Situated deep in a forest just a few miles outside of Chicago, Illinois, was a large homeless encampment. Its desperately poor residents lived in hovels built from whatever odds and ends they could find.
To keep warm, cook food and boil water, they used small makeshift stoves made from old coffee cans then fueled with twigs, leaves and rubbish. They relied on the nearby river to bathe and to wash their things.
Most of the adults and teenagers foraged, scrounged, begged or worked odd jobs when they could. Still, with so many mouths to feed, there often wasn't enough to eat. It is amid such hardships that this story begins.
To say that Alicia Fiore was frightened when she discovered she was pregnant was an understatement. Luckily, despite being an orphaned teenager, she wasn't alone. You see, the baby's father, Giovanni Bosco, was an orphan himself.
“Whatever happens, we're in this together”, he told her. “I love you and our baby.”
So, for those nine long months, Giovanni took any work he could find. Of course, a few odd jobs here and there meant very little money. More often than not, he went hungry just so Alicia and their baby would have food.
Alicia fashioned cloth diapers and simple mismatched outfits from whatever rags and scraps of fabric Giovanni could scrounge up as well. He'd also found a basket for the baby to sleep in. Then, on the night of November 3rd, 1984, Alicia's water broke.
“Giovanni”, she whispered, grimacing in pain. “It's time.”
At that moment, Giovanni realized there was no time to waste. Helping Alicia to lie down, he moved quickly to gather all that he'd need from his knapsack. Inside were washcloths, a shoelace, his pocket knife, blankets, towels, the cloth diapers and the baby clothes. Hearing Alicia's moans as her labor continued to progress, he took a deep breath and said a silent prayer before returning.
“Don't worry”, he told her. “Everything's gonna be okay.”
Several hours later, the newborn's cries filled the hovel and Alicia fell back exhausted onto the pillows.
“It's a boy!”, said Giovanni.
When it was safe to do so, he used the shoestring and his pocket knife to tie off and cut the umbilical cord. Then, he cleaned their baby boy up, dressed him and swaddled him in one of the blankets before placing him in Alicia's arms.
“He's beautiful”, Alicia whispered, tired but in awe. Giovanni nodded.
“Do you know what you wanna call him?”, he asked.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I've always liked the name Emile”, Alicia replied as the baby cooed softly.
“Sounds like he likes it too”, Giovanni chuckled.
“Then, Emile Bosco it is”, said Alicia, kissing the baby's forehead.
The hovel in which the little family lived wasn't much more than the rusty sheets of metal and old tarps it was built from. While Emile slept in his basket and eventually on a pallet when he was old enough, Alicia and Giovanni shared a pallet of their own in the corner. Next to this, was a camping lantern and Giovanni's knapsack. Their stove was on the opposite side of the hovel and a few other possessions cluttered the place overall.
To provide for the three of them, Giovanni took to scavenging behind restaurants for leftovers, stealing clothes and blankets from donation bins when no one was looking and continuing to work whenever there were jobs to come by. Years passed and before long, Emile had grown to be a tall but very thin lad. His wavy, shoulder-length, dark brown hair framed a gentle face with caramel-colored eyes.
Because going to school was a luxury that no encampment child's family could afford, Alicia taught Emile the alphabet, his colors and shapes and how to count from picture books she and Giovanni had at home. Giovanni taught him how to stay safe in the wilderness, hunt small game, and to forage for nuts and edible berries and roots. Alicia taught him how to boil water and to cook as well. Sadly, learning to read and write was something Emile never had a chance to do. Regardless of the harsh life he was leading however, he was far from being unhappy.
Among all of the children he had grown up knowing were four boys his age named Ben, James, Anthony and Sullivan. The quintet considered themselves to be best friends. When they weren't busy trying to help their families to survive, they spent as much time as they could just having fun.
They enjoyed playing chase, exploring the woods, swimming in the river when it was warm enough and above all, just having each other to talk to.Then, one summer when they were all fifteen-years-old, Emile began to wonder about some certain things.
Yet another very hot day had come to the encampment. So, the boys decided to cool off with a swim.
"This feels amazing!", Anthony sighed happily as he leaned back, allowing himself to float.
"Does it?", Ben asked.
"Yeah, it really does, 'cause..."
(SPLASH!)
“Ben!", Anthony sputtered, coming back up from being dunked. "We got in here to cool off, not so you could act like a little kid!"
"Lighten up, would ya?", he snickered with the others. "I was just playin'!"
"Okay, okay", Anthony replied, brushing his dark brown bangs from his gray-green eyes. "Just please don't sneak up on me like that again."
The boys splashed about for awhile until they began to shiver from the cold water. So, after drying off, changing out of their wet clothes and putting on the dry ones they'd brought along, they sat together on the grass to rest a bit.
"Do you guys ever wonder about the future?", Emile asked suddenly. "Like, what might happen once we're grown?” The others just shrugged. Emile frowned slightly.
He couldn't explain it, but as content as he'd been, he was beginning to feel like something or maybe someone was missing from his life. This was a notion that stayed in his mind through to adulthood.