Marred Shoes My shoes were marred by the raining, so I had to buy a new pair. As I didn’t have money left, I tried to redeem in my neighborhood some tickets grandma left on the table, you know, milk and cereals stuff, but unfortunately they were expired. How do my family end up so poor? Since I’m young I’ve borne with the question, the thing about my poverty. At school, people laugh at me short’s gaps, but I didn’t care, cause I was sure that one day I will be somebody. My sole hope was my education. Even if I didn’t have money to pay the bus fare, grandpa, -- I miss him so much—used to tell me, ‘Hey, niño, be integral in your convictions. That’s the only thing that, not matter your social status, it will make you an august man. The thing is, grandpa, I don’t want to be a respected man. I just want to have money to buy a new pair of shoes.