My daughter filled three shopping carts, and when the cashier announced the total was 980 dollars, she ordered me in front of everyone, “Pay. It’s the least you can do for living with us.” I closed my wallet, said “No,” and walked away without arguing. She still didn’t know that later that night, I would stop paying for something far more important than groceries.

“I have important work to manage!” he shouted.

“Then you had better go complete the necessary paperwork right now.”

“I have far more important things to do with my time than waste three hours standing in line at a service counter!”

Clara let out a loud, mocking laugh from the porch behind me.

“And you thought Margaret should waste her golden years standing in those lines for you instead?”

Clinton turned beet red with embarrassment.