Remember Little Nekked Kid?

I blogged about him sometime ago [in my archives, somewhere]. Did I blog about him playing in the middle of the road? If I didn't, I meant to.

Little nekked kid spends HOURS every day unsupervised. The kid can't be any older than five. If he is even that old. He is probably younger. Four. How do I know he spends hours every day unsupervised? We see him almost every day. He lives a block or so behind us. We've seen him hanging nekked out the living room window at his house. I have seen him playing IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET! by himself and then when I went to do a "public service" and let the parents know, the child ran into his house and slammed the door. I rang the doorbell - and knocked - and no one responded. Was he home alone? Gosh, I hope not.

The woman who lives across the street says that she has called Security a dozen times to let someone know that the child - not much bigger than a toddler [he could be younger than four - I don't know] is playing outside and running into the road with no thought whatsoever that a car may be coming. She says that the mother in the home never, ever leaves the house. I've never seen the mother. I think it is the same house where one day a man was gently and gingerly walking an old woman out from the house to get in a vehicle - a Suburban. That was the day we stopped - DH and I had The Kids - and let her safely get into the car before we continued walking by. Geez. Took that old woman forever to get in the car. I can be nice once in a while though and think of someone beside myself and we didn't want to give her a heart attack trying to get into her car quickly so as not to become a snack to a Great Dane or a Standard Poodle [as if!]. And, heck, someday I'm going to be an old lady, I'll probably walk slow too. Who knows...

Anyway, something is bothering me even more about this household now. I'm not sure what I should do about it. Perhaps I should do nothing. We saw little nekked kid paying with a boy who had roller blades on. So, what I saw could really not be anything at all. The result of wearing his skates. Older boy is probably seven or eight. Maybe eight or nine. Not much older than that though. Skinny skinny skinny. Both boys are very, very thin. He skated right next to us and he had shorts on. We were directly in front of their house, across the street, when The Baby decided she had to do her business. DH had forgotten the bags. So, he and The Boy jogged back to the house to get them, while The Baby finished her business. Scooping poop, although not my favorite thing to do, is what a responsible canine parent does.

As The Baby and I waited the three or four minutes it took for DH and The Boy to go back to the house to get the bags, older boy with the skates on did a couple of jumps up the three or four steps onto the entry way of his house and skated in. Yes. He skated into his house. Different rules to each family - to each his own kind of thing - I guess. No matter. A few seconds later he came back outside with slippers on and he and his little brother - the nekked kid - started crossing the street - racing - toward The Baby and me. The Baby is not particularly fond of children. I think they frighten her. [Trust me, we had more than a few run-ins with "children" and "tits" here and they are both very frightening!] These two boys were anxiously approaching us and I said, "You need to slow down." I said it very nicely. Caught them off guard though.

So there we all are. The Baby and I in the same woman's yard that I had spoken to the day I tried to be a good neighbor and let someone know that nekked kid was playing in the middle of the road - two blocks away - and now, big brother and nekked kid are three feet from us. The older boy said "no English." I said, "La Arabic." [No Arabic. Not really true, but "sway sway." A little. Very little]. I could tell they probably only wanted to pet The Baby. She certainly looks approachable enough. Unfortunately, she isn't. You need to approach her very carefully. Put your hand out. Let her come to you. That kind of thing. The Boy on the other hand... He doesn't necessarily look as approachable because he is so much bigger, but he is the one that is approachable. The two boys scampered back across the street. DH was coming around the corner and as he got to us I said, "Honey look at his legs." I grabbed the bags and took care of what I had to do and DH turned to get only a quick glimpse of the boys before they were in their house and the door was shut with them behind it.

Here's the thing. Older boy - who is very obviously nekked boy's brother - they look identical except for the height - had shorts on. His legs were covered in black and blues. Covered. I don't mean a black and blue here or there. I mean his legs had "spots" of black and blue like a leopard has spots of black. A couple of black and blues would be normal on any seven or eight year old boy or girl. What kid doesn't fall off a bike? Or a swing? Or bump into a coffee table. Or something. And, remember, I said he had his roller blades on and I saw him race UP his four stairs and into his house with them on. Perhaps he has taken a few or dozen falls with his roller blades on.

If you ask me though, the number of black and blues I saw on that boy's legs are not normal "I fell off my bike" black and blues. Something far more than a few tumbles has happened to this boys legs. There probably wasn't a two or three inch square area of skin on the his legs that didn't have a bruise. So I am troubled as to what to do. Should I report it to someone? Who? Security? I don't have the slightest clue as to who I would report something like that to. Yes. It is none of my business. Probably I should just stay out of it. The kid has already informed me he doesn't speak English, so it isn't like I can ask him, "Hey, what happened to your legs? How'd you get all those black and blues?" the next time I see him. Maybe he is anemic or something and is one of those kids that bruises when his skin comes into contact with anything - pants or chair or ground if he falls skating. I don't know. There were no marks on his face. He had long-sleeves on so I have no idea what his arms looked like. And, I don't recall seeing black and blues and bruises like that on little nekked kid. But then, when a small child is hanging out his window with no clothes on - you're not looking for black and blues.

If I were in the States I would not be quiet about what I have seen. I am not in the States. I am in foreign country where customs and traditions are quite different than what I am used to. It is winter, here in the Sandbox, right now. Not really shorts weather. It has been quite a while since I've had a pair of shorts on. But it will start to get warmer in a month or so and no one will be wearing long sleeves or pants. The older boy is likely in school and that is why we don't see him every day [school is on break right now - they start back next week]. I will, however, be looking closely and taking notice when I see him in shorts and in short-sleeves as to the bruises and the black and blues he has. If I see him again, and I see black and blues and bruises to the degree I have just seen them, I am going to have to tell someone.

What would you do?