One day, in a Facebook group where they post job offers, I found an ad looking for someone to clean the house of Doña Carmen, an elderly woman who lived alone in a small alley near the city center.

“I know you probably thought I was a stingy old woman or that I just forgot… but I didn’t.”

“Every day I saw how you cleaned my house, how you took me to the hospital, how you cooked for me without asking for anything in return.”

“Many times I wanted to give you the money… but I needed to be sure of something.”

“I needed to know if there were still good people in this world.”

My hands began to shake as I continued reading.

“My own children stopped visiting me years ago.”

“At first they called me… then less and less… until one day they just disappeared.”

“I wasn’t a perfect mother, but I loved them with all my heart.”

“When I got older and sick, I became a burden to them.”

“That’s why I decided to live alone in this house.”