PART 1
“Don’t take pictures of that woman,” Alistair Carpenter said in a sharp voice. The reporters quickly lowered their cameras.
The director of the Crestview Clinic had just told the press about a huge donation. He gave eighty million dollars to help homeless people during the freezing winter in Minneapolis. His expensive suit, his luxury watch, and the big black car waiting for him looked completely different from the small tents under the highway bridge near the river.
Alistair came to the camp just to smile, take photos, and leave. But then he saw her.
A thin woman walked slowly out of a blue tent, leaning on two old crutches. She did not have her right leg below the knee. Her long, messy hair covered her face. When she looked up, Alistair felt like he could not breathe.
It was Nellie Fields, his ex-wife.
Fifteen years ago, Nellie lived in a beautiful house in Wayzata. She hosted big dinners for rich businesspeople and went to every hospital party with Alistair. Now she wore a old sweater, a torn skirt, and crutches held together with gray tape.
