“I have to put her on my plan right now,” I said.

“I don’t have a choice.”

I logged into my insurance account on the clinic computer and clicked the option to add a seventeen-year-old driver to my policy.

The system worked out the new monthly premium, the back-dated collision surcharge and the required state deposit for adding a high-risk teenager.

The total due at checkout flashed across the screen in bold numbers: seven hundred and fourteen dollars.

“Can you cover that today?” Ben asked.