The brown boots felt heavy up the stairs, and Natheniel looked down at them at every step he took. He saw his knees moving for every step, and saw his worn jeans. These didn’t have any holes, at least not yet. There were 53 steps in the stair, he had counted them so many times he couldn’t be wrong.
  David Roberts had his room furthest away in the corridor on the second floor in the east wing, and Natheniel had been there so many times he could probably go there with his eyes blindfolded by now. When he reached the open door he knocked on its’ frame before he entered the room. Out of everybody who lived at the nursing home, the old war veteran had gotten the nicest room there was. The view over the park was actually cozy to look at through the big windows and they let in nice light to the room, so you would easily feel at home. The elderly man himself sat in an armchair by the window and read a newspaper, but when Natheniel came into the room he folded it and turned his eyes to him instead.
  “Come in, come in, boy.”
  “Good day, Sir.”
  “David, I’ve told you. Come over here, I want to talk to you.”
  David’s dark voice was soft and friendly, in a way that was hard to expect from an eighty year old man who had seen war. It was kind of surprising that someone who had seen so much death and misery still could be this nice. Natheniel walked over to him with his hands down his pockets, and stopped a bit from the window to look out. The sun was shining bright outside and little birds chased bugs over the lawn.
  “Tell me, Natheniel, how have your day been?” David asked.
  “It’s been okay. I just wish I could have gone to school instead”, he answered without taking his eyes from the window.
  “Did school start today? Education is important. Which school do you go to? South Brooklyn Community?”
  “Yes, it was today. No, Roselyn”, he answered calmly.
  “Roselyn? I’ve never heard of that one. What do they teach you there?”
  “Like arts and such, you know, music, theater… and so on. I’ve picked music as my subject.”
  “Music? Is there something specific you want to become?” David asked and looked at him with interest in his eyes.
  “A drummer in a band would be fun, much more interesting than living on the streets for the rest of my life”, Natheniel answered in a low voice.
  “That sounds neat, boy. But if you want to get there do you have to fight for it, and get away from that bad company of yours. Samuel or what his name was.”
  Natheniel nodded. He and Samuel should be as far away from each other as possible. Samuel only cared for himself, and was a really bad company as he never did anything to make his life better.