Ledger of Wolves (version 2)

Intro

My father ran the corner store off Vandeer and Third

Kept a black book under the register, said it outweighs the word

Wolves don't count in dollars, they count in who came back

I inherited the pages and the debt collectors' math

Verse

Roll-down gate at six, the chain sings rust and cold

Same block where my uncle's name got sold for gold he never rolled

Store smelled like cardboard, kerosene, and old cheese

Father kept the ledger folded soft between his knees

Wrote it all in pencil, said the pen commits too fast

Numbers faded like a memory but the debt outlast

Mrs. Coleman owed for milk since ninety-four

Never paid a cent but she still watched the door

That's the wolf math, loyalty over currency

Pack don't eat alone when the winter's hungry

Watched him give bread to a man who robbed him twice

Said forgiveness ain't weak, it's interest paid in ice

Bullet hole still in the sign, we never fixed the letter

Left it like a scar to remind us we get better

Buried him with the ledger tucked inside his coat

Said the wolves remember debts the courthouse never wrote

Chorus

Ledger of wolves, we keep the score in scars

Who ran, who stayed, who paid the ash for stars

Not a debt of dollars, a debt of blood and bread

The pack remembers long after the wolves are dead

Verse

Now I run the ledger, laptop next to a Bible page

Same rules apply though the currency change with age

Kid named Trevor stole a case, I let it slide

Told him pay it forward, watched him testify with pride

Three years later he's the one who saved my nephew's life