done.
Six weeks later, Mrs. Okafor from 2C came to visit me.
She mentioned Daniel.
“He helped me carry groceries last week,” she said. “Three trips upstairs.”
“That was kind.”
“He looked exhausted.”
Then she told me his mother was seriously ill.
Daniel had moved into the building specifically to be closer to her.
He visited her every day.
I sat quietly after Mrs. Okafor left.
None of that excused the tea bags.
Someone going through a hard time does not gain the right to ruin someone else’s property.
But context can change how you understand behavior without changing whether the behavior was wrong.
So the following Sunday, I knocked on Daniel’s door.
He looked thinner.
Tired in a way I recognized immediately.
“I heard about your mother,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
He nodded.
“She’s in residential care now.”
He paused.
“She doesn’t always recognize me.”
I knew that kind
