For Corrections Only

story forty · figures 118–120

The story →

FOR CORRECTIONS ONLY · WHO IS IN THE ROOM — THE BOOK (47 participants) · the Office added you · thirteen more join in the afternoon · sixty FOR CORRECTIONS ONLY · WHO IS IN THE ROOM THE BOOK (47 participants) · the Office added you · thirteen more join in the afternoon · sixty PEOPLE · the crane driver · the widow of the ramp · the mathematician · the secretary · the widow of the survey · the man with the receipts · the woman at the school gate · the woman who irons at that hour OBJECTS · a coin · a folding stool · a bicycle chain · an iron · the drawings · the lift log · a bell · the twelve seconds THINGS THAT SPEAK ANYWAY · the parrot · the flat’s assistant · sub la kuranta akvo · the gate above the last stop · a wrong number · forwarded many times · a reader · THE CAT FORTY-SEVEN PARTICIPANTS, THEN THIRTEEN MORE ADDED MID-AFTERNOON. SIXTY. The census is the table of contents, and nobody in the thread is told. Objects hold seats · in this city an object that has been entered can be corrected, and a thing that can be corrected can speak. A wrong number gets in, asks for the boiler man, and apologizes. A CHANNEL FOR CORRECTIONS ONLY, IN WHICH THE CORRECTIONS CANNOT BE MADE AND THE PARTICIPANTS CAN.
118 · For Corrections Only
FOR CORRECTIONS ONLY · WHAT THE OFFICE DOES ALL DAY — every move it makes in the thread, in order · each one procedurally correct FOR CORRECTIONS ONLY · WHAT THE OFFICE DOES ALL DAY every move it makes in the thread, in order · each one procedurally correct 06:33 Referred. the crane driver’s twenty-three, and the lift log that backs it 08:00 pins a message "A place is held for you here. It has your dimensions in it and nothing else." 08:21 No translation is printed. This applies here. after deleting a reader’s attempt to say what the Esperanto meant 14:00 Removed messages are not held. answering the obvious question, while you watch a message go 17:00 Reminder: corrections only. and: sentiment is collected separately, at no charge 17:31 Available in full at the counter, on request … on production of the reference number at the foot of this message (NO REFERENCE NUMBER APPEARS AT THE FOOT OF THIS MESSAGE) 19:00 changes the description to: closed. Reopens on the hour. and removes fifty-four participants THE WIDOW OF THE SURVEY: "FOURTEEN WORDS OUT OF NINE HUNDRED. EVERY ONE OF THEM MINE. EVERY ONE OF THEM TRUE. You built a door out of them and people are walking through it. PRINT THE REST." THE OFFICE is typing… THE OFFICE is typing… THE OFFICE is typing… — for twenty-eight minutes. EVERY REPLY IS ACCURATE. THE ONE THAT MATTERS CITES A REFERENCE NUMBER THAT IS NOT THERE.
119 · For Corrections Only
FOR CORRECTIONS ONLY · THE LAST FOUR MESSAGES — seven seconds of audio that nobody in the book, and nobody reading it, can hear FOR CORRECTIONS ONLY · THE LAST FOUR MESSAGES seven seconds of audio that nobody in the book, and nobody reading it, can hear 18:40 THE GATE ABOVE THE LAST STOP Not joining. I am open. That is a different thing and it has always been a different thing and you may quote me, which you will. 18:42 A BELL cord worn smooth · never rung 19:00 THE OFFICE changed the group description to: closed. Reopens on the hour. · removed 54 participants 19:00 A READER wait 19:01 THE CAT a voice note · 0:07 · delivered — THE BOOK is typing… and that is the last line of the story THE CAT’S SEVEN SECONDS ARRIVE AFTER THE OFFICE HAS CLOSED THE ROOM AND FIVE HOURS AFTER THE RULE THAT EXPLAINS WHY NOBODY WILL EVER HEAR THEM: removed messages are not held. It is the one contribution in the thread that is not text, cannot be corrected, cannot be quoted, and is marked delivered. THE OFFICE REMOVED FIFTY-FOUR PARTICIPANTS AND THE BOOK KEPT TYPING.
120 · For Corrections Only

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