Her voice was lower than I had ever heard it, stripped of its sharp preaching edge.

“Mariana,” she called across the little lawn.

I stepped away from the car and walked to the edge of the paved walk, holding my clipboard against my chest.

“The electric bill came in the afternoon mail,” Eleanor said, looking down at her shoes instead of my face.

“It’s four hundred and twelve dollars.”

I said nothing.

“The yellow notice in it says they’ll cut off the power on the fifteenth if the balance isn’t paid,” she said.

Daniel didn’t turn his head or reach for the paper bill she was holding out from her cardigan pocket.