Sale 41

story twenty-one · figures 61–63

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SALE 41 · A WOMAN, LOTTED — the estate of a lady, a singer at weddings · the porters request that visitors do not sing to the lots SALE 41 · A WOMAN, LOTTED the estate of a lady, a singer at weddings · the porters request that visitors do not sing to the lots LOT WHAT IT IS AS DESCRIBED WHAT HAPPENED 1 the wedding repertoire 388 songs · 41 years of other people’s happiest day sold, remote 4 breath, between verses, isolated 41 minutes at cataloguing · 44 at printing closed at 46 7 laughter, assorted, 1979–2034 three false starts · one catalogued in error, a guest’s sold, remote 9 the gait stairs, descending, with tray sold, remote 12 endearments, general · SEALED viewing by appointment, family present sold sealed, unopened 15 the pause before the first note 4,000 instances, deduplicated · of interest to the trade sold, remote 18 No, said 14 ways catalogued by occasion · occasions withheld bidding interrupted from the floor 20 the last message, unsent drafts folder · 11 words · the family was not aware sold, remote 21 the item excluded at Lot 12 the house is unable to describe it · two attempts withdrawn as inaccurate WITHDRAWN during the description 22 paper: diaries, 1988–2003 the hand deteriorating from 1999 · ANSWERS TO NOBODY · sold as seen PASSED · no remote interest in paper 23 a winter coat, wool, navy program sheets in the left pocket, folded small sold to paddle 44 at the reserve EIGHT LOTS SOLD REMOTE, IN EACH CASE AT ONE INCREMENT OVER PADDLE 44 — AND THE COAT SOLD TO PADDLE 44 AT THE RESERVE. THE ROOM APPLAUDED. The house acts for the counterparty of record, which does not view, and whose interest in this estate PREDATES THE DEATH. The house reminds sellers that estates accrue best undivided. A LIFE BROKEN INTO LOTS, EVERY ONE CORRECTLY DESCRIBED.
61 · Sale 41
SALE 41 · LOT 4, ACCRUING — breath, between verses, isolated · the one lot in the sale that will not hold still SALE 41 · LOT 4, ACCRUING breath, between verses, isolated · the one lot in the sale that will not hold still 41 minutes at cataloguing 44 minutes at printing 46 minutes at the fall of the hammer and the house cannot warrant a final state FROM THE CONDITIONS: "LOTS DESCRIBED AS ACCRUING MAY CONTINUE TO ACCRUE AFTER THE FALL OF THE HAMMER; THE HOUSE CANNOT WARRANT A FINAL STATE." Between cataloguing and printing, a dead woman’s silences grew by three minutes. The house says so, in its own catalogue, and states plainly that it cannot account for it. AN AUCTION HOUSE HAS STUMBLED INTO METAPHYSICS WHILE DOING ITS PAPERWORK, and has done the only professional thing available: recorded the anomaly, declined to explain it, and offered no warranty. THE ONE THING IN THE SALE THAT IS STILL ALIVE IS A CATALOGUE ENTRY FOR HER SILENCE.
62 · Sale 41
SALE 41 · WHAT THE FAMILY DID, AND WHAT IT COST — four interventions by the people who knew her · three succeed and one is overruled SALE 41 · WHAT THE FAMILY DID, AND WHAT IT COST four interventions by the people who knew her · three succeed and one is overruled LOT 7 corrected the catalogue a laugh entered in error was a guest’s, not hers NOTED · and the lot sold anyway LOT 12 sealed it · reserved the right of silence in the room endearments, general · viewing by appointment only HELD · sold sealed, unopened, and the right exercised LOT 12 · the exclusion excluded one item by prior claim the one thing they kept back OVERRULED · offered at Lot 21 at the executor’s instruction LOT 21 wrote two descriptions of it both withdrawn by the family as inaccurate CATALOGUED AS: an endearment, general LOT 20 did not know it existed the last message, unsent, eleven words sold · the house makes no warranty of wishes THE FAMILY KEPT ONE THING BACK. THE EXECUTOR PUT IT IN THE SALE. They could not say what it was in words the house would accept, so it went to the block described as an endearment, general — the same words as the lot it was excluded from. THE RIGHT OF SILENCE IS THE ONLY RIGHT IN THE CATALOGUE THAT THE FAMILY WINS.
63 · Sale 41

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