Behind the language of allocations and returns were people expecting to retire, pay rent, care for spouses, and live on what they had earned.

The first time I saw a pension-related reference in the documents, I thought of a woman who had worked at Hannah’s elementary school.

She had spent twenty years helping children find lost mittens.

She would never have imagined her future connected to a family quarrel over polished silver.

I did not know whose pension money was involved.

I knew the category was not an abstraction.

Marcus would not discuss confidential financial records with me.