"Why were you expelled from school?" I asked.

He hesitated for a moment, instead of answering my question, he told a long story:

"My mother followed my father at sixteen and gave birth to me at eighteen. Dad gambled and drank every day, and when he got home, what he knew was to ask her for money. Although my mother never complained, I could hear her sobbing."

He continued, "Later, a policeman moved here, opposite my house. He was a good man, who often helped mom and sent ...