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.