Derek sat in front of a shop next to an alley in the center of the downtown area, not too far from Tower City. It was late on a Thursday night, close to midnight, and the theater-goers from Playhouse Square two blocks away, as well as bar customers, were headed to the lots where they’d parked their cars. Vince, his ‘watcher’, was stationed across the street.
He pulled back his legs when someone snarled at him, bowing his head in thanks when someone else dropped a few coins in his outstretched hand. All the time, he studied the few other kids who stood silently against storefronts or sat as he was, begging for change. One girl, who couldn’t have been more than fifteen if that, had her head buried in her arms. Her shoulders shook and he knew she was crying. She’s the kind they want, but how
