“So lets hear it again. What happened this morning?,”

Malee wasn’t sure whether they wanted to know the truth or their version of what happened. She could sense the frustration from the men who would not be satisfied with the truth. That they brought both her and George to the police station and asking questions inside a closed room didn’t look all right to her either. And nobody asked about her father, who was brutally beaten up, or called the hospital. It was as if they either get their version of what happened that morning or else would not let them go. But George didn’t waver a bit. In fact, he had been smiling since they had arrived at the police station.

“You can wipe the smile off your face, boy. Or you will be in for a long time.” said the man at George.

“For?”

“Your watch. You think we didn’t realise? It better be a fake from the market. Or else you must have nabbed it from somewhere.”

“This is not a fake.,”

“Very funny. If it is real, it is worth more than my 1 year’s pay.”

“No. It is worth more than the whole building.” retorted George losing his patience again. There must be something that made him that confident and Malee wasn’t sure what it was because she couldn’t see any ways out of it. It would be their version of the story against the police. The man’s face grew red suddenly at the reply and stood with his fist raised at George’s face. It was then that the door opened and the other man came back, with his face twisted, staring at the papers he was holding.

“That is strange.” he wondered aloud.

“What is?”

“The girl. She lived near the dump site with her father. We caught him a few months ago for illegal gambling, but the boy..” he broke off in mid-sentence.

“Yes? What about the boy?”

“I can’t find his information.” stated the man, staring at George’s face.

“What do you mean you can’t find his information?”

“I can’t find his information. Not in any database. I looked at everywhere, including the tax department. His record does not exist anywhere.”

Both the men turned to George.

“Oh brat, you better come clean or we will beat you up.” said the man with the raised fist with veins popping out from the sides of his head. The other man rolled up his sleeves as to be ready for the fight against the two children sitting in front. Unconsciously, Malee’s hand grabbed George’s and George could feel the coldness and the sweat from hers. But he knew something that none of them did.

Then the door was kicked open with a force that it slammed the body of the man nearest to the door that his body was thrown towards the wall. Surprised, the men, and the Malee fixed their attention to the man who was standing in front of the room with one half of the door opened. He was a tall, white man wearing a white shirt with sunglasses in the pocket.  Malee couldn’t remember if she had seen anyone with whiter skin than him. After recovering from the shock , the men stood upright and gave a salute to the newcomer.

“Commissioner. Sir!” said both of them unison.

The man they called the commissioner briefly looked at the two children sitting behind the table and made an audible gasp upon seeing George’s face. He quickly turned to the men.

“What is going on? What happened?”

One man reported what happened that morning in the slum, and the commissioner’s face grew red as it went on.

“Stop. You saw some people holding them and you took them here? Two children? What do you want me to tell the press? You idiots!” The commissioner screamed at the men who Malee thought was shrinking in size.

“Get out of here. I don’t want to hear about this from neither of you. Understood?”

“Yes. sir,”

The men replied in such a low voice that Malee strained hard to hear it. Then they quickly left the room and closed the door, leaving the two children with the commissioner. Once the door was closed, the commissioner turned towards George and made a slight bow. George said with a very calm voice.

“You are late.”