diff --git a/memdb/batch_release_test.go b/memdb/batch_release_test.go
index 96edf3c..72895de 100644
--- a/memdb/batch_release_test.go
+++ b/memdb/batch_release_test.go
@@ -178,3 +178,53 @@ func TestRewritesFreeBlocks(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	t.Logf("%d time blocks, %d logs, %d keys", timeBlockCount(db), len(logs), db.Size())
 }
+
+// TestBlocksDeletingFromEachOtherGo puts a key in the current block, then a
+// batch of it and another, then the other in the current block again: the
+// batch's block deletes from the current block, which deletes from the
+// batch's. Each waited for the other's logs to go, and both kept theirs for
+// good; a store recovered from logs of several versions of a key had
+// thousands of such blocks.
+func TestBlocksDeletingFromEachOtherGo(t *testing.T) {
+	const d = 300 * time.Millisecond
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	db, err := Open(WithLogFilePath(dir), WithTimeBlockInterval(d), WithLogInterval(2*time.Millisecond))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer db.Close()
+	// Start at the beginning of a block, so the writes share one.
+	time.Sleep(time.Until(time.Now().Truncate(d).Add(d)))
+	if _, err := db.Put(1, []byte("current")); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := db.Batch(func(b *Batch, _ <-chan struct{}) error {
+		if err := b.Put(1, []byte("batch")); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		return b.Put(2, []byte("batch"))
+	}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := db.Put(2, []byte("current")); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for _, k := range []uint64{1, 2} {
+		if err := db.Delete(k); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	if err := db.Flush(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for deadline := time.Now().Add(3 * time.Second); ; {
+		logs, _ := filepath.Glob(filepath.Join(dir, logDir, "*.log"))
+		if timeBlockCount(db) <= 1 && len(logs) <= 1 {
+			break
+		}
+		if time.Now().After(deadline) {
+			t.Fatalf("%d time blocks and %d logs left", timeBlockCount(db), len(logs))
+		}
+		time.Sleep(d / 3)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/memdb/block.go b/memdb/block.go
index 6b580c8..9cb8978 100644
--- a/memdb/block.go
+++ b/memdb/block.go
@@ -46,15 +46,20 @@ type (
 		// The block's logs in the WAL, and what keeps them there; guarded
 		// by the DB's logMu, not the block's lock. A log holding the delete
 		// of a version must stay in the WAL as long as the log holding its
-		// put, or the version comes back on the next recovery: a block's
-		// logs go once the block is released and the logs of every block
-		// it deletes versions from have gone.
-		timeRefs []_TimeID
+		// put, or the version comes back on the next recovery: see
+		// applyLogs.
+		timeRefs []_LogRef
 		state    blockState
 		deletes  map[*_Block]bool // blocks it deletes versions from
-		waitFor  int              // blocks in deletes whose logs are in the WAL
 		waiters  []*_Block        // blocks deleting versions from this one
 	}
+
+	// _LogRef is a log of a block, and its place in the order logs were
+	// written to the WAL, which recovery replays them in.
+	_LogRef struct {
+		id  _TimeID
+		seq uint64
+	}
 )
 
 // blockState is where a block is in its life, which goes one way:
diff --git a/memdb/db.go b/memdb/db.go
index ed45412..a01b88c 100644
--- a/memdb/db.go
+++ b/memdb/db.go
@@ -257,10 +257,13 @@ func (db *DB) replace(loc _Loc, key uint64) (bool, error) {
 }
 
 // releaseEmptied releases a block a delete emptied, unless writes may still
-// go to it; one with more to write is released once it is (releaseEmpty).
-// The caller holds no index shard: releasing takes them.
+// go to it, as they do to the current block; one with more to write is
+// released once it is (releaseEmpty). A batch's block, written, takes no
+// more writes, though its time ID may be past the current block's: it was
+// left, emptied, for good. The caller holds no index shard: releasing takes
+// them.
 func (db *DB) releaseEmptied(emptied bool, timeID _TimeID) error {
-	if !emptied || timeID >= db.timeID() {
+	if !emptied || timeID == db.timeID() {
 		return nil
 	}
 	if err := db.releaseLog(timeID); err != nil && err != errEntryDoesNotExist {
diff --git a/memdb/db_internal.go b/memdb/db_internal.go
index af06207..00b994a 100644
--- a/memdb/db_internal.go
+++ b/memdb/db_internal.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package memdb
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"io"
+	"sort"
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
@@ -73,6 +74,9 @@ type _DB struct {
 	// logMu guards the blocks' logs and what keeps them in the WAL. It is
 	// taken after a block's lock and before db.mu.
 	logMu mutex[logRank]
+	// logSeq counts the logs written to the WAL, or replayed from it.
+	// Guarded by logMu.
+	logSeq uint64
 
 	// close
 	closed uint32
@@ -181,7 +185,7 @@ func (db *DB) blocks() []*_Block {
 }
 
 // deleteFrom records that b holds deletes of versions in from: b's logs
-// stay in the WAL as long as from's. The caller holds logMu.
+// stay in the WAL as long as from's (applyLogs). The caller holds logMu.
 func (b *_Block) deleteFrom(from *_Block) {
 	if from == b || from.state == blockGone || b.deletes[from] {
 		return
@@ -190,26 +194,60 @@ func (b *_Block) deleteFrom(from *_Block) {
 		b.deletes = make(map[*_Block]bool)
 	}
 	b.deletes[from] = true
-	b.waitFor++
 	from.waiters = append(from.waiters, b)
 }
 
