I know and old man who lived on the streets. He was as tall as sign posts and had a beard so scruffy you can hear shuffle when he put his hand on it. He was thin too, thinner than a stick with black eyes.

He always held his hand out to us, like he wanted to shake it. We never did though, because one time when little Lucy from school shook his hand she got beaten hard by her ma.

We liked to watch him though, walk through the streets. Shf. Shf. Shf. He limped, dragging one foot without lifting it.

"He must be tired," my older brother, two years older than me would say. He doesn't join me on most days, but on days he does he looks more interested than me.

"Do you think he's hungry?" I'd ask him to which he would nod gravely. "Starving," he'd answer back.

Starving, I would think to myself. What was it like to starve? How long does it take to starve?

"Well I'd say he hasn't eaten in days! That's when you really starve."

Good God, I couldn't even last from breakfast to lunch without feeling a tiny bit hungry.

I watched the man, now with the same graveness that my brother did. He hasn't eaten in days. Just how many days? How is he still walking like that?

I had always been a meddler, so meddling in this felt natural. I had already planned out my actions the night prior. I repeated the steps to myself as my ma brushed my hair for me, Two braids and a small bow. She handed me my schoolbag and lunchbox before sending me off with my brother.

"I'm going this way today."

"No you ain't," my brother retorted, grabbing my wrist. "we're going to school together."

Foiled immediately.

Upset I pulled my hand away and walked off, knowing that he would follow while nagging me. He was always a softie anyway.

Even he shut up when I stomped my way over to the homeless old man, who was sitting by a wall instead of doing his daily walks. He looked up at me, eyes so dark I could see my white uniform swishing as I walked over. He raised his hand towards me like always and this time I placed my lunchbox on it.

My brother gasped, scandalized. The homeless man looked surprised too, but I had run off before he could say or do anything. I ran all the way to school, gasping for air without even stopping. I had actually done it! I had done it!

I forgot I needed to bring my lunchbox back.

My brother followed me back to the wall, scolding and complaining the whole way there. Why didn't I tell him? What was I thinking? What if someone saw? He wasn't really worried about me giving the lunchbox, he just didn't want to get in trouble.

To our surprise my lunchbox was lying near the wall, no old man in sight. It was empty though, and cleaned well with a tissue.

"You can't keep giving him your lunchbox" I heard my brother's grating voice again. "Wrap it in a tissue and give it next time."

So I did.

The next few weeks, brother and I took the long route to school. We dropped off our alternating lunches wrapped in a tissue in the old man's hands and ran to school.

He smiled at us now, I could tell under his scruffy beard. His eyes lit up too. Like stars. He still didn't talk, even though I had started talking once in a while.

"It's pie tomorrow," I had told him before we ran off to school again, this time with lighter bags and hearts. It was the last day of this semester and the holidays were starting.

What we didn't expect was that our parents had planned a trip abroad for the week.

"What about the homeless man, should we tell him?" I asked my brother that night before we headed to bed. My brother, sharing my worry shook his head. "It's too late now, we'll get caught if we try to leave."

"Tomorrow?"

"We're leaving in the morning, we won't have time."

My worry doubled, I had even promised him pie tomorrow. Will he wonder where we are?

My brother put an arm around me, a sad attempt to comfort. "Don't worry, we can continue giving him food after we come back."

"But...won't he starve?"

He shrugged, unsure as well. "He...didn't eat all these days so...I think a week will be fine for him! It'll be like we never left!"

It was true. He had been starving all these days, he won't starve in just a week. When we come back we'll just explain where we have been! We can even bring chocolates for him.

My worries ceased, I went to sleep with newfound anticipation for the trip.

-

The old man wasn't anywhere when we came back.

We waited at the usual wall, we walked on his usual path, we even looked in alleyways until brother pulled me away.

It wasn't until the end of school that we found out.

"Jane said she was going to learn every digit of pi! It's like seeing a pie in the sky!"

Hearing the other kids laugh confused me. "A what in the what?"

Enora looked at me, laughter in her eyes. "You don't know yet do you Mia! The old man kept saying that!"

The old man!? I grabbed Enora's shoulders, surprising the both of us. "the old man? Where is he?"

"Ain't no one tell you? He's dead!"

"Yeah!" Another kid, Jack jumped in. "My pa said they found him lying on the road, he kept on pointing at the sky, smilin' an' crying'"

"Yeah, he kept on saying a pie! A pie! As if he kept seeing a pie in the sky!"

The kids started laughing again, but it was all a buzz in my brain.

The old man had died.

I rushed out of school to see my brother already waiting, teary-eyed.

"He died," was all he mumbled as I grabbed his arm.

"How!? How did he die?"

He hugged me, the two of us ignoring the strange looks others were giving us. "He starved to death."

It felt like cold water was poured on me on a winter morning. I knew the two of us were thinking the same. He was thinking of the pie even as he died.

We killed him.

We were inconsolable for the day, my parents unable to figure out over grief over the homeless man.

Later we did go to his grave, a fully baked, fresh out of the oven, pie in hand. It was shoddily made, not even a tombstone placed. We put down the pie there, apologizing solemnly. We were naive after all, kind but not empathetic.

They still use the phrase, even today. His legacy being a mockery of his death. The chances of him ever being respected, it's like seeing a pie in the sky.

Goodbye old man. We never even learned your name.