Loving the Surrogate

The thrift store

They say love makes the world go round. Hanna begs to differ. For people like her who had to take on two jobs to make ends meet, that ideology is just complete bull and crap. Come on.

There are bills to pay, debts to settle and rents to pay. Whoever said that quote probably did not even have to work a day in their lives. Because that was a total lie. Money makes the world go round.Capitalists and communists would definitely agree with her. Yeah, maybe, it is true. At some point. Because if you still have parents or relatives you can always depend on, then maybe it applies to you. Hanna and Jo did not have that luxury in life. Especially her.

In the evenings, she waits at Bernie's restaurant, s***h billiard halls. No off days, even on school nights. Dealing with drunken truck drivers and married men who want to stay past their bedtimes avoiding their nagging wives and jealous girlfriends or just want to spend some time alone in silence where they rather appear to be the creep in the corner. Her nights were mostly busy with serving them their drinks, listening to old Bernie complain about how awful they all were and trying to swat their hands off her body. Drunk and middle-aged men are the patrons of this place. But a job is still a job and she needs the money and it's close to home. Not having the need to ride a bus or spend money on transportation was one of the reasons she took this job at all.

On the day, she tries to study and survive college, juggling homework, projects and her extra-curricular activities as it was required for full-time scholars to have atleast one extra-curricular activity on their card . On weekends, she cleans peoples' homes for pay, even walks dogs or cats or whatever weird pet a customer demands her to take for a walk and is a full-time caregiver/sister to Jose. When she comes home after a long day of being a student and a part of the working class in America, she does the house chores and passes out before she can change her clothes.

That was her cycle.

For her and the rest of the extra hardworking populace, money makes the world go round. That is the reality. It is what it is. Anyone who says otherwise never experienced being thrown out , never went to bed hungry. Was never in piles of debt, didn't have a student loan or worse, had a disease or had a loved one with a disease so serious that it needs professional medical attention but chose not to because they cannot afford to do so.

When they were kids, they used to hang out at the community park. It was their child's heaven. They went there every afternoon without fail. As children, they looked forward to it and they loved the swing, the slide and the seesaw. One time, she heard a cry. It was Jose. She did not need to make sure, she just knew. She rushed to where she knew Jose was seen playing last.

"What happened?!" She frantically asked the circle of little boys surrounding him.

As it turns out, Jose wanted to borrow his friend's toy. The boy said her brother was taking the toy from his grasp. Her brother would never do that. The toy was a brand new shiny Voltes five animation figure. Almost all the kids in their neighborhood had one, except for Jo.

"He doesn't want to let me play with it. I was just borrowing it. I asked nicely, Hanna." he said between sobs.

The look they gave her and her brother was a look of pure pity. They all know the Summers were poor and getting a new toy is next to impossible. She knew what she had to do. She knew the owner of the thrift shop that they got their toys from the other day. She would give Mr. Chu an offer he would not be able to resist. They went home and never mentioned the incident to their parents. They would just get beaten anyway because their father was home. She slept knowing that her plan had a hundred percent succession rate.

That is hope. As kids you were full of them. But Hanna had more, she had confidence and courage and if all fails, she had perseverance and a puppy dog face if worst came to worst. If she needed to stay there whole day until the owner hears her out, she would.

That was love.

The thrift store where their parents bought their toys the other day was just across the street. Mr. Chu owned that store .He was from China who chose to gamble in the business industry of the United States of America rather than to try to prosper in his own homeland. His store has everything and whatever you need on a tight budget. From used clothes to shoes to bags, to kitchen appliances and, of course, toys. She opened the glass door and heard the bamboo chimes , the inside of the wide store smelled nicely with the aroma of those long red sticks that burn on vases filled with sand. They burn them 24/7. Mother said they were candles but she was not convinced. In her mind, candles were stubby and never thin like the ones Mr. Chu prefers.

"Hello, Mr. Chu?" Her little voice echoed in the walls of the Chinese store.

Maybe she went there early. But Mr. Chu was always early.

"Mr. Chu, are you there?"

