His rule about the cage was firm — once a night, two hundred, and then home. At 1:14 a.m. he took four hundred, because the fee was flat and a flat fee made the larger number the smarter one. He explained this arithmetic out loud to the cashier, who agreed with him pleasantly and counted it out in purples.

The advance posted at 1:14 and began earning for the bank at 1:14; grace periods were for purchases, and this was not a purchase. He paid the minimum in March, then April, and by August the four hundred had quietly become five-twenty on a statement he no longer opened. Thirty-four years old, good at estimating ductwork to the linear foot. He still tells people he lost two hundred that night.