Chloe has started to write a short story for her creative writing class. I will be serializing her work over the next few days, just like Dickens used to do with his novels. This new story, entitled “The Meeting,” draws its inspiration from a eponymous painting depicting a group of boys huddled together.

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I was at another one of the meetings. They were talking about many things: pick-pocketing and other small sneaky schemes. I have to admit it was kind of fun. Having secret meetings in the alleyways and pooling out what we managed to scrape together over the week.

Today I had managed to steal $6.25 and two packs of Skittles. We laid out what we got on a cardboard box. In all, we got $22, 5 pennies, the two Skittle packs, gummy bears and a pack of pencils. We then divvied everything equally and gave anything extra to John, the leader. None of us minded that he got the extra stuff, especially since he contributed the most to what we got at the end of the week.

I got $5.50, 15 Skittles and two pencils. Not bad, I was thinking as I ate the Skittles on my way home.