Paris: the city of love, light and hope. Each day, plenty of tourists admire the Eiffel Tour while plenty of couples get married in a peaceful atmosphere. What a beautiful city… The sun in the sky, the boat on the Seine, and the pigeons in the stations: all is normal, is good and is nice. Yes, but let me tell you another story in the same town. A dark and sad story… You will say: “is it possible in Paris?” Yes it is. Come on, read, and discover the true wealth.

It was in December. He was here, as usual: at the same place every days, every nights. Each night? Yes, of course. Where could he sleep except here? Nowhere. The street was his house and the mice his friends.
The life was hard. Each day, he had to find food to live, because people never gave him that. Sometimes, he got money and bought a bread, and so it was the meal of the week. And when he couldn’t have anything, he searched in the city. Paris is big, and the bins small, so the hunting could be very long. Wastes are ugly and disgusted, but necessary to survive. And when he found some food, he sat on the floor, looking for the life in the France capital.
People were like water and the street their pipe. They walked, and walked, quickly, and were uninterested by the life around them. It was the daily choreography of Paris. In order to eat, the homeless said to him that his food was full of protein (even if he knew that there were above all plenty of diseases). After that, he put always a cup of coffee of a fast-food on the floor, and tried asking some money or fruits for the vitamins. People looked him a second, and then, their phone or a newspaper. Sometimes, a young child gave him a coin, and the man smiled by saying “Thank you. You are an angel”. But then, the kid left with his parents, and the homeless was sad again. On the evening, he always went in an alley, and lay down between two bins. Every day, a black cat looked him and went further because of the smell of urine or wastes. Then, the man closed his eyes by crying calmly.

One day, when he repeated to him that life is hard and terrible, he went in a new neighborhood. He didn’t know this place. He began to search his lunch, and snow began to fall on the floor. It could be very funny for the children, but for him, it is a catastrophe. Snow is the evil in person, because the man wore just a sweet, a jean and a red hat “San Francisco Beach”. He had to come back “home” and protect him quickly with a blanket. So, he walked. He moved forward alone, slowly, and turned at the street corner.
But suddenly, he heard a screaming. He saw a woman, hit by her husband, alcoholic, and totally crazy. Behind her, there were two children afraid. Five minutes later, the husband stopped to hit the girl because of a pain on his hand.  The homeless looked the wife. She was pretty and seemed very nice. He picked up a flower on the floor and gave it to her. It was a tulip. She smiled, looked him in the eyes, and returned to work.
What a bad world… Night fell. With a giant sadness, the man lay down on the ground, closed his eyes, and slept in the snow, by praying for a change in his life.

He woke up brutally.
“What?” he said.
Silence. Snow and darkness.
“What! Who is here?” he repeated.
A noise.
“Cling!”
The man looked around him. He felt frightened. His breath was fast. Too fast. Two little eyes were looking him in the dark. It moved… It came…
A mouse. Just a mouse. The homeless smiled.
“PAM!”
We heard a terrible gunshot which echoed in the small street…
And one second later, a man yelled in the dark.

The homeless stood up.
“Where is it? Where is it?!” a voice screamed.
All of a sudden, we heard a police siren.
“F***! The police! Let’s go, let’s go!”
“Stop! You have to stop! Police!” a voice shouted.
And then, nothing.

The homeless waited a long time. He didn’t move. After two minutes, he decided to look into the alley. He moved forward painstakingly and… he saw a corpse. A dead body was lying on the ground, in a lake of blood. Ugly. His eyes were open and afraid.
Just a minute… The victim... The homeless knew this person. Who was this man? He couldn’t remember. Near the corpse, there was a black little box. He touched her with stress and… no. It could be dangerous. “The victim could be a dealer or a terrorist” he thought.
But, he was curious, extremely poor and sad, so what could arrive of worse? So, he opened calmly the box. And suddenly…
_“My God!” he screamed by moving back.
He remembered. The man was the husband who hit his wife yesterday. And in the box, there were some money, gold, and jewels.
_“What going on? What’s this case? I am going to become crazy!” said quickly the homeless.
Suddenly, an idea emerged in his brain… If he took all the money, he could become rich and happy forever. His life could finally be a success. People could look him! And he could speak with them of business, economy and about politics! He could become as important as a baobab, the biggest tree of the world: he would be the seed, and his water would be the money.
But… These jewels and this gold were probably stolen, and their owners were probably wretched… So, what did he have to do? The homeless was poor and unhappy, but also honest. He was confronted to a critical choice: keep the money or fight the inequalities? 
He stayed there a long time, by thinking in the street. He was in a Paris alley but his mind was once again in an impasse. And suddenly:
_“Hey you! You!” a voice yelled.
The homeless hid immediately behind a bin. It was a feminine voice. He waited. She approached. He saw her hair. She came calmly in the alley. “Oh no…” thought the man, “If she saw the corpse, I’m dead!”…
He felt like a prey in a trap, and the girl was his predator.
_”HIIIIIIIIIIIII!” she screamed very high.
_”No!” the homeless shouted.
She didn’t have to call police, or he could go easily in jail. So, he sprang out of his bin and hit the girl. But she was resistant, and attacked him in the abdomen with her foot. He was paralyzed a few second and the girl was ready to hurt him again. He protected his body and…
Nothing.
He opened his eyes. The girl was looking him. All of a sudden, he recognized her.
_”You… you… you are…” he stammered.
_”Incredible…” she finished.
They looked them one minute. Snow was falling in Paris, but it was not nasty. It was beautiful, like the girl.. They laughed!
She was the struck girl of yesterday
“_But what are you doing here?” she asked.
The man told his story. He explained that he found the corpse of the crazy husband on the street, and the mysterious box next to him.
“_ I hated him, she explained. He was a bad person. He earned money by smuggling, and stole everyday new things. I couldn’t do anything because I needed this money for my four children. Each day, he beat me and he drank alcohol, and oh my God!”
She cried a long time. The homeless didn’t know what doing…
“_Quiet. It’s finished. He’s dead. I’m here and I love you”.
He blushed. What did he say?!
The girl raised her head. She examined the man, and…
“_You know why? Me too.”
And they kissed, in the dark, under the snow, in Paris the city of love.

Today, near Paris
Georges drinks a cup of coffee, and Carla washes some plates in the kitchen sink. Maxime plays in the room with toys.
_“Hey little monster! You have to go to school today!” the father says.
He is not totally accustomed to being a dad. One year ago, Georges was just a homeless. His wife, Carla, had found him in an alley… Incredible, isn’t it?! And now, they live in peaceful in a big house. Carla is a florist, and sells especially the tulips. Her husband Georges is a rescuer of the Red Cross, and helps the poor in the towns. It’s a great job. He is always joyous. Why? Because he finally has found the true wealth.
Love.

So, it’s the end of this incredible story.
What do they have to learn?
Instead of asking money, you should ask for love. And be sure that it’s the real wealth.