“He isn’t feeling well today,” Helen said.

“Can you just tell me how much is left in the liquid savings?”

The teller typed on her keyboard.

She wrote a number on a small yellow sticky note and slid it under the glass.

Helen picked up the note and read the number.

I watched my mother’s shoulders drop another inch.

She closed her eyes and took a long, shaky breath.

“There has to be a mistake,” Helen said.