PART 17: What Remained

If you had asked me at seventeen what I wanted most, I would have answered without hesitation: security.

Enough money for rent, food, diapers, and a quiet week without an unexpected bill.

I would never have mentioned a wooden box or a stranger who might remember my name decades later.

Security still matters to me.

I do not romanticize hunger, thin coats, or the anxious arithmetic of poverty.

Having less money did not make me morally better, and giving away the ten dollars did not make our next three days any easier.