A Companion for New Arrivals

story thirty-eight · figures 112–114

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A COMPANION FOR NEW ARRIVALS · THE CITY, AS IT DESCRIBES ITSELF — issued by the Office of the Standard Version · free at all licensed premises · this companion supersedes all previous companions A COMPANION FOR NEW ARRIVALS · THE CITY, AS IT DESCRIBES ITSELF issued by the Office of the Standard Version · free at all licensed premises · this companion supersedes all previous companions WHERE YOU ARE both banks · only one administered from here the far bank is NOT DESCRIBED IN THIS COMPANION WHAT THINGS COST one exception to the currency of account the fare is denominated in words and rises BY RESOLUTION COMPANY forty minutes, priced where a haircut is warmth supplied to standard · improvisation is not THE WEEK renewals on Thursdays arrivals who find the week SHORT BY A DAY are advised this is a matter of long custom YOUR FIRST HOURS twelve hours, no charge a hardship schedule exists and will be produced WITHOUT YOUR ASKING AFTERWARD the continuation supports the present tense lapse is not reversible in every case IF YOU GO AWAY a place may be held, aired, payable throughout the field may be left as it is THE WATER restated heights ARE the heights the datum is tied to a plug in a wall three streets from the water INTERRUPTIONS doors default to open an hour with no record forms no precedent WEATHER rain is scheduled, shortfalls made good the market keeps its own weather and is not covered ON THE HILL the gate is not administered the religion cannot at present be licensed · no fee, no receipt · the box is separate PERSONS entries may be corrected · entries may be struck a person may be corrected WITHOUT BEING INFORMED · no complaints from corrected persons THE LEAFLET NEVER LIES. IT DECLINES TO DESCRIBE, DECLINES TO GIVE A DISTANCE, AND DECLARES EACH DECLINING. Six of these twelve sections are stories in this book, compressed into the voice that produced them. PREVIOUS COMPANIONS ARE NOT HELD.
112 · A Companion for New Arrivals
A COMPANION FOR NEW ARRIVALS · THINGS THE OFFICE IS UNABLE TO PRICE — maintained, it says, for completeness · nine entries, and every one of them is a story A COMPANION FOR NEW ARRIVALS · THINGS THE OFFICE IS UNABLE TO PRICE maintained, it says, for completeness · nine entries, and every one of them is a story sayings said to the water sleep the light on the dome at the hour it goes the gray cat of the fish market, which has no entry weather in the market pencil, if the hand is light a spoon left on a sill above the funicular’s last stop twelve seconds of lit glass standing for one WHAT THIS LIST IS An office that cannot charge for a thing still CATALOGUES it, for completeness. By the last line the list holds the three most private acts in the book — and the office has written them all down in its own hand, under a heading that says it cannot reach them. THE UNPRICEABLE LIST IS THE UNADMINISTERED, WRITTEN BY THE OTHER SIDE. Water, stone, paper, chalk, ash and time — the six materials the record cannot hold — all appear here, itemized by the office that cannot hold them, and offered to a new arrival as a courtesy. IS WATCHING FREE? YES. WATCHING HAS ALWAYS BEEN FREE.
113 · A Companion for New Arrivals
A COMPANION FOR NEW ARRIVALS · THE LAST TWO SENTENCES — a welcome, and then the line that undoes the document you are holding A COMPANION FOR NEW ARRIVALS · THE LAST TWO SENTENCES a welcome, and then the line that undoes the document you are holding WELCOME You will be told when your first renewal is due. Keep your first receipt: it is the only document you will be asked for that cannot be issued to you twice. There is no need to keep this companion. A corrected edition is issued every year. THE CORRECTIONS ARE NOT LISTED. ONE DOCUMENT IN THIS CITY CANNOT BE REISSUED, AND THE OFFICE TELLS YOU WHICH ONE IT IS, in the same breath as it tells you that the document in your hand will be silently replaced. The companion supersedes all previous companions, and previous companions are not held, and next year’s will supersede this one, and you will not be told what changed. THE FIRST RECEIPT IS THE ONLY THING IN SIXTY STORIES THE CITY ADMITS IT CANNOT PRINT AGAIN.
114 · A Companion for New Arrivals

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