George, the manager of a top-scale restaurant, mocked a poor boy named Aiden for being black, but just 3 hours later, George would come to regret it. Aiden walked down the street aimlessly that late summer afternoon. He was terribly hungry, and the hot sun was making him more miserable. Aiden had been out on the streets for hours on end begging for alms, but it seemed like the day would turn out to be another bad one for him.
Aiden was almost about to give up when he sighted a big upscale restaurant across the road. The restaurant was buzzing with activity, and Aiden watched as diners went in and out of the place. Aiden’s heart leaped with joy; he was sure to get enough alms from the rich-looking diners if he went inside the restaurant. The restaurant’s manager might even pity him and offer him a menial job in return for food or money, Aiden happily thought to himself.
Aidan crossed the busy road and excitedly walked a little distance to the restaurant. But when he came standing right in front of the pristine building, it suddenly dawned on Aiden that he was no fit for such a place. The restaurant was certainly a place for high-class citizens and not for beggars like him. But his growling stomach strengthened his resolve, and Aiden realized he wasn’t ready to give up just yet. He hadn’t come all this far to chicken out in the end. Bracing himself, Aiden pulled open the transparent glass door and sauntered into the restaurant.
Aiden made a few tentative steps inside, looking lost as he was mesmerized with the opulent interior of the restaurant. Aiden hadn’t even spent up to a minute inside the restaurant before a burly white man appeared from nowhere and stood right in front of him with his hands on his waist. The man looked down at Aiden with utter disgust.
“What would a gangly black beggar like you want in my restaurant?” George spat at Aiden. If Aiden had known about George, maybe he wouldn’t even have dreamt of coming near the doors of the restaurant. George was well known for his total disdain for black folks. As manager of the restaurant for almost a decade, he had never hired a single black worker despite the numerous qualified candidates that had approached them. Aiden shuddered with fear at George’s harsh words. Stuttering his words, Aiden managed to politely ask George if he had any available menial jobs for him. Aiden even tried to explain to George that he wouldn’t mind if he was paid with just a plate of food in return.
Reeling with anger, George exploded, “Listen, boy! I don’t know what gave you the audacity to come in here, but you better leave before I call the security.”
Aiden went down on his knees to plead with George, but the manager was not having any of that. “The restaurant is for high-class citizens, not a filthy black rat like you,” he screamed. With that, George left the poor boy and hastily made his way to his desk, as if he was about to make true of his threats to call security on him.
Aiden stood transfixed to the ground for a while to recover himself. The insults had come like a hard blow aimed directly at his guts. Clearly embarrassed and with his head bowed, Aiden hurriedly turned back and left the restaurant. Once outside the restaurant, Aiden found a car park beside the restaurant and quietly sat on the floor, leaning on an abandoned car. Still reeling from the shock, he laid his hat on his knees and wept profusely. Aiden had never been so humiliated in his life, least of all for being black.
As he wept, he wished he had a better life. “Why is life so unfair to me?” he muttered between sobs. “Why does nobody want me?” Aiden cried as he thought about his dad, Jones. He was the only one who had ever truly loved him. Jones and his wife, Courtney, had adopted Aiden when he was just 3 years old. They had been childless after 7 years of marriage; the couple had decided to adopt a child after much deliberation, and Jones had specifically chosen Aiden. He had immediately bonded with the little boy on his very first visit to the orphanage. Jones kickstarted the legal adoption process, and barely a month later, Aiden was legally theirs. The couple was glad to finally have their own child. Though Aiden was not their biological son, they loved him immensely and gave him everything he ever desired.
Unfortunately, things took a different turn when Courtney finally conceived 2 years after Aiden was adopted. She gave birth to a baby girl, who they named Chelsea. Jones was filled with unspeakable joy; he now had two children to love and care for. However, Courtney’s love for Aiden turned sour. She began to intentionally make life miserable for Aiden. She would subject him to unending strenuous house chores. At 6, Aiden was already doing dishes, laundry, and making basic meals. Aiden was shocked at the sudden change in his mother’s behavior towards him. He wondered if he had done something to provoke such strange attitude. Nevertheless, he would obey every instruction and execute every task without complaints.
When Jones observed how Courtney treated Aiden, he cautioned her, but it all fell on deaf ears. Courtney would pick a fight with Jones every time he spoke in Aiden’s defense. She would constantly remind them that Chelsea was her only true biological child, and they had only adopted Aiden out of desperation. As much as Jones tried to get Courtney to love Aiden, it only seemed to make matters worse. Jones couldn’t do much; his health was failing him daily, and the situation at home only served to aggravate his health issues. His doctors had confirmed that he had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, so he lived on drugs to manage the sickness. However, the medications didn’t seem to be having much effect on Jones as his health steadily deteriorated.
