What the National will and will not do

The brass register out front is a National. We call it the National, with the proper noun, because it has earned one in a way a tablet never will.

It rounds to the dollar. It does not make change in coins and it never has. If your total comes out a few cents over, the National rounds it down and considers the matter closed. We have decided this is generosity rather than stubbornness. The National has not told us which, and we have learned not to press it.

There is a tablet beside it now, for the cards. The National regards the tablet the way an old conductor regards a man with a clipboard. They coexist. They do not speak. When the two of them disagree about a number, the National is right, and the tablet is quietly asked to reconsider. So far it always has.