It was a pleasant night in Kentucky. Most of the village people were fast asleep. Laura Romania woke up as she heard a harsh sound. Minutes later she looked out of the compact window. Laura was puzzled and tensed at what she saw. Hers was a mason’s room. It was not completely built. One could see the crests falling from the ceiling and the room was more like a cubicle cardboard box. The walls were cemented but never painted. There were patches of fungus everywhere. As the little girl looked out of the window, what she saw startled her. Laura saw her brother unconscious on the ground with his bicycle. She could feel her heart beat in her throat. What should I do, she thought. “If I call dad, Jack is going to experience a hearty beating from him.” So she thought of dealing with the situation herself. It struck her then that they never owned any bicycle. They were so poor that they hardly could afford to eat 2 meals a day, forget a bicycle. She left the thought aside and hurriedly went to her brother. She could see that he was cruelly injured. His left leg was entangled with the back tire of the cycle. Laura untangled his leg and left the bicycle aside. With much difficulty, she dragged her little naughty brother into her room. Laura was five years elder to her brother Jack. She was 14 and Jack 9.Jack never considered Laura less than his mother. She took expert care of her brother. Carefully, she laid her brother on the carpet. The wound was quite deep. She thought of applying turmeric powder on it as it stops the bleeding. As she turned to get the powder, Jack regained consciousness. For an instance he thought that Laura is going to call their father. He had no clue why her sister was bringing turmeric powder. She sprinkled the powder on his wound. He could hardly bear the burning sensation due to it. “What on earth were you doing outside with a bicycle not ours and at this hour?” Laura asked, showing her full anger. Jack felt a lump in his throat. He could hardly answer her due to the mixed emotion of fear and pain. “I wanted to ride a bicycle.” Even though Laura was young she had seen life more than anyone of her age. She felt very sad at what her brother just said and did not blame him for it. She did not scold him, just put the bicycle aside and asked Jack to take some rest.
It was a simple life for Jack and her sister Laura. In the morning they went to the school and their father went to the farm. Their mother died when she was giving birth to Jack, and since that day their father blamed the kids for his wife’s death. He never loved his kids like a real father. Just gave them bare necessities of life, schooling, clothing and two meals a day. Never did his kids ask for anything from their father as they knew they will only get bad scolding in return. Since then, Jack considered Laura as the only human being in his life. He went up to her for every little thing that happened to him and Laura never got irritated. She gave importance to everything he said.