Chapter Four
When Helle arrived at the subway station the following morning, Giulianna was nowhere to be seen—if Giulianna was, indeed, her real name. At any rate, the girl to whom Helle usually gave coffee and spare change was no longer seated in her usual spot. Neither were her friends around.
Perhaps they had located a more profitable corner elsewhere in the city.
Or perhaps they were simply elsewhere for the moment.
Helle hoped the girl would come back. She could not bear to be abandoned, yet again, by someone she cared for.
She knew she ought not care for a stranger as deeply as she did.
She told herself to be like the others who lived in this city, and walk by without feeling any sentiment at all. Yet she knew she could not. She cared for this girl. She cared with every m
