Kids

My neighbourhood always has tons of kids running around, and as the strange foreigner, I am often visited by every one of them. There are two main crews who come visit every night, one of girls and one of boys. The girls started coming first, and are younger than the fellas. They would often stand outside yelling until they are let in.

The crew of boys just started showing up recently and operate a little differently than the girls. The girls usually show up in two’s and three’s, however the boys roll as a pack. When I hear a knock on the door, I am often tricked into thinking there are only a few of them. However, upon opening the door, I’m usually confronted with 5-10 little smiling faces. At this point, regardless if I am working on dinner or in nothing but a towel, they barge their way in at surprising speed.

Once inside, my room becomes a zoo. Since I never know how many actually show up at any particular time, I am constantly monitoring the room. There are the ones who are going through the fridge, the couple who are playing on the computer, and the others who are rummaging through my delicates. Even when I try to force them to leave for the night, I often find a number of stowaways hidden in the closet, under the bed, or in the tub. Every time I find these little border jumpers, they always giggle with the satisfaction of having evaded my searches for so long.

I had taken the boys to play basketball at their school on Saturday. Like all 10 year old boys, what starts out as a friendly game of basketball quickly degenerates into drawing large penises on the walls of their school. I had never missed being 10 more in my life. Then, out of nowhere the smallest of the boys, LaMonte, gets his pants pulled down by another, Dave. LaMonte is left standing in the middle of the court, pants at his feet, cussing out the other kids. I yell at Dave to stop, and tell LaMonte to pull his pants up. He looks at me with a scowl on his face and says, “He pull em’ down, he can pull em’ up”. LaMonte walks away in nothing but his underwear and continues beautifying his school's walls. I have never seen someone with pants around their ankles look more badass.

Earlier that day they decide to make a music video to Money by Mavado. Gang signs are so adorable (around the 1:00 minute mark).