The Rats of Caracas

Andrea Lopez was 12 years old and pregnant. She lived in Caracas Venezuela. She had to stay with her friend Daniela. No-one took any notice. She was going to call the baby Nathalia after her Mother. One night she woke with stomach pains. She couldn’t breathe properly and she knew the baby was coming. She started walking, trying to get some help but it was dark and no-one was around. She reached the Avenida Saluzzo and collapsed in an alley. The baby wanted to be born and Andrea was exhausted. She screamed to Holy Jesus to stop the pain. Jesus must have been busy because the pain did not stop. After some hours of screaming and pushing the baby was born. There was blood everywhere. Andrea put the baby on her stomach and wiped her mouth. It was a little girl. She noticed the umbilical cord and tried to break it. She was exhausted and laid back onto the cold concrete. The baby just screamed and screamed until she fell asleep, Listening to her mother’s dying heartbeat. Rats scrambled over the two bodies but ran when little Nathalia woke and screamed for a moment. The Sun rose and Johan Rodriguez found them. He called out and stopped a car “La pequena madre esta muerta”,he yelled. They saved little Nathalia but Andrea died on the street. And the rats of Caracas went hungry that night.