maxiewawa

We were walking on the Bund last night. Across the road, I saw a little girl, pushing her way past people walking in the opposite direction.

She caught my eye because of the pained expression on her face. She wore a deep frown as she negotiated her way past people walking in the opposite direction. She looked like she had a somewhere to go, was late, and was weighed down by some serious philosophical matter at the same time.

The other thing that caught my eye was the bright red flashing devil horns on her head. These are sold by poor people on the Bund. They are battery powered, and if you flick a switch, a little light turns on in each plastic horn.

She kept looking down, with the expression of being troubled deeply by something, her plastic horns bowed. But she eventually scuttled across the road towards Aika and I. What did she want?

As she got closer, she looked up at me. “Money… give me money…” holding out her hands.

I burst out laughing. She had seen a foreigner across the road, and decided to hit him up for a few coins. She had made her way in our direction, trying to look poor and pathetic. She was concentrating so hard on her act, but had forgotten about the two oversized flashing red horns that were sticking out of the top of her head.

I realise that it’s not cool to make fun of poor people, but this little girl wasn’t dressed shabbily, and obviously had enough money to get oversized novelty devil horns, so I don’t think she was honestly poor.

Now that I think of it, I think we were on the exact spot where WoAiZhongGuo took this photo. Or maybe where that guy in the blue shirt with his back to the camera is.