Scars in the Ledger

Intro

Corner store ledger, red ink, a chewed-up Bic

Every name inside it got a story I can't fix

Verse

Register drawer sticks, same as it did in oh-nine

Sharpie on the counter marks the running credit line

Ms. Odalys short on rent, I let the tab ride

Told her Sunday's fine, wrote her name down inside

Scar on my wrist from the night Danny came in hot

Grabbed the register, I grabbed the barrel, it got caught

Metal kissed my forearm, left a thin pink seam

Still logged him in the book like nothing came between

Cause the ledger ain't revenge, it's just remembering who

Showed up when the lights got cut and brought me stew

Every debt's got a face, every face got a story

I don't sell forgiveness, I just log the territory

Milk crate for a stool, radiator hums the news

Half this block in that book owes me more than dues

Some pay it in cash, some pay it showing up

Either way it's tallied, either way it adds up

Hook

Scars in the ledger, every one paid in kind

Not with dollars, with the ones who stayed behind

I keep the book open, I keep the book true

Every debt's a story and the story's still due

Verse

Renny took a loan for insulin, no interest attached

Six months later seen him with a chain that didn't match

Walked right past the counter, never said a word

I crossed his name in red, closed that door unheard

Scar under my eye from the night his cousin swung

Said I'd disrespected somebody, wrong story got sung

I took a hit for a debt that wasn't even mine

Healed up crooked, still a straight line in my mind

Marisol's boy got jumped, brought him in to clean the cut

Never asked for payment, still marked the ledger up

Cause credit ain't just money, it's the showing and the stay

Some folks pay it forward, some just walk away

I keep both kinds of pages, the paid and the unpaid part

This corner runs on numbers but it's counted off in heart

Landlord wants to sell it, says the block's appraised too high

Told him some things ain't for sale — that's my whole reply

Hook

Scars in the ledger, every one paid in kind

Not with dollars, with the ones who stayed behind

I keep the book open, I keep the book true

Every debt's a story and the story's still due

Bridge

My father kept one too, before the store was mine

Same red ink, same hand, same crooked bottom line

He forgave more than he ever wrote as owed

Said the ledger ain't for keeping score, it's for the road

Now I understand the weight in every entry made

Ain't about collecting, it's about the life we saved

So when I'm gone some kid'll flip these paper scars

Find out love was tallied better than the stars

Outro

Corner store still open, red ink never dries

Every scar's a story, every story how I survive

Close the book at midnight, count the cost we paid

Scars in the ledger — that's the life we made