“She’s carrying something no child should carry alone.”
“Yesterday was different, wasn’t it?” I asked. “Something happened.”
He nodded.
“The boy grabbed the lunch she was bringing me. Told her she was giving ‘poor people’s garbage’ to a bum. Then he threw it in the dirt in front of everyone.”
His voice broke completely.
“Yesterday was different, wasn’t it?”
“A teacher came over. The one with the red glasses, Miss Harmon. But she blamed Alice. Said Alice was causing a scene near the road. Said she was the problem.”
“They blamed her?”
“She just stood there and took it,” the man said. “She didn’t defend herself. She never does.”
Silence filled the room.
I looked at my husband, and I saw the same fury and heartbreak burning in his face.
“But she blamed Alice.”
“She keeps worrying about everybody else,” the homeless man said softly. “Somebody needs to worry about her.”
