Something

He could barely smell anything. As he hummed songs to himself and kicked pebbles along the track, he carefully avoided the pieces of human excreta which lay littered all along , many a times resembling fine modern artistic mosaics. This was his ritual, his game, his way to engage himself as he returned from the middle school he attended. The classes made him drool but strict parents made him do good. As he walked along the tracks, he did not notice the naked children playing in the mud and sewage water, the colorful and ugly polythene bags strewn all around, the huts with tin metal roofs, men smoking cheap local tobacco which was chewing their lungs off or women sitting on the street, their hands in wet flour preparing meals over makeshift ovens full of smoke while their little children harassed them.
Mornings were a bit different. His right hand would be across his nose at that time . Children would be asleep then, ovens unlit and people would be seeking the heights of the railway tracks for cleaning their stomachs.

Nor could he. As he skid down the walkway with punctually lined black trash cans, thinking about the meal he would savor in the afternoon and remembering hushed conversations about girls with his friends he avoided the melee of cars and people. As he walked along, people middle aged and old clad in smart suits walked in some sort of an order, buildings 20 floors or more appeared and reappeared, children fat and plump, dressed colorfully, played in neat parks while they patted their healthy fat dogs, an occasional man and woman smoked a cigarette and women got their nails polished in spas as they read fashion magazines. He didn't notice anything.
Mornings were a bit different. There would be no cars and so it would be quiet, the parks would be empty and early morning commuters would be rushing towards subway stations.

Ah, childhood memories. Don't they linger around all the time. The plane jolted a bit driving him and him out of their slumber. They yawned and thought it appropriate to talk to each other. They soon found out that they had traded places. He now lived in He's place, helping it remain neat and was returning for a short visit. He also lived now in He's place and was trying to help the naked children and clean up the railway tracks.

Both had been trying to seek Something.