In series 1 why does Wallace look after a bunch of little kids?

Johnny Storm

Wallace is the very young drug dealer who gets freaked out when he sees the dead body of Omar's boyfriend. He gets out of the game and goes down the country to live with his granny for a while.
In a few eps he is shown looking after five or six little kids in a vacent house. he gets them ready for school in the morning and sends them on their way each with a box of juice and a snack. They don't seem to be his brothers and sisters. I've watched series 1 twice but I just can't figure out who those kids are or why he is looking after them.
Anyone know what the story is?

ixoy

I thought it was pretty simple - Wallace is a nice guy and he's doing his little bit to ensure that the kids have some hope of getting out of the Projects and with a better life, rather than always pimping out drugs.

tvnutz

The kids obviously have no homes,no parents and are living in the vacant houses. These few just happened to be lucky enough that Wallace actually had a heart,got them off to school and gave them lunch etc.

JPA

I always assumed at least a couple of them were his brothers sisters.
I'm assuming the parents were dead or junkies.

godtabh

JPA wrote: »

I always assumed at least a couple of them were his brothers sisters.
I'm assuming the parents were dead or junkies.

I alaways thought they were his brothers and sisters and that their parents were dead/

Dont think it would be uncommon for large famlies over there

carlop

kearnsr wrote: »

I alaways thought they were his brothers and sisters and that their parents were dead/

Dont think it would be uncommon for large famlies over there

I always thought this as well, but I always wondered

where they are when Bodie and Poot kill Wallace? Wallace is looking for them and they're nowhere to be found, which suggests that they were told to leave, but by who and when? In the immediate scenes leading up to his death, Wallace is with Poot and Bodie.

luckat

He's the big brother. It's not uncommon in the AIDS-riddled projects of the US, as in Africa, that older kids will have to bring up their siblings.

raindog.promo

Just watching this series again.
When Wallace is talking to the cops in season 1, they say his mother is an alcoholic and go to see her when they're looking for wallace. She's living somewhere else other than the low rises.

Also in the episode where

Wallace gets shot

he's talking to a kid wearing headphones, asks him his name and offers him a share of the chinese takeaway he's got for the kids, so I think he's looking after stray kids in the projects.

Incidentally, The Wire is the best thing I've ever seen on TV in my opinion.