Forty Thousand Dollars and the Deed to Maple Avenue Bakery

to a quieter, more sympathetic tone. “Unless you can pay the full amount before the deadline on November first.”

I picked up the paper, the dry sheet rattling slightly in my fingers. As I turned it over, I noticed three lines of neat, blue handwriting on the back of the form.

The words were written near the bottom corner, next to an continue reading …