Clare

At 7, she wept in front of the stuffed animal display at Rogoff's Cards and Gifts. It wasn't for the toy she couldn't have, but for the dust-covered forgotten ones in the corners, the ones with rumpled up faces that she imagined were once fresh, lint-free, and hopeful. She cried because she knew they'd never have homes, and she cried even harder knowing not even she would save them. Twenty dollars worth of choice only came around so often.