Eight Thousand Gallons of Milk and a Small Blue Ledger

staring at the paper as if it were a life raft.

“The system is not failing, Gregory,” I said. “Our standard wholesale price is three dollars and forty cents a gallon, and our margins are solid when the packaging holds.”

“It does not hold, Mother,” Gregory said. He adjusted his watch strap again, his fingers twitching against the leather.

“The flat sides continue reading …