Still silent. Hanna walked through the stalls, hoping to see the owner somewhere between the tall stalls, and stopped at a certain toy-filled stall. She stopped there for a while,thinking. And then she went to the cash register, where Mr. Chu usually sits throughout the day. Nada. She considered leaving. She will return after lunch. It saddened her to think that she would have to sneak out during nap time to go back there. If her mother ever finds her, she will be in big trouble. She was about to open the front door of the store to leave when the back door opened and there was Mr. Chu. Staring at his first customer with great disbelief and amazement.

Mr. Chu was a small man. With thin hands and thin legs and very little eyes, Hanna thought that they could not see the money they put in the cash register. He had a thin mustache too that snaked over his upper lip. But he was a happy person. He was always smiling and maybe that was why he had so many customers there.

He was wearing a thin cotton shirt and red pants and a pair of regular slippers. He was also carrying a teapot tray and a cup. Maybe it was tea or coffee. Old people like tea or coffee.

"Hi little girl. Are you lost?" His English was good, probably because he stayed in the Americas longer than Jesus himself, Hanna thought.

"No, sir,"

"Who brought you here?" Craning his thin neck to see if she had company.

"I am alone."

"Oh, what are you looking for?" He placed his teapot tray on the counter and faced Hanna again. For Mr. Chu, a customer is still a customer, each one worth entertaining for their money.

"Good morning sir. I am Hanna. My parents and my brother were here two days ago. Maybe you do not remember me, but we live across the street over there, near the park." She pointed outside.

"Oh, I remember." The old man had a photographic memory. He remembers every item sold and who purchased what. Hanna took something out of the paper bag she was carrying and placed it on the counter. Mr. Chu was waiting for whatever this child had in her mind.

"We bought these here." It was a Barbie doll. She possibly combed its hair because it was in a neat braid. She continued "I'd like to return this."

He laughed. " You don't like it?"

"I like it sir, in fact, I love it but my brother wanted a toy." She points at a Voltes five anime figure two stalls away.

Mr. Chu knew that the young girl loved the doll simply by the way she looked at it. She looked at it just how he looked at the money he had in his wall vault at home which he opened each night to motivate him to work even harder and spend less.

Mr. Chu had seen many things in life but he had never seen, let alone talk to a child with this level of amusement and bewilderment. This kid is tough and knows what she wants. With piqued interest, he decided to hear this kid out. It was still early for patrons to come anyway. He offered a biscuit to her, which she politely declined .An excellent manner of imposing that you are only interested in doing business. He is beginning to like this kid.

"That toy you wanted is two dollars. Your Barbie costs one dollar. Do you have a dollar?" He saw the kid's face drop but he did that on purpose to gauge the girl's mind. What she tells him will blow his mind. He was not prepared for the offer.

"No sir, but I can work for it. I live across the street and I told you that. I can mop the floors every day until I make up the one dollar sir." Hanna said bravely. The man noticed that she was missing a tooth. But she was really pretty, even as a child. He knew that one day, this kid would do great things in one way or another. It made Mr. Chu wished that he had married and, had he been, he could have a child as smart as this girl in front of him. If only it was not too late now...

"Why do you want this toy so badly?" He inquired some more.

"I love my brother sir. I can have another toy, but I can't have another brother ." She sniffed. "If he cries, he cannot breathe and if his asthma attacks he might die.I do not want that. He is my twin and twins stay together for ever. Mom says there are things we do for the people we love.''

Okay, there was a lot of wrong information on that, but the bottomline was the girl wanted to give her sick brother the better things in life even if it meant losing some of the best things from hers.

For the first time in years, Mr. Chu thought about his brother, whom he hadn't spoken to for a long time.The two of them had a disagreement before he left China. Old Chu can't even remember what they disagreed about, but it had been many years since.

For now, he had Hanna waiting for his decision. A little girl with a very massive heart and loads of love to give and she is just six. Imagine what she can do for the people she loves when she is older. If and only if, life does not corrupt her heart and turns her into a person who hates everyone. That would be sad.

"Hanna ,you can have the toy and keep the doll."

Hanna's face lit up like Christmas. The kind of face that only kids can give you when they are genuinely pleased . He thanked Hanna for making him realize that there are things or people far more important than their fat savings account.

Right after taking care of Hanna's acquisitions, he went back to the storage room, took out his cell phone and dialed. It took three rings before someone answered. He still cannot believe that a visit from a kid would alter his life and his brother's.

"Ni hao brother, I miss you."

"Ni Hao, little brother..."