The store had been repaid.

The neighbors had learned to organize their kindness into something reliable.

And Clarence, who had been so determined to carry everyone’s burdens by himself, had finally discovered that a family could hold a place for him even when his hands were empty.

As the door closed behind them, I turned toward my own house.

Supper would be ready soon, and there was a folder of volunteer forms waiting on my desk.

The work of caring for people was never really finished.

I was no longer afraid of that.

I had seen what could happen when we stopped waiting for someone else to begin.

THE END.