Dont Eat Before Lunch...

There he was digging in his nose for rock hard boogers, using his nerve endings for just when to pull hard, and finding the nectar of sweet wet juice beyond it's crust, and eating till the enjoyment faded with its memory. Children who grow up in the care of those who are paid a salary, somehow dont get around to getting lessons on boogers or quick pick me ups, so what gets eaten is a free for all in homes where orphans flourish. Abuse is hardly an issue where children live and learn, only those type details a mother always finds the time to lavish on her own, amid the wonders of onlooking dads, are found readily.
     Long tables, where kids gather to eat, and where likes and dislikes are catered to with uncanny accuracy. Who likes white bread got a slice and who liked wheat got a slice, as one of each was put on a plate next to the oat meal warmed just right for eating. The bigger boys, would barter their mussels for extra bread, using the need for protection as their commodity of choice, while some just felt that telling tales gave them all the rights to get as fat as whatever food could be eaten. Besides, the more you eat at meal time, the less need there was for boogers.
     One of the orphan boys came down with a tooth ache and complained about it so much so, that he was told when he went to school the next morning to complain to his teach, who was able to send him to the clinic for help. Somehow, I don't think a mother would have given her child such advise, but who am I to judge, it was as it was. So the next day, the young fella went to school the next day and sure enough complained to his teacher about his tooth. Like clock work the boy was sent several miles away to the clinic. Again, not what a mother would dream of for her baby, but there he was, walking at least 3 miles one way to the clinic. Over hills and crossing streets with sights and sounds that make a day away from school enough to forget he had a tooth ache. Passing a bakery with the hot dough promising things to come, he passed it with but a mile and a half to go. Passing the gate to the orphanage, he didn't even look in it's direction, for his lone walk to the clinic felt just as impersonal as a glance at the place he knew as home. Walking passed it, and arriving at the clinic, the boy took his place in a line of chairs as the front desk made it known he was there. When his name was called, he jumped off the chair and went in to see the Dentist. With a tough here and a prick there he was then told to go back and sit down until his name was again called. It wasn't long before his name was called again, and this time a bigger tough and a bit of this and that, and the Dentist then told the boy not to eat anything before lunch time. The boy said his thank you's and left the same way he had come and before long was on his way back to school. As he was approaching the gate to the orphanage, he noticed a bag of roasted nuts in a clear plastic bag. What made the ordeal so devilish, was the fact that slightly roasted nuts was his favorite, and unlike boogers, these where still in the shell and in a plastic bag. Yes, they were on the ground, but in a bag and in their shell, so the boy picked them up notwithstanding eyes that might have been watching from the windows of his orphanage. Concealing the beg of goods as if he had done nothing wrong, the boy walked across the orphanage gate and on his way back to school with the peanuts tucked away like the bank its loot. The nuts screamed wanting to be held and tasted, but the boy felt that lunch time would be the perfect time to crack their shells and work his new gums and fitted tooth. But those nuts were from hell, and they knew how to work an orphan boys nerves. But the voice in his head was the Dentist still saying not before lunch. All would have been well except, he was now crossing the bakery, and the dough was well on its way to the stores for eating or selling for which he had no money for their purchase anyway, which gave rise to the nuts in his person. Oh yes, he had that bag of peanuts, that caught wind of the donuts and told the boy they were the next best thing and all that was needed was one cracked open and tasted. The voice of the Dentist was still in favor of the wait, and reminded the boy of his tooth aches and the boy decided to stay his hand. Just when things seem to be cooled off, a thought came to the boy about which side of his mouth did the bad tooth need for recovery, cause the other side he could use for the nut. The compromise was perfect, before the Dentist had a chance to object the boy cracked that shall and lit into that nut like a hungry maniac. As the boy was enjoying the nut on one side of his mouth, the filling dropped out of the other side. Putting his hand out just in time to catch it, the boy stopped and pondered his next move. He was half way between the clinic and the school, with both the bag of peanuts and the filling in his hands. He threw them both away, and carried on toward the school, for there was no way he was going back to the clinic to explain he picked up a bag of peanuts and lost his filling.
     The boy learned the real results of disobedience, and now the chorus of recurring pain will bring home this point with deep accuracy. The teacher who sent him was glad to see him back and excused him to his seat. How in the world could he tell them what happened. If he had a mother, he might have been able to, but impersonal people make real plight worst, for their ears are never seemingly low enough to hear pleas from little ones in need. At the orphanage, there wasn't even a question as to the Dentist or his need for one, he blended in and that was good enough for the status Que.
     All through his schooling as a young boy, he had to bare up under the pain of a tooth ache he faked was gone, and in his later years in high school he learned to get along with the pain. A little older and wiser, he learned to use chewing gum to dip the tooth and pull out the debris that cause the pain to be more instance. On one such occasion, a girl saw what he was doing and in her disgust told him he was being gross. She mentioned that the school clinic was across the road and for free he could have that stupid tooth taken out, therefore he did not have to make her suffer watching his foolishness. Free, the boy asked, the girl just cut her eyes and gestured yes. Thinking to himself that this was a new clinic and this Dentist would not know him, he went and inquired and to his delight and surprise, he was able to have that tooth finally extracted. Coming back to the class he all but hugged the girl who told him, but doing so meant instant death, for teenage girls went for older guys and all the boys knew that rule. But there he was, free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, he was free at last. And trust me, God had more to do with it then anyone can know, just think how long he went without aid or help.
     On the way home on the bus, what should he see, looking out the window of that moving bus. A little girl fishing for boogers as he once did not many years ago himself. Time slips into years faster then people realize, and what we take in with its passing is all we need to make it a wonderful life. No, even an orphan can find happiness even if Mom's and Dad's are missing, and every now and again God steps in on time, and makes our end something we can be proud of. If you are a parent, hug your children darer, if you are a care giver of children, relate to them beyond a friend, for what we need as children are ears that hear...nj