Houston: City Streets Homeless Kids

Another Van Allen Memoir: This is a short story retelling a recent encounter I had in Dallas, Texas where someone needed my help. That encounter brought to memory the tragic stories of the homeless kids I saw on the streets of Houston when I was a teenager.

Some of them had tragic stories to tell about why they were homeless, why they lived on the streets, why the streets were better than being at home. Some of them were abused. A young boy was stabbed and set on fire by his mother’s boyfriend. One girl I talked to lived on the streets prostituting. She said some old men like really young girls. I talked to another kid, a boy that everyone called Red, a red-headed Black kid like me, except I had freckles and he didn’t. I had seen Red a few times in the streets. Red was a thief. Red would tell you that some old men like young boys. He was also a prostitute.