Last Stroke of the Brush

  Chapter 4

  It’s the third day. The last day of being with the children, Rox thought. All night long, she had stayed awake, wondering how on earth she was going to help these children. Wasn’t that what her show was all about? Bringing about change. She had gained fame, fortune and adulation just from that. Yet for the life of her , she could not see how she could change the lives of these children without doing them irreparable harm. The moment this episode about them went on air, the relevant authorities would take note and jump into action. The children would be tracked down, taken into custody, put up for adoption. Most likely separated from each other. The rational part of her brain insisted that that would be best for them. Another part raised niggling doubts. Are you sure? Why haven’t you make the necessary calls then? Why are you still dragging your feet?

  Rox turned her pillow over and pummeled it vigorously. Sleep, damn it, she thought angrily, let me sleep on it. I’ll talk to them further and work my way from there. But she was to turn the pillow over several times before she drifted into fitful sleep.

  Hence she was grumpy and not quite awake when she and her entourage met the children under the bridge as agreed. Not so the children. They grinned happily as they sat on mats and feasted on buttered buns bought by San. Their zest for life was infectious. Rox’s spirits lifted. In an aside San remarked that it was so simple to make this lot happy when compared to her nieces who had a tendency to throw tantrums when they were not given the food of their choice. Rox’s niggling doubts began to manifest themselves. Resolutely she clamped down on them and got down to work.

  ‘Could you tell me how you became a homeless child?’ she asked amicably. After the buttered buns, tongues were suitably loosened. The information Rox wanted came fast and easy. Jam had been in numerous foster homes before hitting the streets. Su ran away home, encouraged by Jam who had witnessed her being flogged daily by an alcoholic father. Both of them found Jeff abandoned at a bus station. Tan was wandering in a night market when they first saw him.

  ‘Do you like living like this?’ Rox asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Su said, her happy smile unwavering. Jeff and Tan gave perceptible nods. Stony silence from Jam.

  ‘Would you like to be adopted and taken in by families? Go to school, have an education and so forth?’ All four of them broke into spontaneous giggles as if some shared prediction of theirs had come true. They stopped when Rox looked askance at them.

  ‘No,’ quipped Jeff. ‘Jam has told us all about foster homes. He’s been placed before. We want to be free. We’re happy as we are. We have each other.’

  Rox turned to Jam. ‘Could you persuade them, Jam? Obviously you are their leader. You’ve done very well so far. By the way, who taught you all your values? About not stealing and such?’

  Jam grinned expansively, pointed to his eyes and then his head. ‘I watch and I think.’

  Rox nodded. ‘I see,’ she said.

  Jam continued, ‘Yes, and I can see that now you are at a loss about what to do with us. Right?’

  Rox gaped at him, totally taken aback by his intuition. She remembered thinking, ‘What heights would this boy rise to if he’s given a chance in life?’

  But he was not taking any chances with them. ‘Leave us be. We’d be alright. I’ll take good care of them. Promise.’ He came to stand before Rox, looking up intently into her eyes. David against Goliath, San thought. As she watched, he stretched a hand out and took Rox’s, saying, ‘Thanks but whatever you think is best for us, may not even be good for us.’ Then he turned and shepherded the rest up the slope.

  Just before Jam clambered up the slope after them, Rox shook herself out of her reverie and ran to him, pushing her name card into his hand. ‘If you need anything, anything at all, call me.’ He nodded.

  It was evident the children would have nothing to do with Rox after that conversation. They became as difficult to locate before. Several times Rox went to the bridge but it was as if they had never been there. If it was difficult for Rox to let go, it was worse for San. She went around for days, looking and acting like a mother cat that had lost her kittens. Eventually Rox had to take her aside and in giving the young woman advice, found the path that she had to take. ‘Face it, San. All of us have our own hectic careers and we just can’t take of these four kids. Oh yes, I have the means to provide for them but it’s us they need, not the things that we can give. Come on, tell me truthfully, are you willing to be a mother to these kids?’ When no answer was forthcoming, she continued, ‘We have good intentions but change cannot be brought about unless these children want it. And as far as I can see, they don’t want it right now.’

  ‘So after our hard work, I guess this episode will not go on air,’ San said.

  Rox nodded. ‘I can’t see how we can do it without disrupting their lives.’

  San sighed and got up. ‘I guess that’s that then. If only I could go on without wishing that I could do more.’

  Rox nodded wistfully in agreement. ‘That makes two of us.’