He checked identification.

He explained the fee, and the discount for premarital education, and the six-month validity, and what happens if you lose it.

He scheduled the room.

He kept the diary for the arch with the silk flowers.

He retired at sixty-four in 2017.

I stood at that counter and said, “Then how did he end up on a pavement on Hennepin Avenue?”

And Teresa gave me the short version, which she had from him and which I have since checked against what Damaris Fong had and which holds together.