I do not believe that there is a teenage girl in the streets who hasn’t fallen in love with him before. It is not hard to see why. He is a handsome young man with a wonderful personality. Despite sleeping in the streets since 12 years of age, he has never been involved in crime. He has an older brother in the streets too. Their father was an abusive alcoholic and it was their mother who made their home life tolerable. Unfortunately, she died prematurely which prompted the boys to flee to the streets. His older brother got involved in crime almost immediately and ended up being drawn deep into it. He spent most of his teenage life in juvenile detention center and then eventually in prison. We met Wallace when he was 17 years old. Even though he was considered one of the older and more experienced homeless youth, he never lost his innocence. He kept his childlikeness intact. His brother, on the other hand, bears the scars of a life of crime. People usually feel a little intimidated by him. We were a little unsure about him too. Wallace is always very open and warm towards us but his brother, Wilton, always kept his guard.

Despite being charming and sociable, Wallace never had any ambition for anything. We were not sure if he had what it takes to leave homelessness. There was a time when he was using so much drugs that we could hardly talk to him. He would slur his words. It was heart wrecking to watch his slow degradation. One day I couldn’t handle it anymore and I told him that he needed to stop with the drugs. He just smiled at me blankly. I thought that nothing had registered. Then a week later, we found him sober and waiting for us at the steps of the Cathedral. He wanted to do some activities with us. He said more time with us means less time sniffing paint thinner. Eventually, he stopped using everything. I am surprised that he listened. You just never know.

Wallace yelled out to us before running up to give us a big hug. Wilton followed behind and to our surprise, he hugged us too. We hardly saw the brothers since the Pandemic. They are both doing some odd jobs now. Wilton got out of prison and decided enough was enough. He was determined that both him and his brother were going to get jobs and take care of their once abusive father. He has mellowed down a lot since then and health issues have something to do with it. The brothers decided it was time to forgive him. Wilton was working on getting all his documents so that he can eventually register to go to school. Both brothers are illiterate. Wilton wants to better himself and I am sure Wallace will follow in his footsteps. For now, he was helping his older brother to get his documents together, something we did for him few years ago. It seems like he is doing for his brother what we did for him.

We would have never expected that these two brothers to be doing what they were doing now. We thought Wilton was a

lost cause. Thankfully, he proved us wrong. He still has a tough exterior but there is a change. He looks calmer and more peaceful now. Wallace is just happy that his brother is back with him and now they can move forward as a family.

We said our goodbyes and they replied, “É nois.” This is slang here to say we are together and one. Later that evening, Wilton left a message on my phone. He said that he got all his documents and got home safely. He told us not to worry about them and thanked us for everything. It made us feel like we did something special but we are not exactly sure what. It doesn’t matter. Love triumphs in the end.