Diana Teresa, 81, had spent the morning waiting for her son to take her to a doctor’s appointment.

Instead, he put her in the car with a folded blanket on her lap and a bag of bread in her hands.

He drove in silence to the neighborhood square, got out, and told her to wait there for a moment. She obeyed, settling onto a cold bench.

The Abandonment

The sun was beginning to set when she realized he wasn’t coming back.

The bag of bread had come open; a stray dog wandered over, and she gave it a piece, trying not to cry.

In the distance, the lamplights flickered on, casting long shadows over her hunched figure.

A group of young people passed by laughing, not even glancing her way.

In her purse was a piece of paper with a phone number. She dialed it again and again… but no one answered.

The Cold and the Loneliness

Night fell quickly. The air grew sharper, and the blanket was no longer enough to keep her warm.

The dog that had eaten her bread now lay down at her feet, as if it understood she, too, needed company.

Diana Teresa kept looking toward the street, hoping to see the headlights of her son’s car, but only strangers passed by.
Hunger and fatigue began to weigh on her, but what hurt most was the certainty growing inside her: he wasn’t coming back.