And then there was the guy who came into work every morning. And he counted the till, to make sure the money was what they said it was. And he always marveled at the different combinations of quarters, dimes, nickels--or even ones and fives--which were used to reach a sum of $75. It was like a clever game that the closers must have played the night before. When nearing the end of the night, the closers routine became suddenly exhilarating as they cleaned up the grime, strengthened the weak places and made the store whole again. And finally, he imagined, they must have gathered around the till, considered what the day had left them, and placed the final pieces into the patchwork of procedural operation.

One said, "Here, here! Two dimes and 12 quarters makes three dollars and twenty cents; let's combine that with these thirty pennies and get ten nickels from over there to make four dollars even." And the other said, "Yes, but wouldn't it be fun to add another quarter and leave only five pennies in the till?" And back and forth it must have went, until the unlikely combination was finally decided upon and left in the change slots to tell their own story of chance.

And he marveled at this.