For Years I Resented the Homeless Boy My Mother Fed. After Her Funeral, He Revealed the Secret She Had Kept From Me.

The boy he had been was a frightened teenager embarrassed to be hungry.

We sat until the rain stopped.

Before leaving, Gabriel asked whether I would ever want to visit the recycling center he had built.

I said perhaps, another time.

He did not press.

As I walked to my car, I found myself thinking about how many good questions I had never asked because I was certain I already knew the answers.