Upon opening the door, hugged him...
"Stan, what a pleasant surprise." She smiled, tired, genuine, the kind of smile that reaches the eyes even when the body behind it is running on fumes. "Come in, come in. Have you eaten?"
They sat at her small kitchen table, the same table where he'd done his homework as a child, and she slid an envelope across to him.
"Here. This month's living expenses."
Stan looked at the envelope. He could feel how thick it was, or rather, how thin. Twenty-five hundred dollars. She'd given him everything this time. Her entire salary. Not the usual thousand, all of it.
The tightness in his chest became something closer to pain.
"Sis, I don't need this anymore."
He pushed the envelope back toward her gently.
She frowned. "What do you mean? Of course you need it. Tuition is,"
"I have my own income now. I don't need you to support me anymore."
