It was for a pair of shoes I had returned years before so I could make an extra deposit to the original account.

I held the paper for a moment, remembering who I had been then: hopeful, tired, and certain that sacrifice guaranteed safety.

I threw the receipt away.

The lesson was not that sacrifice had been foolish.

It was that sacrifice needed boundaries and honesty to mean what I intended.

PART 23

By the time Selena entered her final year of high school, the Career Club had become a regular program at the community center.

Nadia recruited new volunteers, Ms.