A round piece of stamped metal dropped into his open palm with a hard metallic clink.

He held the brown penny up into the middle of the beam.

“Well, that’s one way to keep a fuse from blowing,” he said.

He reached above the box and pulled a section of black cloth-covered wire off the floor joist.

The baked cotton covering flaked off under his thumb like dry corn husks, leaving dull bare copper against the dry joist.

“Is the main line live?” I asked.