"Looking for work or for show?" the old man asked, not looking up from a ledger.
"Twelve hours a day on concrete and gravel," Elias said. "Steel toe. Waterproof for real, not just for the box."
The bell above the door gave a tired, metallic chime. Behind the counter sat a man whose face looked like a topographic map of the state.
"They're honest," the man countered. "A boot that’s soft on day one is a boot that’s dead by month six. You give these two weeks to learn your shape, and they’ll last you five years."