She checked my daughter’s arm and recorded the examination without declaring from it what every person at the party had intended.

I reported that Richard had struck Emily and that Patricia had tipped cake toward her.

I explained that I arrived during the incident, so some of what happened before I crossed the room would need to be established separately.

The physician asked me to distinguish what I saw from what I had been told.

I did, although I wanted the record to hold the whole afternoon at once.

“This record needs to stand on its own,” she said.