“The furniture stays with the farm.”

She slid the lease across to me, two pages, folded twice, the landlord’s initials in the corner of each.

“Twelve months.

Nine hundred a month.

It’s over the hardware store.

There’s a window out the back and the heat is included.”

I read the whole thing, all the way to the bottom line, the way Arthur taught me to read a paper.

“Who is this Mrs.