work because Christmas paid double.
I became the nurse who never refused overtime.
My coworkers assumed I was saving for something.
I was.
I just couldn’t have told them what.
I kept the total in a notebook down to the dollar.
Not because I expected repayment.
Because numbers were the only thing in my family that stayed still.
Words like borrow, help, and just this once changed shape depending on who was speaking.
Numbers didn’t.
By year six, the total had reached six figures.
I’ll tell you the exact number
