“It’s the price that’s bothering us, and if we’re going to buy, I’d like to get it settled as soon as possible. Holidays are coming up, and we’d like to get some use out of it.”

“Well, we can talk about it. What sort of price did you have in mind?” He sounded amenable, easy to handle. Because I was strong.

“Frankly, I can’t see that it’s worth more than thirty-eight, especially considering the repairs that are going to have to be done. I’d offer you that, but I think I’ve got a better deal than that for you. If you’ll come down to thirty-six we’ll give you cash. Total payment immediately.”

I was capable, almost cunning. I did not know where this instinct for dealing with money had come from, but I felt certain I was handling it well. The lure of cash in his position would be strong and I did not think he would turn me down.

“Let me think it over,” he said. “I’ll call you back later today.”

I called the bank and asked for the manager.

Grandmother’s money, the money I had inherited, the money set aside for our children, was in a separate account in my name, untouched over the years, gathering interest and dust. It must be worth now a good deal more than it had been thirteen years before when it became mine, I thought.

“Let’s see,” the manager said, “just give me a moment to look that up.” He went away for a while and left me on hold. “It’s not dead accurate,” he said when he came back, “we can figure it out to the penny if you want, but roughly you’ve got sixty-seven thousand in there now. Were you thinking of investing it?” His voice was hopeful; he’d suggested many times that we invest it, it was going to waste sitting there gathering a normal interest rate, he always said.

“No, I wasn’t. I’m withdrawing it, probably tomorrow, and I’d like the whole thing calculated.”

He sounded concerned. “Was there something we did wrong? Were you going to deposit it somewhere else?”

“Not at all,” I said firmly. “There’s no problem. It’s just that there’s something we want to buy, and we want to do it with cash. I hope it isn’t difficult to arrange the withdrawal, we’d like to get it done as soon as possible.”