Chapter 1
I got fired yesterday for doing the one thing my mother ever told me to do right.
It was pouring in Portland, the kind of rain that hurts.
I was in the back washing dishes when I heard the bell above the door.
Then I heard silence.
I wiped my hands and looked through the pass-through.
A woman had collapsed on the sidewalk right outside.
People stepped over her.
Three customers held up their phones.
Nobody knelt down.
I didn't think. I just ran.
In my apron, through the rain, I dropped to my knees beside her.
Her lips were blue, her pulse thready.
I reached into my pocket.
All I had was the milk and a glucose tablet I'd bought with the last seven dollars to my name.
It was for my little brother Tyler. His sugar kept dropping at school.
I fed her the tablet and held the milk to her lips.
"Stay with me," I said. "Please."
That's when I heard my manager's voice behind me.
"Emily. Go home. You don't work here anymore."
He said it loud enough for the whole sidewalk to hear.
I didn't even argue. I just stood there, soaked to the bone.
The woman's eyes fluttered open.
She looked up at me. Really looked.
Like she was memorizing every part of my face.
Then the ambulance came and they took her away.
I walked home in the rain with no umbrella and no job.
Tyler was waiting by the window. He's eight.
"Did you get my medicine, Emmy?" he asked.
I told him I'd get it tomorrow. I lied.
That night the landlord banged on the door. Rent was late. Again.
I sat on the kitchen floor and cried for the first time since Mom left.
At six a.m. someone knocked.
I thought it was the landlord back with an eviction notice.
I opened the door.
A black car was idling at the curb.
May you like
The woman from the sidewalk stood on my porch, dry now, holding something behind her back.
"Emily," she said. "Do you know who I am?"
