The Birthday Gift

It was a special day, although it seemed as ordinary as all the others. Today's work had a great purpose: to get a present for his sister who was completing her tenth birthday.

It would be comforting for both him and the girl to forget the hardships of reality and celebrate, even in the midst of so many difficulties.

He got up earlier than usual, careful not to wake his brothers, four in all, being the eldest. 

The sun had not yet shown its grace, perhaps embarrassed at having to reveal that harsh daily scene.The boy had to get the present before the first trucks arrived and the euphoria settled in the place.  Each shipment generated a rush of people. Vivid eyes, redoubled hope, a chance, maybe, to change their lives. This had happened before, the stories said. 

His mother, when alive, used to say, "Open eyes, quick hands, right choices, and who knows, the chance of a lifetime... True treasures can be found with perseverance, my son!"

He wondered about what he could find as a gift. Maybe a doll? But it was so hard to get one. Besides, his sister was far from being considered a child. The responsibility they had was not a small thing, and the problems they had faced from an early age had stripped them of all innocence. They were no longer children, not even the little six-year-old...

The birthday girl had once told him of a wish she had. If she could one day get a present she would wish for a pair of golden earrings. Just simple trinkets, but golden like a picture he had seen on an outdoor billboard when they still lived in the city center.

He wondered, however, how he was going to get those earrings. Maybe finding a winning lottery ticket would be simpler than finding a pair of earrings, and he laughed to himself at the idea.

The sun appeared to keep him company, as did a few other teenagers and adults. The day was beginning! He climbed up on the newest pile of not yet fully sorted garbage, brought the day before. People were picking aluminum drink cans and PET plastic bottles, all to sell for recycling.

He would like to take that kind of material too, because the money made from the sale could support them. However, since he was one of the newcomers to the landfill, the elders wouldn't let him sort such empties. 

"You just got here and you want to be nice, kid", cursed a huge black man who used to threaten everyone. Besides this, the so-called selective garbage collection, where people put plastic, metal, paper and organic material in different colored garbage bins, had drastically reduced the arrival of such objects.

So, it was the only way to look for leftover food for him and his brothers. While rummaging through the garbage he was excited to find a doll's body with no head. He searched for the missing part, without success. He searched a lot for something interesting, but nothing… People had already taken everything of value. It was better to save his strength and wait for the garbage trucks to arrive. The first one came around 8 in the morning and by the time the sun was up it was already late. The heat at that time of summer was unbearable, besides increasing the stench of the place attracting vultures and all sorts of insects, but the boy was optimistic. "I will find a gift!" he thought.

Soon he heard the noisy vehicles from afar. He ran, like the others, to the ramp, where they were dumping the cargo. Dozens of people with sticks, hoes and rakes were pulling the material, sifting and sorting through everything that might be of use. 

He couldn't pick anything up, so he pulled away a little, waiting for the second vehicle. As soon as it parked, he got out in front and was very lucky. The truck was full of rotten fruit that had not been sold over the weekend. He managed to separate a lot of things. Oranges, apples and even some bananas. His broad smile revealed his precociously potty mouth. 

"We're going to eat well today! But I need to find a gift!" he thought. Other garbage collectors were crowding around and he decided to stay away or they might try to take his stuff during the mess. He dragged his bag and searched truck by truck, but found nothing that could be a gift. 

It was getting close to noon and he had to deliver the food to his brothers. The boy was desolate. He tried to be the father they had never known, but it was a difficult mission. He looked at another vehicle coming in. It would be the last one he would inspect. It was his last chance.  He jumped in the middle of the material. His feet wrapped with rags of cloth, to avoid the dreaded glass shards, slid over the material like a skater on a ramp. He saw a brown paper bag with a drawing of some candy. If he could read, he would surely find amidst those confusing letters the word snack bar! He jumped violently on the packet, disputing the material with a stout but, luckily, slower man. That was the advantage of not eating often, being as light as a cat, he thought.

He moved away from the crowd, half bent over, carrying the package hidden between his arms and pulling the bag with the fruit, wanting to avoid prying eyes, especially from pregnant women. "I've never seen hungrier creatures than these! They eat for two," he thought angrily.

He stood behind a mountain of garbage that had already been turned over and was about to be compacted by huge tractors. He squatted down and examined the package carefully, as if it had just been handed to him by a salesman at a snack bar. He postponed the moment that could reveal something fantastic or the terrible and simple nothingness... But there was something! The package was heavy, he just didn't know what it was. He delayed a little longer the desire to open the bag and feared that there was nothing of value there. He took comfort in the fact that his sister didn't even know it was her birthday, so she could handle the day without any problems. "Birthdays are for rich kids," he grumbled.

He decided to open the package. He closed his eyes, opened the bag's mouth, and his own gaped open in surprise. A slice of chocolate cake, almost whole, shone under its half-melted chocolate coating inside a triangular shaped clear plastic container. "What a wonderful gift! God save the wasteful!" he shouted ecstatically.

He ran to the blue plastic hut and worn truck tarp where they lived, right next to the landfill. He found his sister cooking something in the old pot on top of a makeshift stove with bricks and firewood, while the others were running after a punctured soccer ball.

He stretched out his arms to her and said, "happy birthday!"

She uncomprehendingly took the package and smiled. She opened the triangular package and took a long sniff of the candy. The smaller brothers ran nearby and were excited.

"What is it?" one shouted.

"Chocolate cake!" replied the girl. She took a blunt knife and surgically cut the slice into five small pieces and handed them out. Amid laughter and smiles, they licked their fingers until any trace of the candy disappeared.

He turned to her and told, "Excuse me, I couldn't find your earrings."

She looked him straight in the eye and said softly, "Who wants earrings when we can have a wonderful day eating cake?" 

A single tear ran from the boy's withered face and they embraced tenderly.