ADVERTISEMENT
She thanked me about a hundred times, her little face lighting up like a Christmas tree, and then she vanished into the rainy night, swallowed instantly by the gloom. I spent the rest of my shift feeling a strange, hollow sense of peace, even though I knew I’d just spent my dinner money for the next two days. I didn’t tell Mr. Sterling what happened, figuring it was better to keep my “renegade” charity to myself, but every time the doorbell rang, I jumped, convinced the consequences were finally walking through the door. I figured that was the end of the story, just a small moment of kindness in a busy world, unaware that I had just stepped onto a path set in motion years before I was even born.
