“It’s true.”
Alexander paid him twenty dollars.
Benjamin stared at the bill.
“I didn’t ask for money.”
“No. But work should be paid.”
“It wasn’t work.”
“Teaching is work.”
Benjamin did not take the money.
Lily said softly, “You can buy food.”
His face flushed.
Alexander saw it and hated himself for letting her say what he had been thinking.
Benjamin stood.
“I don’t want charity.”
Alexander folded the bill once and placed it inside the math workbook.
“Then consider it professional compensation. Leave it if your pride eats better than you do.”
Mrs. Alvarez made a choking sound from behind the front desk.
Benjamin looked at Alexander with reluctant irritation.
Then, after a long pause, took the bill.
The tutoring continued.
Not formally at first.
Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Then Saturdays.
Lily improved quickly, not only in math. She became less afraid of being wrong. She asked questions without flinching. She stopped calling herself stupid. Her school reports changed. Her teacher wrote, Lily seems more confident.
Alexander read that sentence four times.
At home, Lily talked about Benjamin constantly.
“Benjamin says decimals are fractions in fancy clothes.”
“Benjamin says the moon doesn’t glow by itself but it still matters.”
“Benjamin says if a word is hard, you break it into smaller pieces until it gets tired.”
Alexander began staying for entire sessions.
Then asking questions.
Where had Benjamin learned?
How did he sleep?
What did he eat?
Where did he go when the library closed?
Benjamin answered as little as possible.
