Good Crossing

story thirty-five · figures 103–105

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GOOD CROSSING · FOUR CONVERSATIONS SHARING ONE RAIL — eighty-eight turns of pure dialogue · nobody hears anybody, and everybody says good crossing GOOD CROSSING · FOUR CONVERSATIONS SHARING ONE RAIL eighty-eight turns of pure dialogue · nobody hears anybody, and everybody says good crossing THE MOTHER her son sends thumbs instead of ringing he used to ring on Sundays · he never showed an interest · a tidy man rings his mother · "he might ring tonight" THE RATES MAN the introductory rate, four quarters, then you are swimming compound interest · everything compounds · grief compounds · "that’s on the leaflet too" THE HIP eight weeks to be seen, cold hands at noon nobody swims anymore · walking’s the thing · the counter says twelve but I only count ten THE NOTE a laminated disagreement about a Thursday "Then the note wins, doesn’t it. It always does." · who laminates evidence against themselves THE CHILD asks three questions and is answered by none of them why do the birds follow us · why is the water going the wrong way · why does nobody an— THE CHILD IS TOLD: "SWEETHEART, THE GROWN-UPS ARE TALKING." Sixty lines later somebody answers the first question, wrongly and kindly — "they follow us for the crusts, pet" — and the bag is empty, and somebody says: isn’t that lovely. "YOU’VE UNDERSTOOD ME COMPLETELY." · "I FEEL HEARD. I REALLY DO."
103 · Good Crossing
GOOD CROSSING · THE ONE TURN THAT IS NOT PASTICHE — turn seventy-eight of eighty-eight · the farce stops for one line and nobody on the boat notices GOOD CROSSING · THE ONE TURN THAT IS NOT PASTICHE turn seventy-eight of eighty-eight · the farce stops for one line and nobody on the boat notices "I HAVE THE WORD FOR HIM. I HAVE HAD IT ELEVEN MONTHS. I AM NOT GOING TO SPEND IT ON THE MACHINE." a mother, on a rail, in the middle of a conversation about hips and leaflets turn 79 — an empty line · the only one in the piece turn 80 "Sorry. I thought you said something." the boat does not hear her turns 81–86 Good crossing! · Mind the hip · Mind the gulls · Mind the ninth · Lovely talking · Lovely the courtesies resume without a pause turns 87–88 "Sorry — did you say something?" · "Nothing." and the piece ends there ONE PERSON SAYS THE TRUE THING AT FULL VOLUME IN A BOAT FULL OF PEOPLE, AND THE BOAT DOES NOT HEAR HER. Everything around it is comedy. The line itself is not, and the piece never marks it — no white space, no paragraph break, no narrator. It is turn seventy-eight, and then it is gone. SHE HAS HELD ONE WORD FOR ELEVEN MONTHS AND WILL NOT PUT IT THROUGH A MACHINE. THAT IS THE WHOLE ECONOMY, REFUSED.
104 · Good Crossing
GOOD CROSSING · WHAT ACTUALLY CROSSES — the ferry goes out and comes back · five things travel on it and only one of them arrives GOOD CROSSING · WHAT ACTUALLY CROSSES the ferry goes out and comes back · five things travel on it and only one of them arrives the crusts offered at the rail, carried the whole way ARRIVES · given to a child sixty lines after her question the word held eleven months, said aloud once not spent · not heard · not lost the note laminated, and it says Thursday wins · the note always wins the leaflet’s sentence "say the difficult part first" quoted by a man who thinks it is the sea talking the gulls follow the boat over and back "It’s all one gull, if you think about it." · "Deep." THE COUNTER SAYS A HUNDRED AND SIX STEPS SINCE THE PONTOON, AND THEY HAVE NOT MOVED. "The rail moves. It counts the rail." · "It counts what it wants to count. Like my son." The one measuring device on the boat is measuring the boat. THE FAR SIDE IS VISIBLE TODAY AND NOBODY GOES THERE. "You can see the far side today." · "My son says on a clear day you can see where the money went." THE ONLY COMPLETED TRANSACTION ON THIS FERRY IS A BAG OF CRUSTS, and by the time it reaches the child it is empty, and everybody agrees that is lovely.
105 · Good Crossing

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