Her finger stopped on a line.

*10/24 — 24in dk, virgin — LARKSPUR, COLUMBIA — lot 8817.*

“Larkspur Hair Studio,” she said. “Columbia. Woman named Bev Larkin. She does custom pieces. Almost all of it’s oncology.”

I put my hand on the counter. “Say that again.”

“She makes wigs for cancer patients,” the woman said. “Hand-tied, real hair, the good kind, insurance won’t cover them so they run twelve, fifteen hundred dollars. She’s got a waiting list.”

I stood in a wholesale beauty supply on Commercial Street and did the arithmetic that I think anyone would do.