“The 1984 board granted a four-foot setback for utility access,” she said.

“It goes with your deed forever.”

I folded the land map carefully along its old creases and put it in my canvas folder.

“We need the town clerk to confirm this before noon,” I said.

At one fifteen that afternoon, Nora and I were standing in the town clerk’s office on Main Street.

The laminate counter was worn gray beside the municipal document drop box.

Two wall clocks behind the desk showed the time in Harrisburg and in Oak Creek.