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
