The Mare

Ginger

She passed her grade, even though she failed. Her grades were crap, but they pushed her through anyway. If the school passed her, did it make any sense to punish her? She was going on to middle school! So she came up again for the summer, this time for six weeks. I was going to tell her mom about the horses at the end of it, but I didn’t. I sent her money instead. I sent it in a greeting card with a picture of horses on it. I said it was for Velvet’s graduation, but really it was because Velvet told me that her mom was so broke a woman gave her money on the subway. The woman gave it to her mom because her mom was crying. The woman was Dominican, and she asked Mrs. Vargas why she was crying and she said, “I have no money for my family.” And the woman opened her purse and gave her five dollars. She said she wished she could give more, but she had a family too. Which I don’t.