I could smell it!! The amazing smell of the breakfast that my foster mom cooked every Saturday morning. I was left with my foster mom at the age of three, she told me my parents left me at the door on a rainy August night. I am now 17 about to be 18, and I will finally be able to leave. M birth name was German but here at the home the call me G-man. I really like the other kids here, they give me a sense of feeling like it really is home. I was running to brush my teeth and heard someone shout, “watch out!”
I got hit right in the head with a basketball, who the hell hit me. I stood up and saw Johnny, a 13 year old kid, running. I just let it go after all the were just kids, and I wouldn’t have to see them again in a few days.
“BREAKFAST IS READY,” yells my foster mom and the top of her lungs. We all head on down to the kitchen table and start eating.
I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time, the were going to inform me about the stuff I got when I got out. I couldn’t wait to have a job and have my own things and money. All they told me was that I was going to get out on June 22, in 2 days, which was my 18th birthday, and that they were going to give me a hotel room for a month while I got a job and 200 dollars to eat while I get a job too.

Those two days were the longest days of life, I just wanted to leave. I went around to everyone and said, “ bye, bye, see you soon.” Everyone just returned a very sad, “goodbye, good luck.”
I headed straight for the hotel after I left the home to leave the little stuff I had. The hotel wasn’t at all that great they, there were rats and ants running around when I got there. From the hotel, I grabbed a newspaper and circled all the places hiring they seemed pretty interesting. I went to all of them but nothing, lots of places were looking with people with experience, I guess they didn’t want to waste their time teaching someone. Then I started going to the jobs that didn’t seem all that interesting like school janitor and fast food restaurant cleaner. They all said the exact same sentence, “we’ll call you.” It was actually harder to get a job then it seemed.

3 Weeks passed with no one calling back and still no places hiring me. I was starting to run out of time and money, I only had a week left here at the hotel, where I never got any sleep because all the rats running around, and I only had 45 dollars left. I only had 3 pairs of clothes which I had to wash every three day. I was getting really desperate for a job and at this point I would take anything, but still nobody called or hired.

The last day finally came and I took my bags and left. I was still trying to look for a job but nothing, so I started asking people for their spare change, lots of people just told me to get a job but how.
That night I slept under a bridge in the park, it was pretty hot since it was summer time.

Now I just ask people for money, getting a job isn’t as easy as people think, someday I wake up not knowing if I’m going to eat that day. I smell pretty bad by now, and people don’t really want to get close to me now, either ways there’s always some people that feel bad and give me some change which is enough to let me eat for the day. It hard out here in the streets, I gave up on trying when people told me I stank and looked bad.

I finally realized I was in poverty