Nobody seemed to notice him. Ali almost didn’t, either. He was pretty easy to miss. Young and short, dressed in a black tank top and camo pants, he blended into the thick foliage pretty well. If Ali weren’t as highly observant as she was, she probably would have never noticed him.

What’s he doing? She thought, trying not to look like she’d noticed him. She moved down the portable table set up for the barbeque, helping herself to this and that. Is he spying? She just had to know. After getting her food, she set her plate on a table, and headed, inconspicuously toward him. However, as inconspicuous as she was, he still saw her coming, and started shying away. Strange, Ali thought. He’s not running.

The boy continued to slowly inch away as Ali drew closer. But he didn’t run.

“It’s okay,” Ali said in a soothing voice. The boy reluctantly stopped. “I won’t hurt you.” Ali drew closer, slowly but surely. The boy twitched, as if he wanted to run, but he didn’t. His eyes darted about nervously.

Ali finally reached the boy. She squatted down so she was about eye level with him. She judged him to be about nine, possibly ten.

“Hi,” Ali said in a calming voice. She could tell the poor boy was frightened. “My name’s Ali. What’s yours?”

“Leviticus,” the boy said softly, not meeting her eyes.

“That’s a nice name,” Ali commented. Shed never heard it before, but she liked it. “How old are you, Leviticus?”

“Eleven.”

Older than I thought, Ali thought to herself. But he’s so small, he looks younger. Out loud, Ali said,

“Well, that’s cool.” Leviticus was silent. Ali finally broke the silence. “Why did you keep moving away from me?” She said it in a friendly tone, so as not to scare the kid.

“I—I thought you’d. . .hurt me,” Leviticus said quietly. His eyes never met Ali’s.

“Why in the world would you think that?” Ali asked, puzzled.

“B-because. . .I—I—“ Leviticus seemed to not know how to say what he was trying to say.

“You what, Leviticus?” Ali asked, still sounding friendly, though she was confused. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you.”

“I—I stole some food. I was coming back for more when you saw me. I’m so sorry, I was just so hungry and—“ Leviticus broke off, sobbing in fear and remorse. Ali was a bit shocked. Not because the boy had taken food, but because that was the most he’d said at one time as long as Ali had been talking to him.

Ali couldn’t help it. She reached over—cautiously, so as not to scare poor Leviticus—and hugged him. He was dirty, his clothes ragged, but she didn’t care. The kid was so scared, and obviously far from wealthy, she just had to pity him. Leviticus was surprised at the kind gesture, but he didn’t pull away. He let Ali hug him, comfort him, until he was calmed enough to talk again. Then he pulled away and said,

“Please don’t tell my daddy I took somebody else’s food. He’ll beat me.” Ali once again felt a wave of compassion wash over her for the boy. Not only was he poor and hungry, he was abused too. She wanted so much to take him from his miserable world and give him one of pure joy, with all the food he could possibly eat. Or, at very least, take all the misery from his life. But since she could do neither, she decided she’d do what she could do.

“Oh, don’t worry. I won’t tell him,” Ali assured Leviticus, as she stood up. “Tell ya what. Why don’t you come with me, and we’ll get you a whole plate full of food.” Leviticus’ eyes went wide as he looked up at her and said,

“Really?”