Lina
The first worker had brought the wrong paper.
Lina read the date, checked the entry and gave it back.
"This is the current balance."
"I thought that was what you wanted."
"I need the receipt from before the charge moved into the carried amount."
The man opened his work case again.
"It says the same total."
"That's the problem."
He looked at her, then at the papers.
"Right."
They sat at the end of a bench beside the service yard. Lina had a short meal break and two pieces of bread wrapped in cloth. One had already become flatter beneath her notebook.
The man worked with the delivery carts. They had spoken after she heard him arguing about a charge entered under two different headings.
He hadn't been arguing for her benefit.
She had asked whether he still held the earlier receipt.
Apparently, he held every receipt he had ever been given, along with an old glove and a fastening which belonged to neither.
He removed the glove.