Jones heeded to the advice of his twin brother, Jonathan, and resigned from his job. This was to allow him time to take good care of himself. Jonathan was quite wealthy, and it worried him that his twin brother was going through so much. They had grown up together with their mother after their dad’s passing. Even after they both got married, their strong brotherly bond still remained. Jonathan placed Jones on a steady weekly allowance so that he wouldn’t suffer financially after quitting his job. Jonathan was very much aware of the situation in Jones’s home. He too loved Aiden and didn’t understand why Courtney was wicked to him. He would always buy gifts and toys for Aiden at every visit and spend quality time playing with him and Chelsea.
As the days spanned into weeks and weeks into months, Jones’s health got even worse. Jones battled with his heart sickness, not wanting to give up for the sake of his family. Unfortunately, he finally succumbed to the cold hands of death after he had a major heart failure. Jones died, leaving Aiden completely at the mercy of Courtney. Aiden felt his world shattered before his very own eyes; he had lost the only person who had ever loved and cared for him and the only one who had shielded him from Courtney.
While Courtney mourned Jones’s death, she seemed
to have transferred her grief onto Aiden. She tripled his hardship, ensuring that he had no time for himself. Aiden, who was almost 11, grieved for the loss of his foster dad and at the same time his predicament. Each time he would pray, God would turn Courtney’s heart to become tender towards him like all times, but it seemed those prayers were never answered.
After 8 months of non-stop maltreatment, Aiden decided that he couldn’t endure any longer. He couldn’t continue to live in a house that was almost like hell. He had always tried to condone Courtney’s ill-treatment for the sake of his late dad. Jones was the only reason Aiden bore all the suffering in silence. Back then, his consolation was that he still had someone who loved him and who would stand up for him.
But now that Jones was gone, there was nothing to hold on to anymore. He had no reason to continue to stay in the house. Aiden made up his mind; he was going to leave the house, and there would be no turning back. He had no one to go to and nowhere to stay, but it was better to roam the streets than to continue to endure unnecessary maltreatments from someone he called mother.
So, on a rainy night, Aiden packed his few belongings into a knapsack and snuck out into the dark night. Never looking back, Courtney heaved a huge sigh of relief when she discovered that Aiden had eloped. To her, it was indeed a good riddance to bad rubbish. Finally, she could have the house only to herself and her daughter. Needless to say, Courtney made no attempts whatsoever to find the missing Aiden. Deep within her heart, Aiden had actually made the job a whole lot easier for her. Aiden didn’t know what fate had in store for him on the streets, but he was willing to take the risks. He felt old enough to take care of himself. Aiden believed that everything would somehow finally work out in his favor.
For the first few days, Aiden roamed the streets and slept in the open wherever the night found him. Aiden soon found an abandoned building in an isolated part of the city, and there he made his home. When he had exhausted the food supplies he had escaped with, Aiden began to think of alternative means of survival. Life on the street was really tough on Aiden.
He walked from one house or office to another, asking for any menial jobs he could do in exchange for small pay. Aiden would even accept a bowl of hot meals sometimes in lieu of payment for menial jobs like throwing away the trash, mowing the lawns, doing the dishes, and the like. But when the jobs weren’t forthcoming, Aiden would resign to begging for alms. All that mattered to him was having just enough food to keep him alive for the present day.
For 2 years, Aiden lived on the streets, feeding from hand to mouth. One would have thought that things would get better for him, but they never did. In fact, the situation only got worse as the days passed. Aiden would sit under the hot sun with his tin stretched out in front of him beside busy roads all day long, meekly calling out to passersby for some alms. Some days he got lucky and received just enough alms for a plate or two of food. On some other days, Aiden would return back to his makeshift home empty-handed and go hungry for the night.
So on this very day, Aiden had roamed the streets all day. He barely had anything to eat for the past 2 days, and his strength was growing thin. He had decided to try out a new street where he hoped he would get some money or some menial jobs to do. It was at that very moment that Aiden had seen the Le Chateau Restaurant, which stood out in glory and elegance. He had hoped to get some leftovers to eat, or better still, some menial jobs to do to earn some money. He had not expected to be so humiliated by the manager.
As Aiden continued to bemoan his life, he noticed a flashy SUV pulling into the park. His natural instincts kicked in immediately as he sprang up to go beg for alms. He dusted himself up, determined to go to whoever the driver was and try his luck one more time. Aiden wasn’t going to let his experience with Mr. George deter him from getting a little money from the owner of the SUV. He was so hungry; besides, anyone who could afford a car that expensive would have some little money to spare for a poor beggar, he thought.
