I did ask about the money.

Partly.

We sat down at the table and he got up and came back with a printed receipt, which he had folded into quarters and had been carrying in the pocket of his school trousers since the Monday, and he put it on the table and turned it round so it faced me, which is a small formal gesture that I noticed.

The receipt said: one Quickie-style rigid lightweight manual wheelchair, display model, clearance, one thousand three hundred and ninety-nine dollars.