Nothing Worth Keeping

story forty-one · figures 121–123

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NOTHING WORTH KEEPING · THE ROAD, AND WHAT HAS BEEN STRIPPED OUT OF IT — the one free thing he has · told every night, with everything valuable removed NOTHING WORTH KEEPING · THE ROAD, AND WHAT HAS BEEN STRIPPED OUT OF IT the one free thing he has · told every night, with everything valuable removed WHAT IS IN THE STORY · a road, not going anywhere in particular · a hedge on one side · a field with nothing planted · the afternoon · no weather to speak of · a gate, further along · open a long time, · from the look of the grass WHAT HAS BEEN TAKEN OUT · a name · a color worth keeping · a number · a green door — tried once, and he woke with · the fee already written in his head: · FOUR UNITS, PAYABLE ON WAKING · no lemon · no music · no one at the gate · cut grass, which would cost her in the morning SHE WAS A TEACHER OF SMALL CHILDREN FOR NINETEEN YEARS AND CAN HEAR A STORY BEING MANAGED AT FIFTY PACES, and she lets him do it anyway, most nights. ON THE BAD NIGHTS SHE ASKS THE QUESTIONS THAT MAKE IT HARDER FOR HIM. ON THE WORST NIGHTS SHE ASKS NOTHING AT ALL, AND THAT IS HOW HE KNOWS. Her questions are the only diagnostic instrument in this book that is never wrong. "IS ANYONE AT THE GATE?" · "NO." · "ARE YOU?" He does not answer that one. Her hand finds his under the blanket and weighs it, the way you weigh a thing at a stall, and puts it back. She lets it go, and after a while she asks what the field smells like. He has an answer ready and does not use it. "Nothing. It has been raining and it has stopped." EVEN HIS SLEEP HAS LEARNED THE TARIFF. He has made himself unquotable so that he cannot be billed, and the proof is that a green door woke him with a charge attached.
121 · Nothing Worth Keeping
NOTHING WORTH KEEPING · THE SUMS, WHICH ARE HIS, AND WHICH HE HAS NEVER SAID OUT LOUD — two of them · a hundred and ninety-four between them that would survive a second asking · a board that goes to three hundred NOTHING WORTH KEEPING · THE SUMS, WHICH ARE HIS, AND WHICH HE HAS NEVER SAID OUT LOUD two of them · a hundred and ninety-four between them that would survive a second asking · a board that goes to three hundred 194 WHAT THE TWO OF THEM HOLD and it would survive a second asking 240 THE BOARD, THIS YEAR the fare at the ramp 300 THE BOARD, IN THE NEW YEAR set by resolution what they have HE IS NOT GOING TO BE THE ONE WHO CROSSES, AND THEY BOTH KNOW IT, and neither of them has said so, and the not-saying is a household arrangement like any other. The same arithmetic the mother does in Cheap Words and the teachers do at the bank — done here in the dark, THE SUM IS DONE IN THE DARK, BESIDE A SLEEPING WOMAN, BY A MAN TELLING HER A STORY WITH NOTHING IN IT.
122 · Nothing Worth Keeping
NOTHING WORTH KEEPING · THE GOOD SIDE OF THE GATE — her breathing changes at the gate most nights · tonight it changes at the hedge, which is early NOTHING WORTH KEEPING · THE GOOD SIDE OF THE GATE her breathing changes at the gate most nights · tonight it changes at the hedge, which is early the road not going anywhere in particular the hedge TONIGHT she goes here · early the empty field nothing planted · no smell THE GATE open a long time, from the look of the grass THE GOOD SIDE · where nothing at all is waiting · free · and his what he does after she goes goes through the road once more himself, on his own account what is on the other side the story does not say, and he does not go there what the gate is the same gate as the one above the last stop, and neither piece says so what it costs nothing in it is worth a penny · HE HAS MADE SURE HE FALLS ASLEEP ON THE GOOD SIDE OF THE GATE, WHERE NOTHING AT ALL IS WAITING, AND IT IS FREE, AND IT IS HIS. THE ONLY PROPERTY HE OWNS OUTRIGHT IN SIXTY STORIES IS A ROAD HE MADE WORTHLESS ON PURPOSE.
123 · Nothing Worth Keeping

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