Chapter 9 The Fourteenth

The man the House sent came to the Yard on the fourteenth and he did not sit at Mabry's bench, because Mabry was still there, and Mabry was still there because the House had ruled that the man at the bench would be sent at the end of the month and the fourteenth was not the end of the month, and the man the House sent stood at the door of the Yard with a card in his hand and did not come in. "He has come," Mabry said, from the bench. "He has come," Avelin said, from the door. "He has come early." "He has come early." "Then he is here for the measure." "He is here for the measure." Mabry looked at the man at the door. The man looked at Mabry. Neither of them said anything, because there was nothing to say. The man had a card in his hand. The card was the card of the rolls. The rolls kept the card. Mabry had a ruler on the bench. The ruler was the ruler of the bench. The bench was the bench of the Yard. The Yard was the Yard of the House. The House was the House of Draymoor. Draymoor was on the long street. The long street went to Vail Street. Avelin Cindermill was in the door of the Yard with her daughter's list in her coat and five days of holding a hand behind her. "Sit down," said Mabry. She sat down. The man at the door did not come in. He stood there, and he had a card in his hand, and the card had her name on it, and the card had 1174 on it, and the card did not have 1268 on it, and the card did not have a date on it, and the card was the card of the rolls, and the rolls would keep it. "Arm," said Mabry. She rolled the cuff. The brass came out, and the metal was the colour of the morning, and the cut at the edge was the fresh groove, and the groove was the groove of the last cut, and the last cut had been on the ninth of the seventh month, and the metal had been moving since then. Mabry picked up the file. He ran it once along the band, and he ran it again, slower, and he ran it a third time, and the metal dust fell on the bench, and the dust was a shade lighter than the wood, and the wood was the wood of the bench, and the bench was the bench in the middle of the room. "Thirteen hundred and forty-one," Mabry said. "That is one hundred and seventy-three in a month." "That is one hundred and seventy-three in a month." "One thousand and sixty-six in a year." "Eight months and a half at the last measure. Five and a half now." Avelin looked at the number. She looked at the brass, and the brass read 1174 on the House's book, and the brass read 1341 on the metal, and the difference was one hundred and sixty-seven, and the one hundred and sixty-seven was the nine days of deciding and the six days of holding a hand and the ninth day at the fourth hour and the refusal of the foundry and the refusal of the roll and the refusal of the answer and the bread on the table and the apples on the step and the ladder on the step and the cloth on the window. "The metal is right and the ledger is wrong," Mabry said. "The metal is right and the ledger is wrong." "The rolls will write 1174." "The rolls will write 1174." "The rolls will not write 1341." "The rolls will not write 1341." The man at the door held his card. He did not move. He had the card in his hand and the card had 1174 on it, and he had been standing there for the length of the measure, and the measure had taken six minutes, and six minutes was the length of the measure, and the measure was the rule, and the rule was in Mabry, and the rule was leaving the Yard at the end of the month. "He has not been asked to come in," Mabry said to the man at the door. "He has not been asked to come in," said the man at the door. "Then he will not come in." "Then he will not come in." Mabry took the ruler and he drew a line on the card, and the line divided the card in half, and the second half was blank, and he picked up the pen and he wrote on the second half, and the ink was not the House's ink, and the writing was his writing, and he wrote the number, and he wrote the date, and he wrote the date on the card, and the date was the date of the exhaustion, and the date was on the fourteenth of the first month of the next year, and the fourteenth of the first month was the day she would be exhausted, and the day she would be exhausted was on a calendar, and the calendar was Mabry's, and Mabry was leaving the Yard at the end of the month. "Fourteenth of the first month," Mabry said. "I know." "Five months and a half." "I know." "You have spent four months and a half in ten days." "I have spent four months and a half in ten days." "Then you will not live five months and a half." "That is what the calendar says." "That is what the calendar says." She took the card from the bench. She put it in her coat, next to the other card, and she stood up, and the bench creaked under her, and the creak was the creak of twenty-nine years, and the man at the door still had his card, and his card had 1174 on it, and his card did not have the date, and his card would go into the rolls, and the rolls would keep it. "You will be sent today," Avelin said to Mabry. "I will be sent today." "The card in the drawer will go into the rolls." "The card in the drawer will go into the rolls." "The lock is the House's lock." "The lock is the House's lock." "The key is in the rolls." "The key is in the rolls." "Then the rolls have the key and the rolls have the cards and the rolls have the number and the rolls have the date, and the rolls will keep them, and the rolls will not read them back." "The rolls will not read them back." Avelin walked to the door of the Yard and she put her hand on the door, and the door was a door of wood, and the wood was the wood of the Yard, and the Yard had a bench in it and a ruler on the bench and a man at the bench, and the man at the bench was holding the ruler, and the ruler was the ruler that had drawn the line on the card, and the card was in her coat, and the card had the date on it. "Nineteen years," she said. "Nineteen years and thirty-one people." "Then you measured them all." "I measured them all." "Did any of them break the rule." Mabry looked at her. He looked at her for a long time, and he did not move his face, and he set the ruler on the bench, and the bench creaked, and the creak was the creak of the Yard, and the Yard was going on. "One," Mabry said. "Tell me about the one." "No. That is the rule. The rule is that I do not tell. The rule is that I measure and I write and I show once, and then I am done, and the man who comes after me does not tell, and the man who comes after me will not write on the second half, and your number will be in the rolls, and you will not know the date, and the date will be on a calendar, and the calendar will be the House's." "Then I will not let the man come after you." "You cannot." "Then I will let him come after me." Mabry picked up the ruler and he put it in his pocket, and he stood up from the bench, and the bench creaked, and the creak was the last creak, and the Yard was quiet, and the man at the door had his card, and the card had 1174 on it, and the card did not have the date, and the date was in her coat. "Come to the Yard on the twenty-ninth," Mabry said. "That is the day I am sent. That is the day the drawer is opened. That is the day the man comes after me. Come at the third hour, and I will be here, and I will measure you, and I will write the number, and I will write the date, and I will show it to you, and then I will be sent, and you will have the card, and the card will be yours." "Then I will come on the twenty-ninth." "You will come on the twenty-ninth." She walked out of the Yard and down the long street, and the Yard bell struck the fifth hour, and the bell was one bell, and the cart was going up, and the Yard was open, and the foundry was closed, and two men had no place, and the roll was closed, and the card was in her coat, and the card read 1174 and 1341 and the fourteenth of the first month, and the fourteenth of the first month was five months and a half away, and five months and a half was the length of her life, and the length of her life was on a calendar, and the calendar was Mabry's, and Mabry was in the Yard, and the Yard was on the long street, and the long street went to Vail Street, and Vail Street had a house on it, and the house had a table in it, and the table had a list on it, and the list had nine lines, and the ninth line had nothing on it. She went in the door and she buttoned her cuff and she put the card in the drawer under the table, and Trenn was at the table with the list turned face down, and Nyall was at the door with the bread, and the bread was warm, and the step was dry, and the cloth held on the window, and the day went on, and the metal did not move, and the metal would catch up on the twenty-ninth, and the twenty-ninth was fifteen days away, and fifteen days was the length of the holding, and the holding was the second measure, and the second measure was the only thing that was honest. ---