“The cold-water ocean swim at San Clemente.

He froze up on the bottom tether and the safety diver had to haul him up.”

I held the page steady against the wind while I read the last administrative note.

“He never asked for a second try,” I said.

“He took a transfer to administrative recruiting right away,” Kenneth said.

“He’s been shuffling paper between regional offices ever since.”

Kenneth tapped his wrench against the side of his steel-toe boot, leaving a faint gray smudge on the leather.