I made my household budget without assuming a sale would immediately cover it.

John, David’s cousin from the grain elevator, asked to meet at a diner.

He wore his work coat and held an untouched mug of tea.

“Maeve isn’t doing well,” he said.

“She sits in the parlor with the curtains shut.”

“She has somewhere to sit.”

“She is fifty-eight.

Her husband and her son are going to prison.”