Boaz saw it first – the gleam of metal that slashed through a ray of sunshine. It was extremely hot that day, the kind of suffocating heat that you cannot escape. The man had been provoked. From across the street, Boaz and Jules saw the man curled up in his sleeping bag, his plastic bags carefully stacked between him and the wall. The only thing visible was the tuft of grey hair that poked out of the sleeping bag and fanned out onto the pavement. That morning, the two children had gone out to town for an ice cream, for which their father had given them money. 

‘You go and get yourself something nice,’ he told them. ‘And take care of your sister,’ he added, with a stern glance at Boaz. 

It was summer holiday, and both their parents worked all week, which meant that Boaz and Jules had to fend for themselves. 

Sitting on the terrace of a small cafe, cars rushed through the street dividing the siblings and the sleeping man. They hadn’t seen what happened exactly, but when the waitress brought them their ice creams, she suddenly grimaced at something, as if in pain. When Boaz and Jules turned their heads, they saw a woman pressing her foot on the man’s loose strand of hair – actually grinding her foot down, as if wiping something dirty off their shoe. The woman, who had a villain’s laugh, was about to step on the man’s body when he clambered to his feet, sleeping bag still clinging onto his shoulders. He stood, shaking off the thick fabric and stepped out of it. He shook his fist at the woman, shouting something. The woman assumed a fighting pose and kicked the man’s shin. He bent over in pain, reaching for his leg, upon which the woman pushed him to the ground. As she hovered over the man, he grabbed something from one of his bags and waved it at the woman, who then started screaming. 

Boaz gasped at the scene that unfolded just a few meters away, but then he noticed something else entirely. The petrified, cold look on the man’s face. The sheer fear of being hurt dripped from his cheeks. The woman ran off, and he placed the item back in his bag. He got up and started pacing angrily. He turned toward the terrace where the children were sitting and he noticed them staring. Again, he made a fist and shook it at them. He was about to cross the street when the children made a run for it, leaving their melting sorbets behind.

They sped across the sidewalk, past strollers and shopping bags. Jules nearly tripped over a loose tile but managed to regain her balance. Boaz knocked into a man in a suit, who shouted at them. They ran and ran, until they were confident the man was no longer behind them. 

Jules had started crying, probably out of shock. 

‘He looked like a monster!’ she sobbed. 

‘He was just afraid,’ Boaz hushed her, sounding more confident than he felt.

He placed his arm around her shoulders and began guiding her home. He hoped she would stop crying before they arrived, or his dad might blame him for putting his sister in dangerous situations.

As Boaz laid in bed that night, his sister fast asleep in the other bed, he recounted that day’s event. He had been scared too. The man was clearly very angry, and he might have hurt them if he had gotten the chance. However, the only thing he felt now was an overwhelming, all-consuming pity for the man in the sleeping bag.

The next morning, Boaz had devised a plan. He also included his sister. It took a while to convince her, for she had had quite a scare, but she eventually saw the good that could come from his idea. 

‘How do you feel about doing a good deed today?’ he asked.

Jules looked up at him. ‘What do you mean?’

‘What if we tried to do something nice for the homeless man from yesterday?’

Jules’s eyes grew wide. ‘The scary man in the sleeping bag?’

‘Yes, him,’ Boaz said. ‘I just think he needs someone to be nice to him.’

‘He wasn’t nice to us, though.’

‘That’s because he had just been hurt by that woman. I think he’s very unhappy and in dire need of a friendly face.’

His sister was silent. Boaz had almost given up on the idea, but during breakfast Jules gave him a barely visible nod when their parents weren’t looking.

They did not tell their parents about their plan, as they would be completely mortified and probably lock them up in the house forever if they found out. When they had left for work, Boaz and Jules stepped out onto the front porch. They were going to find the man and buy him a slice of pizza. 

