way.”

My mother looked at him with quiet surprise.

He kept his eyes on the water. “I don’t know if volunteering fixes anything.”

“It doesn’t,” I said.

He nodded.

“But it might teach you something.”

His eyes filled with tears, though he continued staring ahead.

“That would be enough,” he said.

My mother poured coffee into the thermos cup and passed it to me.continue reading …