“I have twelve dollars in the checking account I still use.”

“What about your separate reserve?”

“Most of it is already committed.”

The four thousand my mother left had begun disappearing into legal costs, travel, and a place to stay if I needed to leave.

I had asked about a small apartment near the park, and the deposit was another sum I could not postpone indefinitely.

Frank helped me separate bills due now from expenses that could wait.

He did not tell me a court order would put grocery money in my hand that afternoon.