A Summary
Darwin has never once eaten his fill. Orphaned young and raised under the sagging tent of the Skittish Circus, he earns his keep in greasepaint and a painted-on smile — tumbling, dodging, and being laughed at for pennies he never sees.
Wandering the cobbled lanes after a show, hunger gets the better of him outside a bakery window fogged with warmth. Inside: golden loaves, still steaming. Outside: Darwin, weighing the cost of one small theft against the ache in his stomach. The bread wins.
He runs. He hides. He eats — and for one perfect moment, it's the best thing that's ever happened to him. Then the guilt arrives, sudden and enormous, and Darwin finds himself alone in a quiet chapel, quite certain that something up above is looking directly at him.
