I picked up the black pen and held the tip right over line A.

“I don’t have to wreck his whole life to rebuild my own, Ruth,” I said to the empty room.

I signed my full legal name, Penelope Vance, along the signature line of the restitution agreement.

I folded the punitive criminal complaint in half without checking line B and put it away in the middle drawer.

The brass clock on the mantelpiece gave one click as the second hand swept past the twelve.

Out on the dark front porch, a gentle evening breeze stirred the yard without a sound.