She knocked on the passenger window.
I unlocked the door.
She got in.
She was breathing carefully, the way of someone who has been through something and who is still managing the through of it.
She said: well.
I said: yes.
She said: that was something.
I said: yes.
I said: Mrs. Wilkes.
She said: Joyce.
I said: Joyce.
I said: thank you.
She said: I read about the hearing in the paper.
She said: I saw your name and your age and your job.
She said: and I thought about the ring.
She said: I thought about her saying it was her grandmother’s.
She said: I’m a grandmother.
She said: I have a ring that my grandmother gave me.
She said: and I thought about someone wearing it to a bank.
She said: to steal.
She said: Angela.
She said: I’ve been a teller for twenty-two years.