In order to find him, they returned to the same café they had been to the previous day. They were in luck; the man was sitting upright against the same wall. He somehow looked worse than yesterday. There were brownish chunks in his hair, and he was staring at his feet as if someone lodged on his shoelaces was telling him a sad story. Boaz and Jules looked at each other, Boaz’s face determined, Jules’s somewhat doubtful. But on they went to the nearest pizza window. The guy behind the counter was setting up, as it was still early morning. He looked sleepy and did not notice the children at first. When Boaz exclaimed a cheerful ‘Sir!’ he startled and looked over the counter. When they had placed their order, they leaned against the wall of the pizza place. They could still see the man, who had not moved. From this angle, they noticed him twiddling his thumbs, as if waiting for something. 

After having been handed their order – the pizza guy yawning loudly – they made their way to the man sitting on his sleeping bag. They approached him carefully, Jules regretting their plan. Boaz, however, had a purpose in his step. They stopped a few steps away from him, and Boaz knelt down on the pavement. The man jerked his head towards the boy, his eyes wild. Jules was able to get a good look at him. The skin on his face hung from old age, giving him a sad expression, as if he had been disappointed one too many times. Boaz handed him the slice of pizza. 

‘This is for you, sir,’ he said quietly. ‘We hope you have a good day.’ 

Jules held her breath, anticipating any sudden moves the man might make. 

Boaz went on. ‘This is my sister Jules, and my name is Boaz. We wanted to let you know that we think it was very mean how that woman stepped on your hair yesterday. She should not have done that, as it was stupid. We hope this might make it slightly better, though it must have hurt your head quite a lot.’ 

The man stared at Boaz’s knees and then glanced over at the pizza. He took it, placed it beside him on the floor, and mumbled something. He then resumed the exact same position as before. Boaz sat for a while longer, awaiting a response. Then, realizing the man wasn’t going to speak, he got up and brushed off his trousers. He walked away, beckoning Jules to follow.

They walked in silence for a while. Boaz had his hands in his pockets, and he stared at his feet as he walked. He wondered whether he had misjudged the situation. Maybe the homeless man hadn’t wanted a friend at all. Maybe he just wanted to be left alone.

Then, they noticed a waiter placing down a bowl of water for a dog to lap up. The dog’s eyes filled with immense gratitude, and his owner crouched down beside him, petting his head as he drank. The dog occasionally came up for a breath of air and then dove down into the water bowl again. His tail wagged.

The city seemed quieter than yesterday, somehow. There weren’t as many cars on the street, and there was only the occasional passer-by. It had rained overnight, and it had washed away some of the terrible heat from the day before.

The dog had finished his water, and his owner patted his flank. The dog looked extremely happy, and he kept on looking up at his owner as they continued walking.

After this encounter, as Boaz and Jules walked on, Jules noticed a slight spring in her brother’s step. She wondered what he was thinking.

That night, they decided that they, for the remainder of the summer, would go on a daily quest of kindness. The money they occasionally received from their parents for a beverage somewhere, they saved up. One day, they bought a pacifier for a homeless woman’s baby. She smiled a toothless smile and gave Boaz’s ankle a squeeze. Another person received a plastic cup of tomato soup. He yelled at the children. Later, Boaz decided that he might have disliked tomato flavour. 

‘I do not like it too much myself,’ he reassured his sister, because she felt bad for him. 

When the summer was nearing its end, and the children sat in the grass in the park one afternoon, Jules scooped some water from a fountain in her hands and drank it. She returned to her brother and noticed a ray of sunshine lighting up his blonde hair. He had taken off his shoes and was wiggling his toes. He looked beautiful against the green leaves of the trees, some of them turning orange already. Jules was filled with love for him. 

It was then she noticed the man in the distance, the one who had been lying on the pavement in a sleeping bag. He saw them too. He got up and slowly moved towards them. Boaz saw him too and waved carefully. Jules felt a sense of calm upon his approach, something that surprised her. When he arrived, he stood there a second at first and then lowered himself next to Boaz. Jules went and sat down next to the man, him in the middle. They sat in silence on the soft blanket of grass. The only thing audible: the babbling of the fountain.