The Registry of John Winkler

A Tale, updated from the papers of the late Diedrich Knickerbocker, who did not live to see the machine that would have made his authentications unnecessary The following was assembled from a case file, a parole record, and a public entry that outlived both. Of the three, only the last still exists in a form anyone can search, and it is therefore the one held to be beyond the possibility of doubt. It gives a name, a photograph, a range of dates, a distance to be kept from certain buildings, and a single word for what a man is. The other documents were the kind that get boxed, and boxes get thrown out. The entry does not get thrown out. It is the story now, and the story is short: it fits in a field. The old historian whose method this borrows used to authenticate his tales by a certificate signed with a country justice’s cross, and believed the record thereby placed beyond dispute. His descendants have improved the certificate. It no longer needs the cross, or the justice, or the man.…