Then he helped her repair a broken heater in the small apartment where she and Gabriel lived.
He refused payment and would not let her tell the manager he had used his own time.
“Dad did things like that,” I murmured.
“Yes.
But I don’t want you thinking your parents were saints.
Your father could be stubborn.
He argued with my mother when she refused to see a doctor.
She argued back.
They were ordinary people who kept choosing to help.”
Clara’s health had deteriorated that winter.
Missing shifts led to lost wages, and lost wages led to an eviction notice.
My father paid for a room at the Pine Rest Motel while he helped Gabriel enroll in a welding and machinery course at the community college.
He checked on them on Sunday afternoons after taking Daniel and me to the park.
“Were you there when he got sick?” I asked.
