Cinq cent balles

A boy makes an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve a 500 franc note from a storm drain using a belt. When it doesn’t work, he tries to steal a gumball from a machine but is chased away by the store owner. He goes home and gets a coin from his mother. When he returns to the store, the machine doesn’t work. No gumball, no coin. Then he finds a piece of gum in the gutter. He again attempts to retrieve the note. He almost has it, but it falls back in. A disheveled man, observing him, takes out an invention of his own: a folding stick with a pin on the end. He makes his own attempt, but the furious boy attacks him. They argue, and the man chokes the boy. Fortunately, he isn’t dead. The man leaves. The boy is ready to try again, but he hears a rush of water coming down the gutter. He frantically tries to stop the water: with a dam, then with his own body. But his efforts are futile. The water rushes into the drain and washes the note away.—Dan Jatovsky