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story fourteen · figures 40–42

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EXPORT · WHAT TRAVELS, AND WHAT DOES NOT — third floor of the post-office palace, between parcels and the quiet-boxes · the shortest queue in the building EXPORT · WHAT TRAVELS, AND WHAT DOES NOT third floor of the post-office palace, between parcels and the quiet-boxes · the shortest queue in the building THE LICENSE DOES NOT TRAVEL registered premises within the jurisdiction · premises abroad cannot be registered THE RECORDING travels, on payment the export duty is calculated on the retained portion · the price of the flight, twice, and then some WHAT YOU GET IF YOU PAY a file that plays flat no license, no host · no answering, no presence · "People do buy it. They tend to play it once." IF YOU DO NOT PAY the license lapses on departure the estate retains the recordings for the statutory period THE STANDARD VERSION is preserved in any case "what she was assessed to be" · and may be consulted THE RETAINED PORTION is the rest "That is the part with the price on it." THE SPECTACLE CASE TRAVELS FREE wrapped in a sock, in a tin, in her hand luggage · the hinge is stiff SHE ASKS THE QUESTION EVERYONE ASKS AT THIS COUNTER, AND HE ANSWERS IT CORRECTLY AND AT NO CHARGE: no, you cannot leave and keep paying from the other side — and there has been no exception in the eleven years he has been here. THE ONLY THING THAT CROSSES A BORDER FREE IN THIS BOOK IS AN OBJECT.
40 · Export
EXPORT · THE FOLDER, AND WHAT THE COUNTER COUNTS — what she brought · what it is worth at the window · and what she leaves with instead EXPORT · THE FOLDER, AND WHAT THE COUNTER COUNTS what she brought · what it is worth at the window · and what she leaves with instead IN THE FOLDER · the good one, with the elastic her mother’s license does not travel four years of renewal receipts evidence of payment, not of standing the death certificate, two stamps establishes the deceased, not the daughter an offer of employment elsewhere no bearing a tenancy premises abroad cannot be registered a ticket the date the license lapses WHAT SHE LEAVES WITH a tin from the arcade a city that is not this one · cream buildings, a blue harbor a receipt for a month she will not be in the country for a spectacle case not a recording · travels free · the hinge is stiff SHE PUTS THE TIN ON THE SHELF WHERE THE LICENSE USED TO SIT, AND DOES NOT GO BACK TO THE THIRD FLOOR. Then, on the last Thursday, she does the renewal one final time, in cash, in the queue with the mothers and the widows, and pays for a month she will not be here for. The clerk asks if she would like the receipt. She says yes. She carries it to the airport in the pocket where a passport would go. EVERY DOCUMENT SHE BROUGHT PROVED SOMETHING TRUE AND NOT ONE OF THEM PROVED THE THING SHE WANTED.
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EXPORT · THE ONE PERSON WHO LEAVES — across sixty stories: one exit in sixteen departures · this is the exit EXPORT · THE ONE PERSON WHO LEAVES across sixty stories: one exit in sixteen departures · this is the exit half past eight her calves have gone from aching to the numbness that is not rest the counter the figure is the price of the flight, twice, and then some the landing window her hands keep the shape of the folder · her mother crossed in April the arcade a tin with a city that is not this one the last Thursday the renewal, in cash, for a month she will not be here for the airport the receipt in the pocket where a passport would go DAWN two hills, a channel, a hook of lights, and a crane with its jib swung loose SHE IS THE ONE LIVING PERSON WHO LEAVES THIS BOOK. Four are dead, four are blocked, three left and came back, four never tested it. One exit, in sixteen departures. She goes at dawn, having paid a month forward, carrying a receipt where a passport would go and a spectacle case that travels free. "THE HINGE IS STIFF. IT WAS STIFF FOR HER MOTHER TOO."
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