Don Raúl arrived to open his taco stand one ordinary afternoon and found something he never expected.
A kitten tied to a post, the cord tightening around his neck, and beside him a piece of cardboard that read “free”, with a twenty-peso bill taped to it. As if those coins could wash away the guilt of whoever had decided to get rid of him.
He didn’t think twice: he untied him. Instead of running away frightened, the little animal stuck to his feet as if he instantly recognized the person who truly had a heart. That same night, he took him to the stand, gave him finely chopped steak, and watched him eat desperately, as if he hadn’t had a bite in days.
From then on, he never left again. Don Raúl named him “Twenty”, in memory of the bill with which someone had tried to pay for abandoning him. Today, customers ask about him before placing their order, and that same bill is still kept in Don Raúl’s wallet—not because of the money, but to remember the day an innocent soul found a true home.