Aiden was already at the door when the owner of the car gently pushed it open and stepped out. A loud scream erupted from the depths of Aiden’s lungs as he recognized the man. It was no other person than Jonathan, his father’s twin brother. Recognizing Aiden almost immediately, Jonathan was overcome with bewilderment. Wasting no time, Aiden flew into Jonathan’s arms in a warm embrace. Jonathan hugged Aiden so tight; he was afraid he might fracture his spine. If only Aiden knew how much Jonathan had searched for him.
Jonathan had gotten news of his departure when he visited the house two months later. He had set up a search party, but they all proved abortive. He had also printed thousands of missing person flyers and posted them on every street, but nobody ever called to say they found Aiden. Thinking that he had lost Aiden forever, Jonathan was devastated. He felt he had failed Jones for not watching over the son his brother loved so much. A new fountain of joy burst forth in his heart as he relished this unexpected reunion. Aiden shed tears of joy as he hugged Jonathan even tighter.
Few minutes ago, he had thought he was all alone in the world; now his uncle was here. Maybe his life could turn around for good. Jonathan had so many questions to ask, and Aiden was eager to answer them all in detail. He explained to Jonathan why he had run away and how his life had been ever since he started living on the streets. Tears fell from Jonathan’s eyes as he listened to Aiden’s story. He felt sorry that he had to go through all of that at such a tender age. Jonathan was also filled with guilt that his late brother’s son had to go through so much suffering while he and his family had plenty to eat and spare. Maybe if he had searched for Aiden a little while longer, he might have found him. But Jonathan was brought back from his thoughts when Aiden reached the point of his story when he walked into Le Chateau Restaurant.
The boy had gone with high hopes of getting some job to do or even leftover food to eat. But unfortunately, he was publicly humiliated by the manager. On hearing this, Jonathan grew red with rage. Locking his car, he took Aiden by the hand and walked into the restaurant to confront the manager. Unknown to Aiden, Jonathan was actually the owner of the Le Chateau Restaurant. He visited once every week to supervise the activities and update their weekly financial accounts. He had hired George to manage the restaurant in his absence, but he had been getting terrible reports about him. Jonathan only waited for the right time to look into the complaints he received about George. That day seemed to be the perfect time.
George’s ill treatment of Aiden was enough proof Jonathan needed to validate all the complaints he had been receiving. All heads turned as Jonathan walked into the restaurant; a huge shock spread over George’s face as he saw Jonathan hand in hand with the same black boy he had mocked and humiliated just 2 hours before.
Jonathan wasted no time in letting George in on his thoughts. “This restaurant is open to everyone, regardless of class and color,” Jonathan said to George, who was already shaking. “You have breached the principle upon which this restaurant stands for by treating my nephew like an animal,” Jonathan bellowed.
George felt his knees weaken before Jonathan and pleaded with him. He was dazed and reeling from shock. Who would have thought that a poor black beggar would be his boss’s nephew? George knew he was done for, but he continued to plead for forgiveness. Jonathan was not having any of that. He couldn’t easily overlook George’s wickedness in denying a poor boy food. The restaurant had lots of leftover food on a daily basis, so there was no excuse to exonerate George’s actions. Rather, it further revealed the extent of George’s resentment towards black folks.
Right there on the spot, Jonathan fired George and ordered him to leave the premises as soon as possible. Completely helpless, George picked himself up from the floor and dejectedly stepped out of the restaurant. Aiden reeled with shock as he watched the drama unfold before him. He didn’t know what shocked him more: his uncle being the owner of the biggest restaurant in the city or how his humiliator quickly became the humiliated party within the space of 3 hours.
Aiden’s heart swelled with gratitude as Jonathan ordered food for him. He made sure Aiden had more than enough to eat and drink. As well, Jonathan watched Aiden eat, he wondered what to do about his situation. For sure, he wasn’t going back to the streets anymore. Jonathan thought about adopting Aiden as his own son. He and his wife, Elda, had been childless throughout their 6 years of marriage. They had previously discussed adoption but hadn’t gone through with it. Now, he had Aiden before him. Why go through the rigorous process of finding a suitable child to adopt when he already had a son before him?
Jonathan took Aiden home and explained the whole situation to his wife and his intentions to adopt him. Amelda, being a kind-hearted woman, accepted her husband’s decision almost immediately. She had known how worried and disconcerted her husband had been since Aiden went missing. She welcomed them into their home with open arms.
Aiden felt his whole world turn around for the better. He experienced undilated love and affection he never knew existed. Jonathan and Amelda treated him as their own biological son, lavishing all the love in the world on him. The family went on to live happily ever after.
What lessons did you learn from this captivating story? Feel free to share your comments with us in the comment section.
