For twenty years, my mother took care that the homeless boy living behind our house

I sat on the steps of the house,s. with the bag of food still in my arms.
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Gabriel sat next to me. For a few moments, he looked at the court where we both had grown up, although I had never considered him part of our family.
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“First I have to tell you something,” he began. I haven’t lived in the landfill all these years.
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Then where were you?
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At first, your mother helped me finish school. Then I did a qualification, started working and, after a few years, I opened an installation firm. Now I have twenty-six employees.
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I looked at the black car.
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And did Mom know?
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He knew everything. I came to see her almost every week.
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I felt a lump in my throat.
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But he never told me.
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Gabriel has joined his hands.
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Because it was something you didn’t want to know.
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He took out of his pocket a yellowed envelope.
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On it was written my name, with my mother’s handwriting.
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He gave it to me three months ago. He asked me to keep it and not show it to you. But after you came today with food for me, I understand that I have to tell you the truth.
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I unwrapped the envelope.
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Inside was an old photo. My dad was standing next to a skinny teenager with black hair and too big a shirt.
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The teenager was Gabriel.
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On the back of the photograph read: “October 1996. First day at the workshop.’
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“Father knew you?
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Gabriel agreed.
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“Your father found me one winter sleeping in an abandoned building. I was sixteen years old. I ran away from home after my stepfather became violent. He took me to his workshop, gave me something to eat and let me sleep there for a few nights.
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I didn’t know anything about it.
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“He tried to help me find my family, but I had no one to go back to. So he taught me how to repair installations and promised to help me finish my studies.
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Gabriel has stopped.
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“The day your father died, he came from Ploiesti. He had been to talk to someone about the possibility of welcoming me to a youth centre where I could have continued school.
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I felt my chest tighten.
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“Are you saying that my father died because of you?”
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