Shoeshine Boy

In this short story Antonio describes his life growing up in his little Portuguese neighbourhood in Toronto. The story begins with Antonio at the age of six when he is learning to ride a bike. As he grows older his bike becomes a necessity in his life. It is his only way to venture off from his little predictable area. Antonio has an older sister named Terri and now has two new friends- Manny and Dennis.

Antonio felt safe growing up as everything became familiar, the only down side of growing up in the Portuguese neighbourhood was the teasing he and his friends endured. All the other kids at school were Canadian. Antonio and his friends wanted for their mothers like other Canadian mothers to buy peanut butter, Swanson dinners and mac and cheese. They wished that one day their mother would drive them to the Eaton center or to summer camp. They wanted for their fathers to wear a shirt and tie to work and to have some time to spend with them. Unfortunately riding bikes was the only entertainment for the young boys.

By the age of ten Antonio knew his entire neighbourhood. Everything about the neighbourhood felt safe and comforting until one boy Emanuel Jaques- who they called the Shoeshine boy- went missing. He had worked on Yonge Street shinning shoes, and doing other thing (not good things), for money. Antonio believed he ran away to escape the little neighbourhood they lived in. After days of looking for Emanuel he showed up on a rooftop or a massage parlour on Yonge street, dead.

Antonio turned on the news to hear the story. The news reporter calls Yonge street a filthy place. It news says reports suggest that Emmanuel and his brother and a friend were approached by a man. The man offered the boys money to go with him to do some chores for him and they accepted.

After hearing this story Antonio rides off, he passes Queen street, city hall and then Yonge street. He rides up Yonge street stopping just above Dundas street, at a place called Charlie's Angels- that was cronered off with yellow tape. The place where Emanuel had been found, where news teams, reporters and Manuel gathered. It was silent and Manuel felt alone, in a city he did not recognize. Antonio quickly rode home to find his neighbourhood, that was always filled with people on the streets, empty and his parents worried sick. Antonio no longer felt safe in the place he knew so well.