Chapter 7

When I finally got home, I found my sister alone, drinking cold water to keep hunger at bay.

At the sight of me, she circled me like an excited puppy. “Dad told me to be good and wait here! Once he’s picked up our brother and they’ve eaten, he’ll bring me something too!”

But I knew Dad only kept his word to our brother.

He’d never kept a promise to either of us, however small.

I took her hand and led her out. “Come on. Don’t wait. He won’t bring anything. I’ve earned some money. I’m taking you out for something good.”

She followed me to the biggest shopping mall in the city.

With the advance the owner had given me, I bought her a roast chicken she’d dreamed of just tasting.

She was like someone preserved from another century, astonished by everything she saw.

After we’d eaten our fill, she stared in wonder at a mannequin in a children’s clothing window. “Look! I can read the words up there. That’s a down jacket she’s wearing, isn’t it?”

All her life, my sister had worn other people’s castoffs.

She gazed enviously at the mannequin. “She’s wearing such a thick jacket in this warm, heated room. She can’t be cold, can she?”

My nose stung. I went straight inside and bought her the jacket. Delighted and astonished, she kissed me several times.

She took off the secondhand coat that had been washed until it was little more than an empty shell and put on the new jacket. Almost at once, her small, bluish face took on a healthy pink glow.

Her eyes shone as though she’d discovered a whole new world. “I always thought winter was this cold for everybody! Now I know. The others have jackets this amazing under their school uniforms!”

Her hands hadn’t been cold by nature.

She’d simply never been dressed warmly enough.

I crouched and gathered her into my arms. “This is the first new piece of clothing I’ve bought you. There’ll be a second, and a third. I’ll keep buying them until you’re all grown up.”

For some reason, she fell quiet.

When she looked up, tears covered her little face. “If only you were my mom…”

Right there in the children’s clothing shop, I couldn’t stop my own tears.

“Mom and Dad always say an eldest sister is like a mother,” I told her. “So I am your mom.”

But she shook her head firmly.

“I don’t want to tie you down with that. You’ll have a child of your own someday. I can’t take their mom away.”