Street Urchins

There is a group of kids on our street that play together. They range in age from about 3 to 12, and have been out almost constantly since the weather has been warm and school isn't in session. I have mixed feelings about these children - they are endearing and generally polite to us, and I like that they are outside playing, using their imaginations rather than inside playing video games or watching TV all day. For example, one day I saw them playing a version of street hockey with a rock and some golf clubs they found discarded from a neighbor on trash day, another day we were serenaded by one of the little girls with a song on her recorder (When the Saints Come Marching in -- it's the ONLY song she knows!), and another day were asked to share in their excitement as they rescued a baby bird. They are sweet to Frankie, and are always interested in talking with us.

They also tend to be loud, most have no discernible bedtime, and there is a distinct lack of parental guidance, discipline, and supervision for most of the kids. This is particularly true for our immediate neighbor, a 10 year-old boy who also happens to be the mob boss for this little pack of street urchins (which include his younger sisters). Some of his exploits seem downright Dennis-the-Menace-ish, although some have become somewhat concerning considering he's only about 10.

For example, one day we noticed some blue spray paint on our tree out front. We began to notice this art work up and down the street, and were pretty sure who the culprit was. When we asked said child if he'd seen who did the spray painting (after we'd been told by his oh-so-loyal pack of street urchins that it was him), he told us he was pretty sure it had been robbers who'd done the spray painting. Or maybe gangsters.

Another day Chris and I were eating dinner on the back porch, and the mob boss came into our backyard with a bike he didn't have previously. When questioned why he was in our yard with a bike, he told us he needed a safe place to keep it, where it couldn't been seen from the street. Fishy. Chris thought it wise to allow him to keep the bike in the back so we knew where it was in case someone came looking for it. He only had the bike for a few days, and then "someone stole it" from him.

Speaking of stealing, we caught him and his sister red-handed stealing grapes from our backyard. Not just a few for the road - they had a bowl with them. We're also pretty sure we know where my iPod nano ended up that got stolen off our back porch last year. The mob boss recently started sporting a white iPod nano matching the description. When asked where he got it, he couldn't really remember.

He also was recently caught jumping from his roof to our roof. That's right, we live in a three-story building with about a three-foot gap between them. The neighbors behind us caught him doing this one.

Where are the parents you ask? We don't see his dad much, but his mom can often be found on the porch smoking and yelling in Portuguese. Oh yes, and last night when we came home from dinner with Kiran and Rahul, he was still hanging out on the street at 11:00 pm.