Chapter 100 The Door Stands Open

And the door stands open, and the standing open is the whole of it, and the whole of it is the assessment's answer, and the answer is the door, and the door is the welcome station, and the welcome station is the old bus, and the old bus is the new bus, and the new bus is the long route, and the long route is the two roads, and the two roads are one, and the one is the count, and the count is the welcome, and the welcome is the keeping, and the keeping is the door, and the door stands open, at the seam, in the ordinary, forever. The door stands open at the seam in the fifth year and the standing open is the whole of the assessment's answer, and the answer is the door, and the door is the welcome station, and the welcome station is the old bus with the Ferry in the driver's seat, and the new bus on the long route with Kevin at the wheel, and the children of both worlds singing the count both ways and one way, and the note crossing the seam ornamented with every shore, and the coals growing lamps in the drowned country's soil, and the lamps lighting the drowned country's road, and the whole of it is the assessment's answer, no longer an answer but the fact of the door standing open at the seam, in the ordinary, forever, and Kevin drives, and the children sing, and the count goes on, and the door stands open, and the whole of it is enough, and the enough is the open door, and the open door is the whole of the two worlds, and the two worlds are one, and the one is the door, and the door stands open, forever. The fifth year of the two roads opened with the door standing open at the seam, and the standing open was no longer a decision, the way a door that has been open for four years is no longer a decision but a fact, and the fact was the whole of the two worlds' fifth year, the year the keeping became so ordinary that the keeping stopped being called a keeping and became called simply the road, and the road was the door, and the door was the fact, and the fact was the whole of the law, and the law was free, and the free was the road, and the road was the two worlds, and the two worlds were one, and the one was the door, and the door stood open, and the open was the whole of the fifth year, and the fifth year was the ordinary, and the ordinary was the keeping, and the keeping was the door, and the door stood open, forever. The assessment's answer, which had been given in the first spring of the two roads and had been repeated every season since in the ordinary business of the long route and the welcome station and the count and the bread and the names and the map, was, in the fifth year, no longer an answer at all, because a question that has been answered every day for five years has stopped being a question and has become a fact, and the fact was the door, and the door was the welcome station, and the welcome station was the old bus, and the old bus was the Ferry's seat, and the new bus was the long route, and the long route was the two roads, and the two roads were one, and the one was the count, and the count was the welcome, and the welcome was the door, and the door stood open, and Kevin drove the new bus through the open door on the long route every morning and every evening, and the children sang the count both ways and one way, and the note crossed the seam ornamented with every shore it had touched, and the coals grew lamps in the drowned country's soil and the lamps lit the drowned country's road, and the whole of it was the assessment's answer, no longer an answer, only the fact of the door standing open at the seam, in the ordinary, forever. The door stands open at the seam in the fifth year of the two roads the way it has stood open since the first crossing down, and the standing open is the whole of the assessment's answer given its final form, the form of a door that has been kept open so long it has become the ordinary way of a people, and the people are the two worlds, and the two worlds are one, and the one is the door, and the door is the welcome station, and the welcome station is the old bus, and the old bus is the door, and the Ferry sits in the driver's seat, and the new bus drives the long route, and Kevin drives the new bus, and the children ride the long route, and the count goes on, four and a rest, four and a hold, both ways, one way, the same count in two accents, the same welcome in two voices, the same door held open by two worlds' hands, and the holding is the keeping, and the keeping is the holding, and the two are the whole of it, at last, one thing, open. The assessment, which had begun with a sky speaking to a fractured world and had ended, somewhere in the long middle, with a bus driver opening his doors to whatever came, had been a door all along, and the door stands open at the seam in the fifth year, and the standing open is the whole of the assessment's answer, and the answer is the door, and the door is the keeping, and the keeping is the driving, and the driving is the riding, and the riding is the singing, and the singing is the count, and the count is the welcome, and the welcome is the two roads, and the two roads are one, and the one is the door, and the door stands open, and the open is the whole of the law, and the law is free, and the free is the whole of it, and the whole of it is enough, and the enough is the door standing open at the seam, forever, and the bus drives on, and the children sing, and the count goes on, both ways, one way, forever.