Rain Check

The tiny scrap of paper had been passed down from generation to generation. My mother seemed to recall _her_ mother telling her that it was over 300 years old.

For being so ancient, I marveled at how legible the writing upon the wrinkled, yellowed square of paper remained. I had seen paper before - years ago I found a piece of newspaper in grandpa's basement - but this was the only piece of paper with handwriting that I had ever seen. It was quite incomprehensible to imagine a time when people had to imprint their thoughts with a crude instrument onto such a fragile medium, without the aid of a computer or neural implants. How long it must have taken to communicate back then...

_What does this say?_ I beamed to the net with a thought. Mother responded first, though responses from my brother Philip and several ancient text experts from various data libraries and universities queued up.

_It's in cursive,_ mom responded, _very old handwriting. It reads "Rain check - chicken breasts, 88-cents a lb."_