Truth be told, an annulment would be easier to arrange — more clear lines of power, more obvious whose hands itch. It’s easier to prove that something never was than to transfer rights. Marriage is such an obvious, simple, provable notion; ownership isn’t.

“You’d best give up that little dream,” Jozek’s neighbor told him, his breath hot with vodka. “It’s as likely as moving to America.” Which really wasn’t all that unlikely, with the wall down and Walesa’s ridiculously huge pen. Maybe that’s why Mirek chose that comparison. For a grave digger, Mirek was certainly more clever, more insightful–more ironic he’d prefer–than one might expect.