The metal rattled.

“Stop lying to me,” he said.

His gruff voice echoed across the empty lot.

A woman getting out of a minivan two spaces over stopped and stared at us.

Arthur lowered his voice, but his face stayed flushed red.

“You think I enjoy raiding my nest egg?” he asked.

“You think I want to work part-time at the hardware store when I’m almost seventy?”

“No,” I said.