Instructions for the First Hour

story four · figures 10–12

The story →

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FIRST HOUR · WHO EACH INSTRUCTION SERVES — twelve numbered steps for the hour after a death · sorted by who benefits INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FIRST HOUR · WHO EACH INSTRUCTION SERVES twelve numbered steps for the hour after a death · sorted by who benefits THE DEVICE THE SENSOR THE APPLICATION YOU HIM NOBODY 1. Charge his phone. 2. Do not try his birthday. 3. Do not gel your hands. 4. Hold his hand between both of yours. 5. Right thumb, flat, no rolling. 6. Ninety days of him. 7. Do not read anything yet. 8. The thumb keeps working a day, maybe two. 9. Put his hand back the way you found it. 10. PRINTED, AND EMPTY the only instruction with no one to serve 11. Sit on the side she used. 12. It was never yours to keep warm. SEVEN OF THE TWELVE SERVE A MACHINE. TWO SERVE YOU. ONE SERVES HIM. TWO SERVE NOBODY AT ALL. The instruction that serves him is number nine: put his hand back the way you found it. It is the only step that cannot be justified to the system, and it is the only one that is not explained.
10 · Instructions for the First Hour
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FIRST HOUR · FIVE ATTEMPTS — the coldest arithmetic in the book · a fingerprint budget, spent in an hour INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FIRST HOUR · FIVE ATTEMPTS the coldest arithmetic in the book · a fingerprint budget, spent in an hour 1 USED 2 USED 3 left 4 left 5 left "You get five attempts and you will need all five later." Instruction 5, mid-hour: "You have used two." instruction 2 do not try his birthday — the attempt you are told not to spend instruction 4 warm the hand under the blanket — the sensor wants warmth and a little damp instruction 5 if the screen shakes its head, warm the thumb against your neck and try again instruction 8 the thumb will keep working for a day, maybe two. No one will tell you this. THE HOUR IS A RACE AGAINST A HAND GOING COLD, and the document is helping. That is the horror: every line of it is good advice. "You will think about it at the funeral."
11 · Instructions for the First Hour
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FIRST HOUR · THE SHAPE OF INSTRUCTION TEN — what stands on either side of the blank, and what register each step is written in INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FIRST HOUR · THE SHAPE OF INSTRUCTION TEN what stands on either side of the blank, and what register each step is written in 9. Put his hand back the way you found it. CARE 10. printed · numbered · empty NOTHING 11. If you are alone, sit on the side she used. This is not required and there is no charge for it. It helps. PERMISSION 12. It was never yours to keep warm. VERDICT IT IS NOT A DELETION AND IT IS NOT A SILENCE. IT IS A NUMBERED STEP WITH NOTHING IN IT, printed at the same size as the others, so you can see how big the missing thing is. Every other instruction tells you what to do with your hands. Ten is the one about what you are doing. A SETUP AND A WITHHELD PAYOFF IS THE STRUCTURE OF A JOKE. NOBODY LAUGHS.
12 · Instructions for the First Hour

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