“We gave him warnings because we knew he was old and proud.

I even sent one of my clerks to ask whether he needed help.

He told her he was fine.

Eventually the company that insures our inventory wanted a formal report.

My employees were frightened they’d be accused of letting theft happen.”

She showed me a handwritten note from a cashier named Emily.

Emily had written that she saw Clarence leaving with diapers tucked under his coat and hadn’t known how to stop him without hurting him or embarrassing him in public.

“She cried afterward,” Denise said.