We stand in a chalked square in a floodlit yard in front of the whole school, and Deacon takes the form out of his pocket and reads the substance of it out loud in a flat voice to four hundred people.

DeaconNeither of us is promised anything. There is no wager. Whatever is filed today is filed because we both agree to it and for no other reason. That is the whole of it and I will say it again if anybody asks.

Nobody laughs, which is the moment I understand that he has thought about this far more carefully than I have.