I learned that if I needed money for something at school, I should bring it up after dinner rather than before.

I also learned that wanting something was usually the beginning of an uncomfortable conversation.

When I was twelve, my class announced a weekend trip to a science museum.

The cost was forty dollars.

I brought the permission slip home and placed it beside Dad’s dinner plate.

He studied it while eating.

“Forty dollars?”

“That includes the bus.”