NICK and Alex had long stopped opening bills. No point. Instead, they tossed them into a shoebox and then, later, a fruit box. Eventually they spilled over its sides, too. Days after their power was cut off, the evening temperature dropped to near freezing. Seeing his daughter Abbie’s breath emerge as tiny clouds, Nick left their small kitchen suddenly. He returned with the boxes of bills and fed the contents into a huge pasta pot. Before long, it contained a roaring fire around which the three of them huddled. The more bills Nick added, the more colour returned to their cheeks.