Reborn on the Day My Mother Abandoned Me

When I was five, my usually thrifty mother took me to buy candy in a town five kilometers from home. "Wait here for a moment. Mommy's going to use the restroom." The market was packed with people, and Mom was soon swallowed by the crowd. She never came back. At dusk, I showed up at our door, covered in dirt. Mom was holding my six-month-old sister as she picked vegetables. She looked horrified. "How did you find your way back?" She didn't know that I'd memorized the route home countless times. Because I had been reborn. 1. Realizing she'd said the wrong thing, she quickly corrected herself. "I told you to stay right where you were and not run off..."