The ruined merchant took to the forest. He subsisted on roots and slept in a cave. After a while his loneliness got the better of him, and he decided to die. While digging his grave, his shovel struck something hard: a chest filled with gold coins. The man was startled.
Amelia saw an old beggar on the street, resting on a stone. She rummaged in her pocket and found her last coin, and wanted to give it to him. But the man shook his head. He would not take it. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘but I don’t work on Sundays.’
The doctors told her she had lung cancer. There was nothing they could do about it. ‘You have 2 years left, at most. Sorry.’ For a while she felt miserable and wept. But soon her tears dried. From then on she prepared her modest funeral. And she started smoking too.
boy with a hat 