Chapter Eleven

Castro walked around the market square helter-skelter with the hope to also commence stealing since that’s what the jobless guys on the street did to survive. It was really a hard one for him being a novice, he kept having the reminiscent of how the money was removed from his pocket, at the end of the day, he concluded that it couldn’t be done alone. Hence, he made the decision to incorporate himself into those guys.  

His aim looking for those guys this time was to make friends with them, he was certain that they lived around the market. Amidst looking for them, he saw a store which no one was keeping an eye on. He twirled his eyes around and confirmed that they was no one keeping an eye on it. He ambled to the placement. There were myriad of fruit displayed which were captivating. His major interest was in the Apple which he seldom eat. That was the only fruit that he could hardly see in the forest when he did go with Monk Pat.

Most of the times he did eat Apple was when his father’s visitors came with one. That has always been his favourite. He made the decision to atleast pick one from the store he was looking at, he walked nigher to it and with his big cloth, he took one unfortunately, the fell from the stool where it was placed and everything poured on the ground. Funnily, his cloth hung the stool and he struggle to remove it as it caught the attention of the seller and they came after him.

Forthwith the successfully removed the cloth, he ran for his life. Castro had never ran that fast before, perhaps, he was helped by the crowd. He was being pursued by three guys, they were the sons of the old woman who owned the store. His time over the years running at the temple and around the forest he given him a great leverage and trained him to be strong even though he never engaged in much of physical activities.

At the end, his strength failed him and he chose to corner a store where he chose to rest. He was breathing unceasingly, when the guys couldn’t see him anymore, they stopped and had the feeling that he was around there, they checked around unfortunately for Castro, he was caught.

“Please, I do not have the intention to steal the Apple. I was pushed so I fell on it,” Castro pleaded.

“Oh really. You were pushed?” One of the guys asked.

One was already walking around checking the corner for a stick that they would use to beat him.

“If we check your body and see an Apple. What should we do?”

Castro was quiet. This time, he knew he had been caught. He tucked his head. The guys asking him question raised his head and echoed the question again. They began to check his pocket and saw two apples. They raised it and show him.

“You see!”

They whacked the Apple on his head and it pieces. The other one had seen two cane and he gave one to his colleagues and they beat the hell out of his body. There was no one that could see them at the corner where he was caught, hence he was beaten black and blue. He sustained a couple of injuries before they left him and walked back to their mother’s store.

Castro grabbed one of the sticks that was used to beat him and he was walking looking for objects that he could use to treat himself. As he was walking on the road, people were watching him and avoiding to collide him like a plague. His cheek had grown big as a result.

As he was walking around, he saw those guys who stole from him the first day he came to the market. They walked past the street he was treading, he was shouting their name but they couldn’t hear. He couldn’t yell it better because of the injury he sustained on his mouth. He kept jogging with his leg and using the stick to support it, he saw the back of the guys yet they couldn’t hear him.

He never stopped, he kept walking behind them with the aim to catch up with them once they stopped walking. He really stressed at the end, one of the guys notice that someone was behind them trying to stop them. They saw him from distance but wasn’t recognisable. They almost walk away when they first caught sight of him because they thought it was a kinda old who want to beg for money. One of them insisted that they stop.

They linger a bit and Castro kept struggling with the stick. When he walked nearer. They recognized him because of the cloth he wore, it was one of the guys who first notice and mention it to the guys. They began to laugh, the laughter didn’t stop even when Castro reached their side.

Castro stood quiet feeling ashamed. He didn’t know how to begin why he was looking for them.

“What’s wrong nigga? Why are you looking for us?”

“Ehmm…,” he gazed around, “I want you guys to take me into your home. I am homeless.”

The guys began to look at each other and began to laugh. One was even insisting that they should be going. They didn’t find him interesting. Castro was kinda odd to them from the first day they saw him, yet there was one among the guys who felt pitied by the injuries he saw on his body and concerned with the fact that he was using a stick to walk.

“What’s wrong with you? The injuries on your body and the stick. How did that come about?”

He was looking at the back. The guys also looked at the direction and didn’t see anything. They were yearning for a response from him.

“I was beaten,” Castro said.

“Beaten? Why?”

“I am hungry so I thought of using you guys idea to steal an apple from a store which I failed and I was pursued, caught and beaten.”

One of the guys was angry with the fact that he made the statement of using their idea. He wanted to move nigher to him and slap him. The guy asking question from his stopped him.