I Always Gave a Few Dollars to a Homeless Man on My Way to Work — on Christmas Eve, He Said, ‘Don’t Go Home Today…There’s Something You Don’t Know!’

Just don’t go home tonight.”

Before I could grab his sleeve, he stood up.

For weeks I’d watched him move like his joints hurt; now he walked away steady, newspaper under his arm, disappearing into the snow.

I stood there on the sidewalk, heart pounding, feeling insane.

Logically, he could be unstable.

But he’d known my name.

That I had a sister.

He’d said Evan’s name like it cost him something.

I got on the bus.

When my stop came, I stayed seated.

I rode to my sister’s neighborhood instead.

Meghan opened the door in leggings and fuzzy socks.

“Claire? What’s going on?”

“Can I stay here tonight?” I asked. “I don’t want to be at the house.”

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