I Paid My Father $250 in Rent Every Month for Five Years. After His Funeral, His Best Friend Gave Me a Key and a Box.
He pointed toward a drawer beneath the console.
I pulled it open.
Inside was a cedar box filled with envelopes bearing dates across five years.
Some contained crisp bills; others held worn ones I recognized from the grocery store’s cash drawers.
I counted until my hands began shaking.
Sixty payments, two hundred and fifty dollars each.