Late

Leon didn't think he was going to make it back into town before the bell, but he was running as fast as he could anyway. Maybe nobody would notice he was late. And if they did, well, he had a pretty good excuse. The thing was, being late meant he would get no food 'till dinner the next day and he was already pretty hungry. Leon did not want to be late.

He heard the first peal of the bell when he was still about 20 yards from the edge of town and he tried to run faster. But he was already at his limits and the extra effort put him off balance. He pitched forward and sprawled in the dirt of the road, gouging his elbow on a sharp rock.
Leon had never really gotten used to the sight of blood, especially his own. It made him dizzy and a little nauseous but he got up and ran again.

Leon stumbled panting into the center of town not more than a minute after the last toll of the bell. He was quite a sight, sucking air, chest heaving, covered in dirt and blood. He had little tracks down his face where sweat had washed away the dirt. A few people looked at him oddly, a few snickered, but nobody spoke to him as they filtered out of the square and back to their homes. Soon he was left stading alone over a tiny pool of blood that was growing fatter as the gash in his arm continued to leak. Feeling even dizzier now from losing so much blood, and hungry as he was, it took him a minute to realize he should probably go see the doctor and get his arm stitched up.

"You were late."
"Yes, doctor, I'm sorry. But I'm injured, I think I need stitches." The doctor looked at Leon's arm and opened his door with a sigh.
"Come in, let me have a look."
"Thank you, doctor."
He entered the doctor's workroom and had a seat on the paper covered table. It crinkled under him. That sound had always annoyed Leon, though he didn't really understand why. The doctor turned on a lamp and brought it over to have a look at Leon's elbow.
"Yes, this will need stiching. How did it happen?"
"I fell in the road and cut it on a rock. I was running to try to make it back in time."
"Why were you late, Leon?"
His excuse didn't sound quite as good when he said it out loud. Apparently the doctor agreed with him.
"That is a shame, Leon. But late is late, there's nothing I can do about that."
"I'm very hungry, doctor." The doctor stared at him for a moment with what Leon was sure was sympathy in his eyes.
"That is a shame, Leon. But late is late, there's nothing I can do about that."
Leon gasped as the doctor poured cold alchohol on his wound and wiped it clean. He cried out when the first stitch went in.
"I'm sorry. The supply train hasn't shown up for the last two weeks and we're out of anesthetic." Leon gritted his teeth and tried to think of anything to distract himself until the stitching was done. He thought about clouds in a deep blue sky, he thought about the way the sea looks after a storm. He thought about how far they were from the sea out here in the settlement and he wondered when he might get to see it again, or if he ever would. He was thinking about the taste of sea water when he glanced down at what the doctor was doing to his arm, and he was still thinking about it when he passed out.

When Leon woke, he was disoriented and for a moment he panicked. It was dark and he was cold and hungry and he didn't know where he was. He rolled to his left and fell, landing once again in the dust of the street. He realized he had been laying on the wooden bench in front of the doctor's house, and felt a little foolish. The doctor was not about and the house was dark so he wispered his thanks and headed back to the center of town.

Leon dipped a bucketfull of water from the well and drank, grateful for the cool, wet relief. The night was hot, and he splashed some water on his face to wash away the grime and cool his parched skin. He drank some more water and inspected the stitching in his arm. It hurt like hell, but it was clean and he wasn't bleeding. The cold water intesified the hunger in his belly and he thought regretfully of the meal he had been denied. Wondering why he had been sent to live in this place, why they all had, he wandered off in search of something to eat.

Morning found him still wandering the streets. He couldn't remember where he lived and he had wandered all night looking for food. He was lost and delerious when people first started emerging from their homes, but Leon didn't even notice them. He walked right into a man with a cart full of fence posts, but he was so far gone it didn't even register in his mind. He bounced off a few more people on his way down the street, until he hit a man carrying a hammer and knocked him down. The man got up angrily and shoved Leon, shouting at him to pay attention, but Leon was so weak he stumbled and struck his head hard on an adobe wall. For the third time, Leon fell into the dusty street.

For most of the day people walked by and ignored the man lying in the street. They hurried along and went about their business and tried to pretend he wasn't there. Then as the sun was going down, the doctor happened by and saw Leon lying there. He tried to wake him up, but found him unresponsive, and not breathing. He felt for a pulse but there was none.

The doctor stood looking down at Leon's corpse in the street thinking, "That is a shame, Leon. But late is late, there's nothing I can do about that."