Noah tried anyway at the sink with the blue scrub brush.

The oil slid around on the coin, came off onto his hands, then onto the faucet, then onto the hand towel.

“Mom,” he said.

“How much is a penny times a whole lot?”

“A hundred pennies make a dollar.”

“So how many are in here?”

I didn’t answer.

I was doing math on the back of the electric bill and didn’t like where it was coming out.