I don't mean to be mysteriously silent

But my head is full of Hack details, and I don't think you want a blow-by-blow here of how I am doing my research, and what I am finding out. We've already established that memory is flawed, but I have to say that I am both amused and frustrated by the conflicting stories.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday talking about all of this with my brother, who is an historian. He suggested I write an early chapter, maybe an introduction to the book, which sets out a story I remember and want to tell... and then sets out someone else's memory of it.

That would be a way of letting the reader know that while I am researching the facts of the book, I am also relying on memory, and memory is flawed.

As my brother says, "All stories are Rashomon."  I like what he had to say, and I am working up an introduction sort of along those lines.

And dinking around endlessly with the first three chapters.

Which is a way, of course, to avoid the fourth. And fifth. And sixth....