G came over after their date to help can the apricot jam. I asked where had they gone.
Have you heard of Place? they said.
Place? I said. No, I said, I don’t know a place.
The one with the hats, G said. The person named Place, with the hats.
I don’t know the person named Place, I told them.
Place turned out to have been the date’s roommate. Place wasn’t home.
Place had named himself Place as a placeholder, a shortened Placeholder. Place had been unsure
of what to name himself and so put Place there as a holder.
Then he realized that a person is a place? I asked. That his person is a Place?
Yes. Place was on his way home from another heartbreak, so said the date. It was a nice date,
but still G came home early to sit by the kitchen counter and talk to me. The fruit turned to
candy.