The window was fogged up, but it couldn’t hide the howling snow outside.

Dad spoke with a mix of emotion and pride.

“We’ve raised her, fed her, sheltered her with the house back home. That should be enough.”

Mom leaned on Dad’s shoulder, smiling slightly.

“Exactly, that house back home is so much nicer than the one we live in. What other parents do as much as we do? We’ve done our part.”

They didn’t realize that a house is only alive with people. A village home can stand a century with residents but collapses in a year if left empty.

In the two years after Grandma passed, the house...