It sounded polished, the kind of sentence an attorney might have approved.

Then he looked at the chipped ceramic sugar bowl between us and added, “I don’t know how to live without ordering people around.

I’m trying to stop.”

I believed that more than the polished sentence.

He handed me a signed acknowledgment that my emergency call had helped bring medical responders to the restaurant promptly.

It contained no claim about the cause of the illness and no legal condition.

Leila had already checked the wording.