An elderly woman was sitting on the floor beside the register, trembling.
Theo knelt beside her, holding an empty chocolate wrapper.
“What happened?” I demanded.
“He opened it without paying,” the store manager snapped.
“Then he ignored me when I told him to stop.”
“I had to finish the steps,” Theo said, clutching the receipt.
“Chocolate.
Pay.
Receipt.”
The cashier wiped her eyes.
“That woman’s blood sugar dropped.
Everyone froze, but Theo noticed her medical bracelet.
He gave her the chocolate, then stood in line and paid for it.”
I stared at my brother.
“You helped her?”
“She needed it more than I did.”
The cashier began crying again, but the manager pointed toward the office.
“Good intentions don’t excuse his behavior.
Security has already been called.”
“That boy may have saved me,” the woman said sharply.
Then she looked at Theo’s face and went completely still.
“What did you call him?” she asked me.
“Theo.”
Her shaking hand reached into her purse and pulled out an old photograph.
Two young boys stood beside our father.
She turned it toward me.
“Then your mother lied,” she whispered.
“She told me both of my grandsons were gone.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“Who are you?”
The woman’s eyes filled with tears.
“Ask your father why he kept me away.”
