“Eleven dollars.” He drank his coffee.

“I’m still going.”

I paid for both cups on the way out, and he let me.

The county library opens at ten, and the second floor has a long table by the periodicals where nobody sits once the summer reading program ends.

I brought a ruler, a black pen, and a pad of twelve-column paper.

Forty-eight pages.

I numbered every one in the lower right corner and initialed every third page.

Date across the top.