Hannah Mae shuffled onto the bus platform. Over the years her line of sight had drooped from straight ahead to mostly down, where the abrupt change in tiling brought her out of deep thought. So she was going downtown, was she? Why not?

As the sun warmed the platform, she felt a renewed commitment to her decision to leave her family. God would guide them all to a better place, if she just got them a push in the right direction. It broke her heart to hear her daughter last night. With two children of her own and Hannah to provide for, her daughter was a sinking ship, trying to keep them afloat. If only Hannah could still cook, clean and sew like she used to do. Her once nimble hands and sharp eyes had betrayed her, but not her family, not anymore.

She wrenched her head up to see who would join her on this journey, and her face flushed like it hadn’t in years.
“Hi Gramma,” the young teenager caught her eyes like a mirror. He casually extended his leg to obscure a small suitcase at his side.