When a single mother sends her daughter to school with the only Christmas gift she can afford, the girl comes home humiliated, and her mother braces for judgment she knows too well. In a world obsessed with appearances, one small act of grace might just change everything.
The smell of lemon polish clung to my sleeves as I wiped the last smudge of the receptionist’s desk. It was nearly midnight.
The building had emptied hours ago, but I was still there, pushing through the ache in my shoulders.
The overtime would cover a pair of school shoes for Maya, and maybe even a secondhand sweater that didn’t pull at the elbows.