The Pay Stub

Your drywall crew grew from two men to six this year, and payday grew with it: some direct deposit, one guy on paper checks, one on cash by his own stubborn preference. Your bookkeeping is a spreadsheet and a shoebox. Then Marisol — your best taper until she left in June — sends a polite text: she is buying a car, the lender wants proof of income, and she needs copies of her pay records. You open the spreadsheet and realize you are not sure what, exactly, you were supposed to have been handing out all year.