Her knees must have been wet as long as she knelt in the snow. When the woman’s hands had apparently warmed, the girl took the cup away and set it at the ground at the old woman’s feet. Then she took off her own gloves and pulled them on the woman’s now warm hands. Picking back up the cup, she gave it to the old woman, and with another word walked away, hands tucked into her pockets.

I looked back at the street woman, and saw she was crying. No one else on the street seemed to notice, or care.