I sold my hair for a hundred and fifty dollars to find out whether I had cancer.

It became a wig that cost fourteen hundred dollars. And it went onto the head of a woman who already knew.

Chapter 4 — Six Hours

My deposition was on the eleventh of May in a conference room in Springfield with a window that didn’t open.

Sandra Kesler was about fifty, in a navy suit, and she was courteous to me for six hours in a way I found much harder to withstand than shouting.

She never raised her voice. She thanked me for clarifying, several times. She had a manila folder she didn’t open until the fourth hour, which I understand now was on purpose.

The first two hours were the house — who lived where, who paid what, whether I’d ever seen the deed.