After the fifth person ignored him, he headed towards the alley.
When he got to the entrance, I called him.
“Hello.”
He lifted his sight.
“Are you hungry?”
For a moment, he looked at me as if he hadn’t heard kindness in years.
I raised my snack and broke it in half.
“It’s not much,” I said. “But you can stay with her.”
He walked up slowly and sat next to me on the sidewalk.
“Thank you,” he said quietly.
For illustrative purposes only
We ate quietly for a minute.
He gave small, careful snacks, like someone who doesn’t want the food to disappear too quickly.
After a while, he looked at me.
“What is your name, son?”
“Mike.”
“Where do you live, Mike?”
I shrugged.
“Under the bridge. I have a tent there.”
She studied my face for a long time.
“You are young to live like this.”
