“I just wanted to see what it looked like.”
“I know.”
Jordan stared at the pavement.
Then at her.
“I don’t want you reenacting it.”
“Why?”
He thought.
“Because your body doesn’t need to borrow that memory.”
Maya considered.
Then nodded.
“Okay.”
They walked.
A patrol car turned into the lot.
Maya glanced toward Jordan.
He smiled.
The cruiser continued.
Nothing happened.
They passed a young Black man wearing a formal emergency-management uniform.
Jordan recognized a newer version of the same state service corps he had belonged to.
The young man carried coffee in one hand and a garment bag in the other.
A local officer stood near a store entrance.
The young man walked past.
The officer glanced at the agency patch.
Nodded.
The young man nodded back.
No stop.
No suspicion.
No questions.
Maya looked toward Jordan.
He had stopped walking.
“What?”
Jordan’s eyes filled.
He shook his head.
“Nothing.”
“You said nothing again.”
Jordan smiled.
“Sometimes nothing is the best possible outcome.”
She frowned.
He pointed toward the young man now disappearing between parked cars.
“Fifty years ago, that might have become a story.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody might have decided unfamiliar meant fake.”
Maya looked toward the patrol officer.
“But he didn’t.”
“No.”
“Maybe he recognized the uniform.”
“Maybe.”
“Or maybe he didn’t care.”
Jordan smiled.
“Also possible.”
They continued.
Maya asked:
“Do you wish the convoy never came?”
Jordan thought.
“No.”
“Why?”
“I needed help.”
“Then why do you always say it wasn’t the point?”
“Because people like the convoy more than the ID.”
She looked confused.
Jordan stopped beside the cart return.
“Imagine I had no medal.”
“No state escort.”
“No ceremony.”
“What happens?”
Maya frowned.
“The officer should still check your ID.”
“Exactly.”
He pointed toward her.
“That is the whole story.”
“But the convoy made it cool.”
Jordan laughed.
“Yes.”
“That’s why people remember it.”
“Yes.”
“Is that bad?”
“Not necessarily.”
He looked across the lot.
“But stories can teach the wrong lesson if the exciting part becomes the moral.”
Maya thought.
“So the lesson isn’t ‘Don’t mess with somebody because they might secretly be important.’”
Jordan smiled.
“Very good.”
“What is it?”
“People do not need to be secretly important.”
Maya nodded.
“That’s obvious.”
Jordan laughed softly.
“It should be.”
Before they left, Maya asked:
“Did you forgive the officer?”
Jordan sighed.
“You people never stop asking that.”
“It’s a normal question.”
“Yes.”
He thought.
“I don’t know.”
“You really don’t know?”
“I stopped needing to decide.”
Maya looked unsatisfied.
Jordan continued.