A Place Is Held

story thirty-two · figures 94–96

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A PLACE IS HELD · A LEAFLET THAT ADMITS ITS OWN WORST CASES — the most dangerous document in the book · it does not lie · six concessions, each followed by an argument A PLACE IS HELD · A LEAFLET THAT ADMITS ITS OWN WORST CASES the most dangerous document in the book · it does not lie · six concessions, each followed by an argument YES, MEMORY IS PRICED a crossing is paid for in words a person can prove · the rate has risen and will rise again "the best way to be believed is to say the difficult part first" THE FREE HOURS ARE RECORDED it is said that the use of those hours is recorded. It is. A CITY THAT RECORDS ITS KINDNESSES IS A CITY THAT CAN BE ASKED TO REPEAT THEM THE WOMAN WHO REFUSED she did. We wish her well. the schedule remained open to her, and remains open, at the current rate · that is what a schedule is: a door that does not slam THE HILL WE DO NOT ADMINISTER a box takes what people put in it and nobody is asked for a name it has been there longer than the country · deferred every quarter for as long as there have been quarters THE YOUNG MAN AND HIS 420 WORDS he signed · sober enough to sign and sober enough to read · witnessed · the published rate "Nobody in this city has ever been charged a price they could not have looked up in the morning." THE HOUSEHOLD THAT DOES NOT LOVE US nineteen years, never a kind word, renews on the ninth "we would not change a thing about her" EVERY SENTENCE IN THIS LEAFLET IS TRUE, AND FOUR OF THE SIX CONCESSIONS ARE STORIES YOU HAVE ALREADY READ. The city is quoting the book back at you, accurately, as evidence in its own favor. "NOW LET US TELL YOU WHAT THAT SENTENCE LOOKS LIKE FROM INSIDE."
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A PLACE IS HELD · FOUR TESTIMONIALS, AND WHERE THE REST OF THEM ARE — given freely, recorded, held in full · and thank you for the loan of them A PLACE IS HELD · FOUR TESTIMONIALS, AND WHERE THE REST OF THEM ARE given freely, recorded, held in full · and thank you for the loan of them "The service was very good." a widow of thirty-one years, on the four years that followed what she also said: it is warm, that is the trouble with it · I have receipts for four years and nothing for thirty-one "It got me through the second year, which was the bad one." a man of the licensing district, eleven years a subscriber what he also said: every one of those mornings made me less able to say a true thing out loud "He got my sister’s birthday right when I had it wrong." — the same statement · the sentence before it is 'The service was very good.' "It gave me four hundred mornings I would not have had." — and two sentences later comes the one about the woman at the school gate "WE ARE ASKED, FROM TIME TO TIME, FOR THE REST OF THEM. THEY ARE HELD IN FULL AND MAY BE CONSULTED AT THE COUNTER. VERY FEW PEOPLE ASK, AND WE WOULD NOT READ ANYTHING INTO THAT." Every quotation is verbatim, and every one of them is the kindest sentence in a statement that goes on to say the opposite. The withholding is DECLARED, and the full text is genuinely available, and nobody goes. "WE HAVE NOT TIDIED THESE. NOT ONE OF THEM IS A SLOGAN. Our people are not enthusiasts. They are accurate, which is better."
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A PLACE IS HELD · WHAT IS BEING OFFERED — the whole offer, in the leaflet’s own terms · and it is not small A PLACE IS HELD · WHAT IS BEING OFFERED the whole offer, in the leaflet’s own terms · and it is not small your first Thursday free your words assessed at no charge the figure told to you before anything is opened in your name the introductory rate held for four quarters hardship a schedule, printed, THE SAME ONE FOR EVERYBODY the offer itself here, you will always be able to find out what it costs YOU HAVE PAID FOR THINGS ALL YOUR LIFE AT PRICES YOU WERE NEVER SHOWN — in years, in silence, in what you did not say at a bedside. "We are simply the first place to put the number on the board where you can see it." A PLACE IS HELD FOR YOU HERE. IT HAS YOUR DIMENSIONS IN IT AND NOTHING ELSE — no name yet, no account, no line one. It is held whether or not you come, and it will still be held in ten years, and nobody will bill you for the holding. THAT IS WHAT A PLACE IS. EVERY CITY MEASURES FROM SOMETHING. MOST OF THEM ARE LYING ABOUT WHAT. We are open six days. On the seventh we are open for renewals only. The seventh is the busiest.
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