Arthur snapped the latches on his briefcase.

“The restitution office will write to you, not to her.

Do not spend it before the check clears.”

“I have never spent a dollar before it cleared in my life.”

“That is why I like you, Samuel.

You are dull in the right places.”

At seven thirty the next morning I walked the south line with the pliers in my coat pocket and no plan past the first post.

Every cedar post on the rise stood straight, and the stays sat where I had put them back in March.