"Seven dollars," his mother was saying, her voice more natural now.

"Two dollars," she said, looking up from her People magazine.

"Four thousand dollars for absolutely nothing," he said in an interview at his office.

Eighteen thousand dollars, you say to yourself: that's a lot of money.

"Nine dollars," said the employee, a man who looked as if he'd seen all there is to see in the world of pizza.

"Fifty dollars for every one thousand back in the old days," he said.

Investors now pay taxes on their interest income, say $30 dollars.

But, says his wife, "What if they offered you a million dollars?"

He had over a hundred dollars left but said nothing.

"Seven hundred dollars," the man said, turning the shot glass between his fingers.