For a moment, the descending sun rested on top of the highest mountain making the everlasting smog look almost close to pretty. Furthermore, the mountains weren’t just any mountains, they were mountains of garbage. Some would describe them, less flattering, as very, very large piles of garbage. 

  At the outskirts of the city, all unwanted items were dropped off and over time the piles grew larger. Initially, these items were supposed to be sorted and recycled but at some point in time that idea seemed to have gotten forgotten. 

  Among the rubble and junk a casually dressed, blonde haired woman strolled. She stopped as she saw a stout man with wild and curly locks. 

  “Yo,” the woman said, looking down on the man. The reason as to why she looked down on him was because he sat on his knees, head down at the root of one of the garbage mountains. 

  The man flinched and looked up seemingly confused. 

  “Ah, Andrea! What a pleasure to see you here,” the man said after recognizing the face.

  “How’s it going?”

  “Good, good. Still missing the last piece of hardware so I can’t really test the code…”

  “Think fast,” Andrea threw a small shiny item in the man’s direction. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to react quickly enough, so the item bounced off of the side of his arm and onto the ground. 

  “Ow! Why’d you do that for?” the man patted his arm as he looked at the item. “Oh, is that?... How did you get it?” the man paused. “Well, sorry, but I can’t take it.”

  “Just take it man,” Andrea sighed. 

  “You know, it doesn’t… sit right?”

  “Just take it, I didn’t get it with blood money or something.”

  “How did you get it?” the man asked curiously. 

  “Why does it matter? You’ve been looking for that metal piece for months now.”

  “No. Thank you very much, but I’m sorry, I can’t take it.”

  “If it helps, I found it at this dump the other day.”

  “Here? Really? I’ve been looking for ages? How?”

  “Your choice to believe me or not,” Andrea said as she saw the man looking at her with disbelief. “I’mma head out,” she continued. 

  “Well, thank you, sincerely,” the man gave a small bow. “Just one more favor. Could you give an old man a hand?”

  “What’s wrong with your legs?” Andrea teased.

“There’s nothing wrong with my legs. It’s my back. You’ll see when you get in your thirties, it all goes downhill from there.”

  Andrea gave the man her hand and with a bit of effort, helped him up on his feet.

  “Thank you again,” the man said. 

  “No need to mention it, Timothy”

  “Mr. Welsh would be more appropriate coming from a youngster your age,” Timothy said, putting on his finest posh accent. 

  “Sure, Timmy.”

  “Ha! Anyways, where are you heading?”

  “I’mma get something to eat.”

  “Do you mind company?”

  “Yea, about that… next time you ask I do.”

The two started navigating their way out through the garbage piles with the sun almost set to their back. Timothy pulled a properly sized, but not the most robust, wagon behind him and Andrea took, what she thought was, a well deserved smoke from a newly lit cigarette.