第10章 Fifteen Days

The last measure came on the twenty-ninth, and Mabry was there, and the man the House had sent was there too, and the man stood at the door of the Yard with a card in his hand and did not come in, and the card had 1174 on it and no date on it, and the date was on the card in Avelin's coat, and the card in her coat said the fourteenth of the first month. "Five months and a half," Mabry said, at the bench. "Five months and a half." "You have fifteen days of me left." "I have fifteen days of you left." "You will use them." "I will use them." She sat down at the bench and she rolled the cuff and she put her arm out, and the brass came out, and the brass was the colour of the morning, and the cut at the edge was the fresh groove, and the groove was the groove of the ninth of the seventh month, and the metal had been moving for fifty-one days, and Mabry had the file on his knee and the loupe in his eye, and he put the loupe away before he picked up the file. "Arm," he said. She had given him the arm. He ran the file once, and he ran it again, and he ran it a third time, and the dust fell on the bench, and the bench creaked, and the creak was the last creak, and the Yard was quiet, and the man at the door did not move, and the card in his hand had 1174 on it. "Fourteen hundred and nineteen," Mabry said. "That is one hundred and seventy-eight in fifteen days." "That is one hundred and seventy-eight in fifteen days." "Four thousand and six hundred in a year." "Four and a half months." Avelin looked at the number. She looked at the brass, and the brass read 1174 on the rolls, and the brass read 1419 on the metal, and the difference was two hundred and forty-five, and the two hundred and forty-five was the fifty-one days, and the fifty-one days was the refusing and the deciding and the holding and the bread and the apples and the ladder and the cloth and the list and the ninth line, and the ninth line had nothing on it, and the nothing was the thing, and the thing was the date, and the date was the fourteenth of the first month, and the fourteenth of the first month was four and a half months away. "The date," she said. "The date has moved." "To where." He drew the line. He drew it with the ruler, and the line divided the card, and the second half was blank, 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 the date was the nineteenth of the third month, and the nineteenth of the third month was the day she would be exhausted, and the nineteenth of the third month was two months and five days away. "Nineteenth of the third month," Mabry said. "I know." "Two months and five days." "I know." "You have spent four months in fifteen days." "I have spent four months in fifteen days." "Then the calendar is wrong." "Then the calendar is wrong." "Then I have to measure you again." "In fifteen days." "In fifteen days I will not be at the bench." "In fifteen days I will not be at the Yard." "Then who will measure you." "The man at the door." "The man at the door does not measure. The man at the door records." Avelin looked at the man at the door. The man looked at her, and the man had a card in his hand, and the card had 1174 on it, and the card did not have the date, and the card was the card of the rolls, and the rolls would keep it. "I will measure you on the fourteenth of the next month," Mabry said. "That is the fourteenth of the second month. That is the last fourteenth I am at the bench. Come at the third hour. I will measure you and I will write the number and I will write the date and I will show it to you and I will be sent at the end of the month, and the fourteenth of the third month will be your date, and if you spend nothing between now and the fourteenth then the fourteenth of the third month will hold, and if you spend anything then the date will move, and I will not be at the bench to move it, and the man at the door will record the date, and the date will be in the rolls, and the rolls will not read it back." "Then I will not spend anything between now and the fourteenth." "That is the short book." "That is the short book." "Then read it." She took the card from the bench. She put it in her coat, next to the other cards, and she stood up. The bench creaked. The creak was the last creak. The Yard was quiet. The man at the door had his card. Mabry had his ruler. The ruler was in his pocket. The pocket was the pocket of his coat. The coat was the coat 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. Vail Street had a house on it. The house had a table. The table had a list. "Mabry," she said. "Yes." "You told me about the one who broke the rule." "I told you that there was one." "Did you tell me about the one." "No." "Will you tell me about the one." He looked at her for a long time. He looked at her and he did not move his face, and he set the file on the bench, and the bench creaked, and the creak was the creak of the Yard, and the Yard was going on, and the man at the door was going on, and the long street was going on, and the wind was going down the long street, and the cloth was holding on the window. "No," Mabry said. "Because the one is the rule, and the rule is that I do not tell, and I have kept the rule for twenty-nine years, and I will keep it for the last day, and the last day is today, and today is the day I am sent, and I am being sent now, and the drawer is being opened now, and the cards are going into the rolls now, and the rolls are keeping the cards now, and I am being sent now." He took the cards from the drawer. He put them in a packet, and the packet was a packet of paper, and the paper was the paper of the Yard, and he put the packet in his coat, and he put his ruler in his pocket, and he stood up, and the bench creaked, and the creak was the last creak. "The drawer," Avelin said. "The drawer is open." "The lock." "The lock is on the drawer." "The key." "The key is in the rolls." He walked to the door of the Yard and he stood in the door with the packet in his hand, and the man the House had sent was in the door too, and the man had his card, and the man did not move, and Mabry walked out of the door, and the man did not move, and the door closed, and the Yard was quiet, and Avelin stood in the Yard with her arm under her sleeve and her cards in her coat and the date in her cards, and the date was the nineteenth of the third month, and the nineteenth of the third month was two months and five days away. She walked out of the Yard and down the long street, and the Yard bell struck the sixth 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 1419 and the nineteenth of the third month, and the nineteenth of the third month was two months and five days away, and two months and five days was the length of her life, and the length of her life was on a calendar, and the calendar was hers, and the calendar had fifteen days on it, and the fifteen days were the holding, and the holding was the second measure, and the second measure was the only thing that was honest, and she was going 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, and the nothing was the thing she had to spend the last fifteen days deciding about, and the deciding was the spending, and the spending was the metal, and the metal was on her arm, and her arm was under her sleeve, and the sleeve was buttoned, and the button was the button of her coat, and the coat was the coat she had put on in the fourth hour, and the fourth hour was the hour she had woken, and the waking was the thing, and the thing was the date, and the date was two months and five days away. ---