Chapter 10 The Cord

On the ninth night of the long dark, Odd went to the boat shed. He sat at the workbench, with the rope in front of him, and he began to braid. I went to the boat shed to see him. He was sitting in the dark, with the rope in his hands, and his hands were moving, the way Ingrid's hands used to move, the way the braiding was done, the old way, the way the people who came before us did it on the seal-rocks, in the long dark, when the cord was set and the gale was coming up the strait. "You're not supposed to be doing that," I said. "I'm supposed to be doing that," he said. "The braiding is not a thing you can stop doing. The cord has to be made. The gale has to be heard. The long dark is the whole of what the winter is, and the winter is the whole of what the six are, and the six are the whole of what the station is, and the station is the whole of what the strait is, and the strait is the whole of what the quiet bell is." "Where are you making it?" "I'm making it here. In the boat shed. With the rope. The rope is the cord. The cord is the braiding. The braiding is the sound the strait makes when the gale is in it. And the quiet bell is the sound the strait makes when the gale is not in it, when the cord is not set, when the long dark is the whole of what the winter is." I stood in the boat shed. I looked at the rope in his hands. It was the same rope he had been mending, the rope from the boat, the rope that was the whole of what the boat was. And his hands were moving, the way Ingrid's hands used to move, and the braiding was the whole of what the boat shed was, and the boat shed was the whole of the station. "The quiet bell is going to stop," Odd said. "When the cord is made. When the cord is set on the seal-rocks. When the gale comes up the strait and the cord sounds, the quiet bell will stop. Because the quiet bell is the sound of the cord that is not set. And the cord is set when the braiding is done." I did not say anything. I went back to the wire room. I wrote in the log book: 03:00, small radio, ninth night, Odd is braiding the rope in the boat shed, he says the quiet bell will stop when the cord is set on the seal-rocks, cause unknown. I closed the log book. The wire room was the sum of what the night was, and the night was the entirety of what the long dark meant. On the tenth night, Odd finished the cord. He carried it out to the seal-rocks, in the boat, in the dark, with the gale in the strait and the cord in his hands, and the carrying was the whole of the night, and the night was the sum of what the long dark was. We went with him. All six of us, in the boat, in the dark, with the gale in the strait and the cord in Odd's hands, and the six of us were the whole of what the boat was, and the boat was the strait's whole, and the strait was the whole of the long dark. We rowed to the seal-rocks. The rocks were in the water, the dark shapes, and the cord was in Odd's hands, the braided rope, the cord that was the whole of what the braiding was, and the braiding was the long dark's whole. Odd set the cord on the rocks. He set it the way Ingrid used to set it, in the shape of the strait, so that when the gale came up the strait, the cord would sound, and the sound would tell us where the shore was, and the shore would be the entirety of the long dark. We rowed back to the station. The strait was black. The station was in front of us, with its light. We went to the wire room. The boat was in the boat shed, the small white one with the grey trim, and the boat was the whole of what the boat shed was, and the boat shed was the station's whole. The rope was in the boat, coiled in the stern, and the coiling was the whole of what the rope was, and the rope was the whole of what the boat was. We rowed out into the strait, the six of us, in the dark, with the gale coming up from the south and the cord in Odd's hands, and the rowing was the whole of what the tenth night was, and the tenth night was the entirety of what the long dark meant. The seal-rocks were in the water, the dark shapes, and the dark was the whole of what the rocks were, and the rocks were the entirety of the strait, and the strait was the sum of what the long dark was. The ninth night was the night the braiding began, and the beginning was the whole of what the ninth night was, and the ninth night was the whole of the long dark. The boat shed was the night's whole, and the night was the long dark's whole. Odd's hands were moving, and the moving was the whole of what the braiding was, and the braiding was the whole of what the cord was, and the cord was the whole of what the seal-rocks were. The eleventh night was the night the quiet bell rang, and the ringing was the whole of what the eleventh night was, and the eleventh night was the entirety of the long dark. The cord was set, and the setting was the whole of what the eleventh night was. The gale was in the strait, and the being-in was the entirety of what the long dark meant, and the long dark was the whole of the winter, and the winter was the whole of what the six were.