Cash Cash

I was uselessly wandering around the kitchen in anxiety as Papa was on the phone and Ephraim was speaking to someone at the door at the moment. I wanted to look at the guy and listen to what they were saying, but I also didn't want Papa to be abandoned, as if we were some airport and he was trying to change his destination.
"Hey Havilah, do you have $2.05?" Ephraim came back around the door to say.
"I... have a two dollar bill..."
He shook his head (seriously, don't waste your precious two dollar bill). After losing the card and cancelling it, we have been using every last bit of cash in the house.
"What's the dill?" I said.
"The new card has come but there aren't enough stamps so we have to pay for it before we can get our money."
Well.
That's going to be difficult.
It was only after the guy left that it occurred to us to gather up whatever loose change we might have left lying around in the hopes that it would come to $2.05, so tomorrow is the day we're going to have to ride to the post office. Maybe on the way home I can go shopping!
This is kind of like the way it was in Chile. If you want to buy something, you can count on having to set aside no less than a half day, and sometimes more. It's going to take not only time, but energy and constitution and you're going to come home sighing and you'll want a giant armchair with extra cushions and blankets and steaming soup and dumplings and a movie or a book.
That doesn't exactly happen when you get home here, but our kitchen atmosphere is comfortably messy and full of stuff to make food with and sit on even if it's just buckets.
The End