My Father...? I didn’t know him. My mother... she died when I was six. They told me she was a woman of the streets! Her family disowned her. I have no family. My home? My home is big. It has many rooms, but they all close at night. I sleep in the hall... The hall is massive. It has... no walls. It needs no walls. The ceiling?... My house has a ceiling. The ceiling is high, I can’t reach it but I have no need to. It is beautiful! It has many small lights and one large one that lights my hall. It isn’t very bright, but it is beautiful.
Many people come to my house. They use my rooms and they take their machines through my hall. I don’t mind them doing it but... but they never speak to me. I smiled at one but he didn’t see me. I reached out to one but he turned his head away. Many people come to my house but I am lonely. If only they would talk to me. My foot is getting sore. Every day it gets larger. It looks a bit funny, a bit like it has ate too much. I don’t wear any shoes in my house. I can’t find them. I had them once... years ago. I sometimes cut my foot if someone drops a bottle in my house. I guess I’m lucky that I only have one. Two sore feet would be much worse! Wouldn’t it?
I get very hungry at times. My house has many kitchens. I’m not allowed in them but I wait outside them and the food smells good, but they never seem to serve it. Maybe I just haven’t found the dining room. After a while a man would come and tell me to move. Last time he told me I smelt, and I was keeping people away. I couldn’t smell myself. Only thing I could smell was the food. He waved his fist. I don’t think he liked me.
Sometimes people leave me food. They never can find me to give it to me, so they drop it in my hall and hope I find it. They must have looked for a long time for me because they always get hungry while looking and eat most of it. Never mind! At least they think enough to leave it to me. For that I am thankful. I have to hurry if I want it however.
I have many pets in my house. They all come out at night. They are shy. Not of me but of the visitors. My pets are hungry too. Sometimes they get to the food before me. If they are small, I’m lucky and I can share the meal with them. I finish what they started. If they are larger,... well there isn’t enough for me.
I have many places in my hall where I sleep. Sometimes I can’t sleep there because someone else has my bed. So I move to find one of my beds that isn’t taken. I had a quilt once. It wasn’t a soft one. In fact it was a little hard. I found it outside a room once. It had writing on it. I couldn’t read it. That room had a lot of funny looking boxes with faces in them. I think I heard someone once say they were called... T...TC's? No...TV’s. Yes that’s right, TV’s. Anyway my quilt, I left it on my bed and when I went back it was gone. Maybe somebody needed it who didn’t have one.
Well that’s my house. You can come to visit but please speak to me if you do. I am lonely. If you bring me food I would be thankful. Please don’t drop it on the floor as I don’t get a chance to clean it often... it is so big.
Thanks
A Homeless
This letter was written with the homeless on the streets of Kampala in mind