An hour passed. Then headlights appeared in the distance. A battered Toyota Corolla slowed to a stop beside us. Out stepped a young man — lean, polite, and dressed in a faded college sweatshirt.
“Need a lift?” he asked, voice calm and warm.
He drove us to town, chatting easily about school and his part-time job at a tutoring center called Bright Steps Learning Center. He told us he tutored underprivileged kids at night to help pay for college.
When we reached the diner, we thanked him again, but he just smiled. “Take care,” he said before driving off into the night.
We never saw him again. Or so we thought.
The Face on the News
Years later, on an ordinary afternoon, Amrita called me with trembling hands.
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