There it was. The test. The confirmation. The poor child was about to touch the money, just like everyone else. He could already imagine it: Emma slipping a bill into her backpack, running to her mother, both of them crying and denying it. Then he would throw them out and return to his marble silence with the same old conclusion. No one can be trusted. But Emma did not hide anything. She picked up one stack carefully, smoothed the wrinkled bills, and lined them up neatly. Then she separated the hundreds from the fifties and twenties. She put the invoices into a separate pile. Gathered the receipts. Moved an uncapped pen so it would not stain the papers. Walter frowned. “What on earth are you doing?” Emma opened her worn math notebook, its cover repaired with tape. She began counting. Her lips moved silently. I’ve updated the post with the FULL STORY. If you can’t see my comment with Blue text, please follow this instruction: In the comment section pick "Most relevant" and switch it to "All comments". You’ll see one of my comments with a line of blue text – tap it and it will take you to the full story