The Tent of Happiness

He was on the street, sitting on the ground, very thin, with the look of an indefinite age. He begged without speaking, held out his hand. Many passed without seeing him, others looked at him with indifference, it was a familiar sight in the city, and some, to ease their conscience, gave him a few coins.

A lady came up and said to him, "You're young, why don't you ask for work."

He looked at her and, with all respect, said to her, "In this world I don't exist, I have no documents, my address is the street, nobody vouches for me, I tried asking for any kind of work, I don't meet the minimum requirements, I can barely read and write."

The woman asked him are you hungry, he smiled "very." "Get up and come." He was afraid, she would take him to the police, but in spite of his doubt he got up. He followed her, they went to a confitería on the corner, "go in." "No ma'am, I've been thrown out many times already." "Not with me." They sat down at a table, the lady sent him to wash his hands well, when he came back the waiter took him by the arm to remove him, "one moment, the young man is my guest, or does one have to come dressed up to eat here." "Sorry ma'am, I thought I was bothering her." The lady ordered a good lunch since the young man didn't dare ask for anything himself. When he had satisfied his hunger, he asked, "Can I take what's left for my companions who share the street with me?"

Rosa, which was the lady's name, called the waiter and had him wrap up the rest and add a milanesa with fries. On the way out she said come, come with me, I have some of my son's clothes, he doesn't live with me anymore, he's married. They got to the house, a little garden out front, a driveway for the car, a simple but welcoming little house. Rosa gave him a towel, some underwear, a pair of pants and a t-shirt and sent him to bathe. He trembled with fear, what would she ask of him after giving him all this, he came out of the bathroom turned into another person, Rosa had thrown out the rags. The clothes were too big on him but they were clean and scented, his terrible thinness was plain to see, the woman thought I can't keep him in the house, my children would be scandalized, but I have the tent the kids used when they went camping.

She asked him if he dared to pitch a tent in the garden, to sleep there. His eyes lit up but he didn't know how. Rosa asked the neighbors, whose children were friends of hers, and the tent ended up pitched in the garden. People told her be careful Rosa, do your children know what you're planning to do. "No, and don't any of you dare call them, or else tomorrow they'll be flying back into the country." She gave him things to sleep with, a mattress pad, a blanket, everything. When she locked the gate with a padlock he thought tomorrow she'll send me to jail and say I stole her clothes, he was afraid and at the same time he wanted so badly to be able to sleep one night under shelter.

The next morning she woke him with breakfast. He thought he was dreaming and was afraid to wake up. He asked her permission to bring a little girl and a boy he shared the street with. Rosa checked whether they used drugs, luckily not. Among the neighbors they bought a portable toilet, they started chipping in with food and the tent kept filling up. Some neighbors began giving them small jobs, like mowing the lawn, etc. A social worker came, who wanted to put them in an orphanage, but they didn't want that, she got them documents, and whenever they had to give an address they wrote "THE TENT OF HAPPINESS."