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

palm like it mattered more than anything I’d just given her.

“Don’t ask,” she said quickly, before I could even get the confusion out of my mouth. “One day, it’ll save you.”

Then she walked out the door, and I never saw her again.

The toy ended up forgotten in a box in my basement, buried under old paperwork and half-remembered things I kept meaning to continue reading …