big city with tiny little hearts

The garbage man dies and his family can't afford to bury him. They cry when he is cremated. He was a wild man and left a trail of devastation behind him. His wife's name was Maria, his daughter Faye. A week after he died a woman showed up at their home. She was a prostitute by profession. Maria didn't let her in the door. The woman exclaimed that she was pregnant with Maria's now deceased husbands baby and she needed money to have it, or not to. Maria told her there was nothing left, that her husband had spent everything they had on liqour and now obviously whores. The woman slapped Maria and spun around back out into the streets.
Faye got good grades in school. She missed her father. Even the way he smelled like trash when he came home. She missed hugging him and calling him papa. She didn't miss late at night when he would scream at mom and walk out the door with a slam. Mom would then come lay in bed with her, fresh tears in her eyes. The love of a parent is unique in everyone. Faye longed for a day when she would grow up and have her own little girl she could come lay in bed with at night when either of them was scared or alone.
Some people do things without thinking. They are stubborn and look for all the wrong things. The garbage man didn't know he had these two women he was hurting so bad at home. He went out and fought, partied, did whatever he could to escape a life he thought he didn't want. He had grown up poor and was destined to end up that way only by his own hands. He was once in love and bright and cared about life and things. He loved his wife and his little girl, but sometimes love isn't enough.
The women spread his ashes on the ground outside Soldier Field. One thing Faye remembered was sitting home on Sunday with her father watching football. So they thought it was a good place for him to rest. Maria's heart ached. They packed up their things and moved back to Indiana where Maria's mother still lived. The girls had a family for once. There was only one spare bed that Maria and Faye shared. They would hold eachother at night. Not because of fear, sadness, or rejection. It was out of independence and love, no more tears of sorrow, no more crying for a man long gone. There was love and that's all they needed.