After Helping a Hungry Mother and Her Baby, She Gave Me a Toy—The Meaning Didn’t Hit Me Until Much Later

cold before she’d said a word.

“I’m sorry,” she finally said, her voice cracking down the middle. “I’m nursing my baby. I haven’t eaten in two days. Please, I just need something.”

I didn’t ask her a single question. I didn’t ask for proof, or an explanation, or any of the things people sometimes feel entitled to ask of someone that desperate. I just continue reading …