That late night, Kevin Moore crossed a clear road to the other side to meet the alley which happened to be between two skyscrapers of the wealthy city; Capricon.
"Ouch!"
On hurting feet he walked, slowly leaving the brightly lit sides of the street. All he needed was a safer place where he could lay his tired muscles for a night and not disturbed. But, as soon as he stepped into the alleyway, he was startled seeing a man who was a few metres distant in a dim light. Kevin stopped walking instantly.
spotted a human who had his back bent, head nearly lost inside the garbage can.
Intrigued, Kevin killed two steps backwards with a thought to take another direction and avoid trouble.
After all, his experience with humans for the few days in their world was nearly a disaster _ unfriendly; they even have his tilapia family on their menu!
However, amidst stepping back, he never stopped taking a more keen observation, wondering what was making the human busy in darkness all alone. He finally noticed that the human was eating. Now, Kevin thought of meeting the human. But in his thoughts was a hesitant force telling him:
"You don't feed on what humans feed on. Better wait until you find a water world, then swim and find yourself some snails and algae."
As he took small steps slowly backwards to take a different direction, accidentally his foot collided with an empty soda can, which made noise. The noise alerted the absent minded busy human who startledly lifted his head away from the garbage can, turning a scared eye immediately, in the direction where he suspected a threat.
When the man looked at kevin who was also covered in the shadow of a skyscraper _ not clearly visible to his eyes, he stood up straight from a garbage can, keenly watching while in his head he kept questioning:
"Who's that person? And why is he standing in the dark over there?"
The human stopped chewing and asked on top of his voice, with a very strange, more so nervous look.
"Who are you?"
Kevin kept quiet and stopped taking steps backwards. However, his body had already touched the light from the street luminous. The human who was eating from garbage, was now able to identify Kevin as another man who was possibly experiencing tough tides of life _ hardships, according to how he was dressed, without shoes on his feet.
The two stared persistently at eachother. And with a brilliant observation, the man realised that the person across was just another hungry scared fellow _ a shabby hobo just like him, who seemed to be in need to joining him for a bite.
In a kind voice, the grown-up human said out loud to Kevin:
"Don't delay your steps brother, my friend at the restaurant dumped quite a lot to eat today!"
But Kevin stayed standing in one position. He never took any step again. Instead, he moved his eyes from the human to the garbage can where the human was getting his food from, and then back at the human again. Suddenly and abruptly, Kevin Moore's stomach loudly growled, announcing his hunger case to the stranger.
In such a silent late night, the loud hunger cry from his stomach filled the air like it was calling for immediate help.
Immediately, the stranger picked a triangular piece of pizza and raised it up for Kevin to see as he spoke on top of his voice:
"Trust me, your stomach won't even notice it is from a garbage can!"
The stranger added:
"This might be the only chance left for you to night to bite on something. Else you won't find any food elsewhere!"
The stranger seemed different from the mean and selfish humans Kevin had met sofar from the moment he left the outskirts of Capricon and entered its bustling city centre.
Everyone was only judging him by his hungry eyes, cracked thirsty lip, ashy skin and a thin body together with a thick beard which ran around his malnourished face. No one even dare to associate with what they looked at as a mad man carrying an out dated computer in its scrap form.
He was a clear definition of misery.
He couldn't wait for famine to sweep him down, off his feet completely. Kevin chose to step foward and take his first bite of humans food.
Inside the garbage can was a paper bag in which the pizza pieces were being collected in slices. The kind grown-up man dicided to stretch his hands over the whole paper bag to Kevin to picked a slice and treat his hunger.
Hesitantly, in distrust Kevin took small steps, stretched a hand quickly grabbed the paper bag out of the human's hand. The aroma was pleasant when he sniffed the bag. Straight away, Kevin began to bite the paper bag instead of fishing the pieces out.
This was complicated in the man's presence. He frowned and called Kevin to order:
"Hey hey hey! Easy dude! I don't know how long you've starved but at least eat the substance inside first and eat the paper later if hunger remains!"
Of course, Kevin Moore knew his own secret, unknown to anyone in the human world. Considering what theman had said, Kevin posed from chewing the paper and followed the instructions. He delved into the paper bag and picked a piece of pizza. It was still warm.
Slowly, Kevin took this human food to his dry cracked mouth and took a tiny bite for a taste. As soon as it melted in his salivating mouth, in just three qick heavy bites, the pizza piece was all packed in his mouth.
Chuckling at Kevin's big appetite the grown-up man said:
"Easy homie, or else you're going to choke!"
With hunger greed, Kevin placed his object down on the ground and he went ahead to enjoy his first meal in Capricon city after three days of starvation. Kevin's careless eating habits led the man to chuckle continously as he watched Kevin closely while he chomped all the pieces finished.
The grown-up man, in his talkative ways said to Kevin Moore:
"You know, the chef in that restaurant across the street is my good friend. He usually fixes something in the garbage can for me not to sleep on an empty stomach."
He added:
"Call me Suxes."
As he chomped his last piece to vanish out of the mouth, calmly with total willingness:
"My mother named me Kevin, then Moore to keep my father remembered."
"My father went to meet his ancestors. I was eight when I buried him."
"Where I come from, when a soul is tired, it leaves the physical body and joins other souls in a place called paradise. My mother used to take me to paradise to watch these souls enjoy their next life."
Suxes said, thinking Kevin was speaking from a tale of superstition:
"That sounds crazy. Just like a common superstition that a black cat crossing your path is bad luck."
However, Kevin didn't know what a cat was, including the meaning of many words in the human word depending on how he rolled his eyes in exasperation. The more time he was to spend in the world of humans, the more research he needed to make to fit in _ not to be an odd man out.
It wasn't easy to pour his trust in any human at the moment on the other hand.
After all, according to the little experience he just had with the humans in their world for the past few days, nothing at all a merman and humans shared in common as he confidently accepted.
At the back of his mind:
"I must keep in shadows until I find my father. Humans must not know I am a big fish. Else they will organise a feast and enjoy a soup from my flesh!"
Suxes, having noticed that Kevin's attention was elsewhere, he asked:
"Is everything alright?"
Kevin replied:
"I think this type of human food is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted."
Suxes laughed it off and proudly said jokingly with a strong thought that Kevin Moore was a human like everyone else:
"Hahaha.... It's cool how you're talking in an alien perspective. Of course, besides fries and chicken, a pizza is number one junk food among many others like buggers, hot dogs _ I enjoy it more with extra cheese!"
All of a sudden, when Suxes set his eyes on Kevin's old computer monitor he was moving with, curiosity kicked in.
He asked:
"So, tell me. You seem to have a great taste in old model computers, right?"
Since Suxes' eyes were stuck on the object, Kevin couldn't waste a chance to brief him about the quest for his father.
After all, he was only straying in the wealthy streets neighbourhoods of Capricon city.