What Do You Want?

A boy of ten years old stood before me where the bus stopped and the row of sellers started. I asked, "What do you want?" He gripped a few small notes so I guessed his answer was, "money". But the boy didn't answer.

I tried again, "What do you want?" No reply.

Maybe if I asked a different question. "Have you eaten yet?". He said, "No".

I asked, "What do you want to eat?". He was still looking at me, not at the food. I made some suggesstions, "A hard boiled egg? Fruit? Cake?" There was another long pause, but this time I could see his eyes scanning the stalls. Finally, he said, "I want crickets." Deep fried. Salty with soy sauce. Crunchy and protein-rich.

Today I bought the kid a scoop of crickets. (And the seller let me sample a couple for free.)