"The deepest expression of love is sadness."
The first time Hao read those words was in a book he had found in the trash, somehow, he never imagined, that his whole life would represent that word, and he would be like that forgotten book at the end of his life.
The sun was about to set, and his home was not so close, he and his older brother had walked a long distance to collect aluminum cans, the reason? Christmas Eve was just two days away. Even though they were very poor, they were still children, and if there was a night not to go to bed without dinner, certainly Christmas night, that was it.
"Come on, we have to get there before they close the place where we'll sell this..."
Hao kicked a couple of papers and shook his hands after rummaging through the trash, his face full of dirt, shining from the beautiful smile he sketched when his brother took his hand and they walked heading to the center of the city.
Jiang was only two years older than Hao, and although life had things in store for him, he had undoubtedly come into this world to be an angel without wings, he had forgotten that he was as small as a child, and felt gigantic when it came to protecting Hao, people used to look at them with pity, but no one did anything.
"Jiang...I can't take it anymore...I'm so tired and hungry!"
Hao complained with a whine, although he really couldn't walk anymore, the shoes were not his size, his toes had been bent for hours and the skin on his toes were raw from the friction, those shoes were so uncomfortable that just in a downtown store Hao stopped, he couldn't walk anymore.
Jiang knew it was too hard for him, and he couldn't do anything else, so he went over to his brother and sat him on the curb and asked him to wait for him.
"Okay, I'll go myself, but don't move from here, I won't be long in coming back."
Jiang ran out to the scrap metal buying and selling business and sold the aluminum cans he was carrying.
The man who bought the scrap metal always saw them coming together, and although he couldn't do much for them, sometimes he used to give them a few cents more for the cans.
"My good Jiang! I thought you weren't coming today, where's your brother?"
The man asked curiously as he saw him arrive alone, while weighing the cans....
"He stayed a few blocks away, he can't stand his feet, he has walked a lot.... "
The man frowned and approached the boy and extended a handful of coins over his small hand, Jiang extended his hand and guarded the coins by closing his fingers tightly.
"I see... but what about you?..."
"And-me?..."
"Yes, you, take off your shoes..."
Jiang was surprised at the man's request and nodded, he slowly took off the shoes from his feet revealing that the wounds they were wearing had even bled more than Hao's, the inside of the shoe was soaked with the boy's blood, and most of all his toes and Achilles heel, his skin was completely red hot. The man felt shocked, he couldn't believe that child didn't complain, how come he had managed to get there without showing a hint of pain, he felt his heart squeezed and his lips turned into a thin straight line.
"Ahh! Silly boy, don't wear those shoes anymore!"
The man felt a lump form in his throat, he had known Jiang since he was five years old, and always saw him walking around with his younger brother hand in hand, looking for something to eat, the man handed him some band aids, and asked him to come and pick him up at Christmas.
"Come get me at Christmas, bring me lots of cans, I'm going to reward you, now go back to Hao, and tell him not to wet the bed anymore."
Jiang smiled and nodded.
"Okay, I'll tell him!"
The boy left that junk store and walked back slowly with his brother, the pain didn't let him move faster.
And when he arrived with Hao, night had already fallen, he had found him in a ball, asleep on the drumstick, as much as he had wanted to hurry, it had taken too long, Jian approached Hao, and tried to wake him up, but he was so tired that Hao simply refused to walk.
His determination to get home and rest had led him to get him on his back and go home.
The night was cold, he wanted to hurry, he felt Hao shiver on his back, and whisper.
"I'm cold..." Jiang at his age knew many things about life, and it is that the years are not necessary to acquire experience, he had gone through so many hardships, hunger, pain, injustice, that he felt he had lived two lives... but if he did not give up, it was because of the luck of brother, innocent and naive that had touched him, that even among the shortages he continued to dream.
As he walked with Hao on his back, Jiang wondered if Hao would see life differently, he wondered if innocence and dreams would remain in the same place for Hao... he hoped so, because even if he had lost his dreams and hopes, Hao's dreams and hopes were enough for both of them.