SVEA-143 Street Boys of Paris
Street Boys of Paris
SVEA-143
SVEA
Terry Llewellyn
$1.95
Excerpt
“Feeling hungry?” he asked.
Rachid, who had been staring at the display of sausages and bread in a kind of self-induced trance, jumped.
“Yes, but I can’t do anything about it,” he said nervously
Abdesalem’s broad black face beamed jovially, and ordering four sausages wrapped in bread handed two to Rachid.
“You’re not the only person hungry in Paris, but then the others are not usually so young or good-looking,” he remarked.
Rachid stammered his thanks for the sausages, and devoured them quickly. Abdesalem ordered him two more, hoping that his unaccustomed generosity was going to pay off. He didn’t usually walk around Paris buying down-and-outs meals. He had quite enough of a struggle feeding himself. But the had decided to make an exception in this case. The youth who stood by his side munching through his third sausages and bread, had the sort of looks that ought to go places.
The Boulevard Rochechouart is divided along its centre by a wide tree-lined paving with benches for weary travellers. Abdesalem took Rachid’s arm and led him across the narrow one-way road to the centre strip, and they both sat down on one of the benches while they finished their sausages.
“Been long in Paris?” Abdesalem asked carefully.
“Three weeks,” Rachid replied between mouthfuls.
“How long have you been here?”
“All my life,” Abdesalem replied, and gave another beaming smile, displaying quite a few gold teeth.
Rachid finished his sausages, wiped his mouth on the back of his threadbare sleeve, and smiled. Abdesalem felt a twinge of desire, but quickly repressed it. Instead he asked a series of questions, in a nonchalant friendly sort of way, and quickly pieced together Rachid’s life so far.
It was all as he had expected.
“Well, Rachid, now that you are in Paris what are you going to do here?”
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