Only those who survived had the right to talk about the future.
How painfully true those words were!
When even staying alive was a luxury, who cared about some distant future?
"For the children of Crime Alley, the future is out of reach. Doctors, reporters, teachers, writers... those supposedly 'respectable' professions aren't worth as much as a meal of bread."
Back then, who would have dared to steal the bat monster's tires unless they had been pushed to the brink?
But to Jason at the time, one tire could mean not having to worry about food for at least the next week.
Far too many children in Crime Alley were forced to steal to survive. The prices offered for their stolen goods were brutally low. With no one to back them up, even when they knew their haul was worth ten or twenty times the offer, they had no choice but to accept it.
They had no buyers, no connections, and no way to call the police. If someone was willing to take their stolen goods and give them a little money, they were expected to be grateful. Breaking the rules and selling stolen goods on their own had consequences these poor children couldn't afford to bear.
As a result, to earn enough to live on, the children had to steal more often, or go after more valuable-and more dangerous-targets.
Were there other ways out?
Yes.
Pretty girls could go to the red-light district and sell their bodies, trading their youthful flesh for a chance to stay alive a little longer.
Strong boys could join certain gangs, becoming the lowest of their lackeys, taking on the dirtiest, foulest, most dangerous jobs for the least pay.
And the far more numerous ordinary children, who were neither pretty nor strong nor particularly