The Table She Set Every Thursday

For seventeen years, Maria Gonzalez set an extra place at her Thursday dinner table in her small apartment in San Antonio. Every week, without fail, she cooked enough for one more person — a neighbor going through chemo, a college student far from home, a widow from her church who ate most meals alone. The chair was never empty. Her granddaughter once asked why she bothered when she could barely afford groceries for herself.…