When I was younger, I always knew my parents had trouble with money.當我是個孩子的時候，我知道父母經常缺錢用。

We would go to yard sales all the time,我們總是買鄰居轉賣的二手物品

buy everyday supplies at Dollarama日常用品都是從二手商店買來的

and work at and eat at a soup kitchen 4 nights a week.每周有四天，我們會在夜晚去救濟食堂干活，然后領餐吃飯。

Then, a new man walked into the soup kitchen and asked me what my name was.有一天，一個陌生人走進救濟食堂，問我的名字叫什么。

As I told him my name was Angela, my mom handed me the soup ladle and hair net to start getting to work.我告訴他我的名字是Angela，這時媽媽已經把做湯用的長柄勺和衛生發網遞給我，讓我準備開工了。

After that, I couldn’t find the strange man again.在這之后，我就沒見過那個陌生人了。

I searched everywhere我找遍了整個食堂

and even asked the other men and women in the kitchen if they had seen him.甚至問食堂里的其他大人，是否有人見過他

My mom thought I was going crazy,媽媽以為我瘋了

saying there was no one with me when she came to hand me my stuff.她說，當她把那些勞動工具拿來遞給我的時候，我身邊根本沒有任何人。

She said I had been sitting alone and that it seemed I was talking to myself.她說我一直獨自坐在那里，看起來好像在自言自語。

Later that night in the car, my mom was crying.后來，當天夜里，媽媽在車里哭了起來

I asked her what was wrong我問她怎么了

and she told me the rent on our apartment had gone up她告訴我，我們住的公寓租金又漲價了

and that my grandma had died.我的奶奶也剛剛去世

She didn’t know how she was going to pay for the funeral and the rent.她不知道怎么支付葬禮的費用，還要支付房租

I assured her I would help pick up the odds and ends after she made as much as possible.我向她保證，她只要盡力就行，剩下的空缺，我會想辦法去掙回來

Once we got into the apartment building,我們回到公寓大樓

she asked me to run to the mail room and grab the mail.她讓我去一趟傳達室，把家里的信件帶回去。

I went, and the only thing I could find was one single envelope.我去了，只找到了一只信封

A familiar man called me back saying he thought I left something in our mailbox.我剛走出傳達室，一個有些臉熟的男人叫住我，他說，他想我把什么東西遺漏在信箱里了

I reached in and pulled out a huge manila envelope that was bulky我把手伸進郵箱，拿出一只大大的馬尼拉紙的信封，看上去特別厚

but I couldn’t tell what was in it.我猜不出里面裝著什么

I brought the envelopes up to my mom.我把那只信封帶回家去交給了母親

She opened the first one and found our first super expensive rent bill.她打開第一只信封，發現了一張金額無比昂貴的賬單，這是房租漲價后她第一次收到

She then walked into her room,接著母親回到她的房間里

saying she couldn’t handle to open the other one.她說她沒有勇氣打開那另一只信封了

I looked at the envelope and saw this:我看了一眼那只信封，上面寫著

Dear Angela and Family. Love, Your Friend.給親愛的Angela及家人，來自你們的朋友

I brought it to my mom with shaking hands and asked her to open it.我把信封拿給媽媽看，手竟有些顫抖，我讓媽媽快打開它

She ripped it open, tears streaming down her face.她撕開了信封，眼淚簌簌的從她臉頰上滑落

She emptied the contents onto the bed.她把信封里的東西倒在床上

I brought a hand to my face, wiping away multiple tears.我舉起一只手放在頰邊，擦去臉上肆意的淚水

There on the bed were countless checks, all addressed to my mom.床上放著數不清的支票，收件人全都是我媽媽

I had a feeling I knew who had sent it, but didn’t want to tell my mom.我暗自感到，自己知道送來這些的人是誰，但是我不想告訴媽媽

My friend from the soup kitchen.一定是我在救濟廚房遇到的那個朋友

翻譯：小木