My bump pressed against the edge of the table whenever I reached across to sort the loose papers from my cardboard box.

I spent three hours smoothing out old bank receipts, utility bills, and gas slips on the card table.

Near the bottom of the box, tucked behind a bundle of hardware invoices from Julian’s job sites, I found a blue register ticket.

It had slipped between two accounting folders weeks ago.

I wiped a layer of paper dust off the slip and held it under the bare light bulb.

It was a receipt from the St.