Ramblings of Lucidity ( Part I )

... 

As we all sat in the abandoned classroom in hopes of having escaped, we heard the sirens of the police ride over the air and into our ears. It was too late to run. So we just braced for a search and hoped it was fair. The guys ahead of me went with confidence as I scurried to get my things into my broken bag. As I packed, I noticed two wads of money, maybe a thousand dollars each, still in their seals. Obviously, this wasn't money I made legally, but as an immigrant with nothing to my name, I was willing to take the risk. 

I carefully arranged it in the bag under my pile of trash and decided to move up for the search. The social worker who came along looked at me and smiled. 

"Oh, you live close by; when you're done with the search, I can help you find an apartment for $20 a day, something decent". 

"Oh yes I live just around and that would be great".

I started taking stuff out of the bag in the hopes of controlling the search myself. I took out a drawing I made and told her my daughter made it. 

We both blushed over how talented she was. Alas, I was free to go until Otunte emerged from behind me to take over the search. 

My heart sank into my stomach, but as a fellow immigrant, I hoped for more. He felt through the bag, and then his hand hit the wad placed last. Somehow it had slipped through the ruffling and fallen under it. The distinct shape made it clear it was a bundle of money. 

Otunte smiled, yet there was sadness in his eyes, and drew me under his arm. 

He spoke in the language I was supposed to understand since I was pretending to be one of them.

"My dear big-boned Huyanese brother, we both know this isn't yours, so go kneel in the corner there." 

I felt my heartbeat increase, if only I could run or vanish into the air, I would. He called his superior to come check out the situation. They walked to where I was kneeling and looked at me with a smile filled with a wry smile. 

"Look at what I found", Otunte said

Nika, his colleague, looked at him and me as I started to beg and attempt to speak all the Huyanese I could muster. 

" He thinks we are taking him to prison, so he begs, what he faces is way worse than death itself", Nika said.

They both laughed a cackling laugh as they walked away.

I knelt there with all hopes dashed, praying for death.