They were things, offered in place of the one thing that could not be purchased: an admission.

Her family had always believed that anything real could be substituted for with something expensive.

The returned packages, piling up at the post office with their labels reversed, were Adele’s quiet way of informing them, finally, that she had stopped accepting the substitution.

Chapter 17 — Restructured

When the final audit concluded, two months later, the reckoning was total.

Leopold Rutherford was permanently removed as chief executive.