“What does his being young have to do with this?” the man asked. “Sneaks food out of my shop nearly every day of the week!”
“Took the bread I had left out to cool just this morning,” added a baker with a nod.
The voices shouted over one another, blending into a cacophonous roar of accusations.
“Enough!” Ali shouted.
In an instant, the square grew silent. The boy looked at both Ali and Jasmine. His eyes glistened with tears. Ali walked up to the boy and leaned down. Placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder, he studied him; his expression grew somber.
“The boy did something wrong,” Ali finally said, turning to address the crowd. “But it was a mistake.”
“Respectfully, Your Majesty,” the man said, “his stealing from the princess was no mistake.”
“Well, it is me he took from, and so this matter is between me and him,” Jasmine interjected.
“What’s your name?” Ali asked the boy.
“Jamaal,” the boy whispered.
“That’s a nice name,” he said. “It means beauty, doesn’t it?”
Jamaal shrugged. He looked down at the cookie on the ground, leaned down, and picked it up.
“It’s dirty now,” he said, turning it over in his hands. “I’m sorry I stole it. I didn’t think it was a coin purse. I knew it was a cookie, and I get hungry sometimes, and when I get hungry I don’t think much about what I’m doing. I just want to eat and I can’t think about much else. I don’t have any money. Or I’d buy you a new one, Princess.”
“Don’t worry about that,” she said. “Do you live around here?”
“Not far.”
“Let us walk you home,” Ali said. “Your parents must be worried about where you’ve run off to.”
“He doesn’t have parents,” Zaria said. “Died last year. That’s the tragedy of it all. Growing up on the streets means he gets by however he can.”
“Oh…” Ali’s voice trailed off.
“We’ve been generous.” The baker crossed his arms defensively. “We don’t let the boy go hungry. We give him food and mend his clothes if he’ll sit still long enough to let us. But we’ve got our own worries, too. And he doesn’t ask. He simply takes.”
“Maybe he could do better about asking,” Ali said. “But he’s just a boy. Weren’t you all little once? We could do worse than being patient with a child in need. Perhaps his actions are vexing, but compassion is what defines our humanity, doesn’t it?”
“You are right, Prince Ali,” the man said after a moment, sighing. He looked a bit abashed now. The crowd murmured to one another and then, the confrontation over, they began to disperse.
“Thank you for forgiving me,” Jamaal said. “I will repay you for the cookie. I promise I will try my best.”
“There’s no debt,” Jasmine said.
“That’s right,” Ali said. “Come with us.”
They walked over to the stall of treats and Ali paid the woman, letting the boy choose his favorites. Jamaal’s eyes widened as he took in the cat, puppy, and goldfish creations, but he barely looked them over before he ate them all.
“Easy there,” Ali laughed. “There’s more where those came from.”
They walked over to a corn stall and bought him buttered corn sprinkled with black peppers, and then a pita stuffed with cabbage, seasoned pickles, and roasted chicken. The boy devoured all of it.
Ali studied the boy as he finished off the last of a bag of candied almonds they’d purchased.
“I was thinking,” Ali said. “Why don’t you come back to the palace with me? I have plenty of extra bedrooms. You can pick whichever one you like.”
“No, thank you,” Jamaal said. His cheeks grew crimson. “What you’ve done for me is more than enough.”
“But you could work for me in exchange for room and board and all the food you can eat. What do you think?”
The boy studied the ground.
“Fine.” Ali reached into his satchel and pulled out a handful of gold coins. “Take some to tide you over while you think about it?”
Jamaal stared at the money and then at both Princess Jasmine and Ali. He snatched the money from Ali’s palm and hurried away.
“Wait!” Jasmine called out. But the boy didn’t stop. He rushed out of the square, turned the corner, and disappeared from view.
“No use chasing him,” Ali said quietly. “He won’t come with us if he doesn’t want to.”
“Even with that money, he needs some supervision and guidance. A child that young shouldn’t be on his own.” Jasmine shook her head. “We could at least try to find him. Surely people around here know where he lives.”
“It wouldn’t work. I know kids like him. They have a hard time trusting because they’ve been let down too many times. Even if we found him and took him to the palace, he’d find a way to escape. He probably knows the streets better than anyone else.” He looked at Jasmine. “What we need in Ababwa is a place for boys like him. It’s like you said earlier about free clinics for people who can’t afford it. Children like Jamaal should be protected by the kingdom they live in—they deserve a bed to sleep in and food to eat without having to rely on the kindness of strangers.”
“An orphanage.” She nodded. “No child should have to worry about their next meal.”
“Losing a parent is hard enough.”
