hamza

10/6/2001:
i’m laughing out loud right now! just ran into that little man Hamza at the beignet lady’s roadside shack. no hello from the little man. no good morning. just a stern, angry face and a few smacks on my leg. he’s still angry at me from yesterday. i sent a few of the kids home. they were bugging me about groundnuts on the balcony. Hamza had a knife with him... God knows why kids his age can walk around with them??? i took that too so he got extremely vexed. the kid can wail.

every time i remember that expression on his face this morning... just a few minutes ago, actually... i crack up. little big man, Hamza. the kid has issues, but i like him. he’s got character. a rough, child-sized dignity about him. wish they’d put him in school though. he stands outside every morning alone (when everyone’s already away at school) watching the kids at the nursery school across the street play, sing and learn.

he plays, too. sings along every now and again. but he doesn’t know all the words. it’s quite a contrast. all of them across the street, clean, in uniform, singing in rank-and-file. him alone. dirty-faced and ragged. free to do as he pleases i suppose. every now and again he joins in. late and with the wrong words.