Samuel Reed Kept an Old Wooden Bat Behind the Pantry Door for Twenty Years

“What he could borrow against.

What you could pay if pressed.

He wanted to know if you had cash or only land.”

Arthur turned the ledger to a page with three loan inquiry forms.

“He was never guessing.”

“Can you make the registry move fast?”

“I can walk it across the hall myself.

I can’t make the clerk’s clock run any faster.” He wrote a date on the slip.