Not a greeting card.

Nothing at all.”

The branch opened at nine, and I was at the counter by two minutes after, the folder in one hand and the printed spreadsheet of every transfer in the other.

A sign by the door said the branch closed at four, Monday to Friday.

Four o’clock had never seemed so far off.

The teller’s nameplate read Renee.

She wore a little silver cross on a chain and kept clicking a pen against the counter.