Avery Came Home From Overseas and Found Her Name on the Lake Deed

“We owe forty-two hundred on the off-road diesel, and the three guys on the pipe crew haven’t seen a paycheck since the last Tuesday in October.”

“Where’s Brandon?” I asked.

“Brandon hasn’t set foot in this yard in three weeks,” Frank said, spitting onto the gravel.

“Your mother took the corporate ledger up to the main house and told us to sit on our hands until her financing cleared.”

“Who’s working the pipe crew?” I asked.

“Dave, Miller, and young Tommy,” Frank said.

“They showed up today out of respect for your dad, but they can’t buy groceries with respect.”

I unzipped the front pocket of my canvas bag, took out my checkbook, and wrote three checks for back payroll totaling six thousand dollars, plus a four-thousand-two-hundred-dollar draft to Oakridge Fuel Services.