The Tuesday after the tow, she knocked on my door with Gizmo under one arm and a piece of paper in her other hand.
“Grant sent the budget for next year,” she said, coming in without being asked, which I liked about her. “I want you to look at something. My eyes aren’t what they were, but my arithmetic is fine.”
She put it on the kitchen table and pointed with a knobby finger.
Road maintenance and repair: $3,200.
Snow removal contract, Kessler Snow & Ice LLC: $14,800.
“Fourteen thousand eight hundred dollars,” Irene said. “Loretta, who plows this road?”
“Jim did,” I said. “And last year I did.”
“That’s what I thought.” She set Gizmo down and he went straight for the spot under the table where Jim used to drop toast. “I’ve lived here since 1998. I never once saw a truck that said Kessler on the door.”
