The sign in the window said EVERYONE APPROVED in letters taller than he was. He had been there twice before, and both times the clerk, a tired woman named Dolores, had approved him in under four minutes at an interest rate that should have been illegal, and in nine states is.

This time she ran his number and went quiet. She read the screen twice. Then she slid the form back under the glass, stamped, and would not look at him while she did it. On his way out she followed him to the door, pressed a twenty into his hand and told him to go home. It was the kindest thing anyone had done for him in a year, and it came from the payday lender.