We talked for a few minutes beside the apples. She had worked at the store for almost three years. She liked her coworkers, knew far more about deliveries than I did, and had developed the ability to predict which customers would begin a complaint with the words I know this isn’t your fault before treating her as though it was.
I told her I taught history.
“What age?”
“Seventh grade.”
She considered that. “So you explain things to people who believe they already know everything.”
“An unfair description.”
She raised
