Securing the room did not end the work. The first heavy rain exposed a leak above the stage, exactly where Owen had predicted. The cooperative had enough reserve money for a patch, not a full repair. Some members wanted an emergency loan. Others proposed canceling youth programs and raising rental fees. I recognized the old family argument hiding inside a larger one: who should bear the cost of keeping something shared.

Owen drew on his construction contacts to obtain three honest estimates. I created a grant calendar and wrote applications during lunch breaks. Farah organized a Sunday meal, while Micah's band played beneath plastic sheeting. Small contributions accumulated, just as Mother's garden ties had gathered bills inside the flour tin.

While emptying her house, Owen found envelopes labeled with repair dates, grocery totals, and cooperative dues. Her records did not erase the mystery of why she kept cash, but they showed she had planned around real expenses. I stopped imagining her as either secretive or saintly. She had been a practical woman trying to finish one difficult thing before her time ran out.

The house sold in autumn. Under the will, Owen received the larger portion Mother intended. I signed the distribution without resentment. He used some money to stabilize his mortgage and reserved some for his daughter's education. I kept Mother's recipe box, green mixing bowl, and the flour tin. We donated her soup pots to the Lantern Room kitchen.

At the reopening after the roof repair, the cooperative installed 200 brass circles along the back wall, one for each original share. The circles carried numbers, not names, because ownership was supposed to move beyond any founder. Number 200 was mounted beside Mother's chair. Owen and I agreed never to rope it off as a memorial. Whoever arrived last could sit there. That evening, a delivery driver came in after the music started and took the seat without knowing its history. I watched him accept a bowl of soup and understood why Mother would have preferred that use to any plaque.