Devon’s wallet yawned in hunger, its leather mouth hungering, almost pleading ‘don’t take what I cannot give’. He would need to be careful—it was all the money he would have for a while. Slowly, as though handling a fragile teacup, he put his wallet away lest the money fly out on its own and poof into nothing.

As he finished his own money business with care, Ali came back with an enormous grin plastered on his face. In his hands at least half a dozen shopping bags loaded with toys. “Look!”

Devon smiled. “Looks like a good haul, man.”

Ali blinked. “ ‘Good haul’ means what?”

“Oh…when you get a lot of nice things, we call it a ‘good haul’.”

Ali, suddenly a patient and eager student, nodded.

“Yes. A good haul for me. And a good haul for you.”

Devon shook his head. “No, I didn’t get nothing. I…uh…these things are real expensive, you know? I’ll just…I’ll get my haul another time.

But Ali was busy searching through one of his bags. Plastic and cardboard clinked as pleasantly as t