-// applyLogs marks the logs of a released block applied once the logs of
-// the blocks it deletes versions from are, and then those of the blocks
-// that waited for it. It returns the logs, in the order they may go. The
-// caller holds logMu.
+// applyLogs marks the logs of a released block applied, with those of the
+// blocks it deletes versions from, and from which they delete, and so on,
+// once every one of them is released; then those of the blocks that waited
+// for them. It returns the logs, in the order they may go. The caller holds
+// logMu.
+//
+// A block's logs went once the logs of the blocks it deletes from had gone.
+// Blocks can delete from each other, a batch's block and the block current
+// as it was written, or blocks a WAL of several versions of a key recovers:
+// each waited for the other, and kept its logs for good. Logs can't: a
+// delete is written after the put it deletes. The blocks go together, and
+// their logs in the order they were written, so that a put's log goes
+// before its delete's, and a crash between leaves no version back.
 func (b *_Block) applyLogs() []_TimeID {
-	if b.state != blockReleased || b.waitFor > 0 {
+	if b.state != blockReleased {
 		return nil
 	}
-	b.setState(blockGone)
-	logs := b.timeRefs
-	for _, w := range b.waiters {
-		w.waitFor--
-		logs = append(logs, w.applyLogs()...)
+	var group []*_Block
+	seen := map[*_Block]bool{b: true}
+	for stack := []*_Block{b}; len(stack) > 0; {
+		x := stack[len(stack)-1]
+		stack = stack[:len(stack)-1]
+		if x.state == blockLive {
+			// A version it deletes is in a block in use.
+			return nil
+		}
+		group = append(group, x)
+		for d := range x.deletes {
+			if d.state != blockGone && !seen[d] {
+				seen[d] = true
+				stack = append(stack, d)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	var refs []_LogRef
+	for _, x := range group {
+		x.setState(blockGone)
+		refs = append(refs, x.timeRefs...)
+	}
+	sort.Slice(refs, func(i, j int) bool { return refs[i].seq < refs[j].seq })
+	logs := make([]_TimeID, len(refs))
+	for i, r := range refs {
+		logs[i] = r.id
+	}
+	for _, x := range group {
+		for _, w := range x.waiters {
+			logs = append(logs, w.applyLogs()...)
+		}
+		x.waiters = nil
+		x.deletes = nil
 	}
-	b.waiters = nil
-	b.deletes = nil
 	return logs
 }
 
@@ -263,7 +301,7 @@ func (db *DB) tinyWrite(tinyLog *_TinyLog) error {
 	if block.state == blockGone {
 		return db.internal.wal.SignalLogApplied(int64(tinyLog.ID()))
 	}
-	block.timeRefs = append(block.timeRefs, tinyLog.ID())
+	block.timeRefs = append(block.timeRefs, db.nextLogRef(tinyLog.ID()))
 
 	return nil
 }
@@ -359,6 +397,13 @@ func (db *DB) releaseLog(timeID _TimeID) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// nextLogRef returns the ref of a log written to the WAL now, the next in
+// the order written. The caller holds logMu.
+func (db *DB) nextLogRef(id _TimeID) _LogRef {
+	db.internal.logSeq++
+	return _LogRef{id: id, seq: db.internal.logSeq}
+}
+
 // signalApplied marks logs applied, in order.
 func (db *DB) signalApplied(logs []_TimeID) error {
 	for _, timeRef := range logs {
diff --git a/memdb/recovery.go b/memdb/recovery.go
index bddefef..5e1bdc9 100644
--- a/memdb/recovery.go
+++ b/memdb/recovery.go
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ func (db *DB) startRecovery() error {
 		block.Lock()
 		block.lastOffset = block.size()
 		block.Unlock()
-		block.timeRefs = append(block.timeRefs, _TimeID(ID))
+		block.timeRefs = append(block.timeRefs, db.nextLogRef(_TimeID(ID)))
 		db.internal.timeMark.release(timeID)
 		db.internal.meter.Recovers.Inc(puts)
 		return false, nil
diff --git a/server/e2e/client_test.go b/server/e2e/client_test.go
index 688825e..71f11cd 100644
--- a/server/e2e/client_test.go
+++ b/server/e2e/client_test.go
@@ -371,19 +371,27 @@ func (c *client) connectWith(o connectOpts) (*utp.ConnectAcknowledge, error) {
 	if err := c.writeRaw(buf.Bytes()); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	var p *utp.ControlMessage
 	select {
 	case <-c.closed:
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("connection closed during connect: %v", c.readErr)
-	case p := <-c.connack:
-		ack := &utp.ConnectAcknowledge{}
-		ack.FromBinary(utp.FixedHeader{}, p.Message)
-		if ack.ReturnCode != utp.Accepted {
-			return ack, fmt.Errorf("connect refused, return code %d", ack.ReturnCode)
+		// A refusal is written and the connection closed at once: the
+		// CONNACK can be waiting when the close is seen, and select took
+		// either.
+		select {
+		case p = <-c.connack:
+		default:
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("connection closed during connect: %v", c.readErr)
 		}
-		return ack, nil
+	case p = <-c.connack:
 	case <-time.After(3 * time.Second):
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("connect timeout")
 	}
+	ack := &utp.ConnectAcknowledge{}
+	ack.FromBinary(utp.FixedHeader{}, p.Message)
+	if ack.ReturnCode != utp.Accepted {
+		return ack, fmt.Errorf("connect refused, return code %d", ack.ReturnCode)
+	}
+	return ack, nil
 }
 
 func (c *client) publish(mode uint8, topic string, payload []byte, ttl string) (uint16, error) {