The Column

story fifty · figures 148–150

The story →

THE COLUMN · THE MARKS, AND TWO RESTATEMENTS — kept by the office of measures · the keeper paints the daily line and is paid by the mark THE COLUMN · THE MARKS, AND TWO RESTATEMENTS kept by the office of measures · the keeper paints the daily line and is paid by the mark the oldest mark hand-cut, deeper than the others · at a height no water has reached since · IT CARRIES NO NOTE the second ring the winter the water took the steps · cut by the ferryman’s father, by arrangement · payment recorded as ONE CROSSING, WAIVED the third ring still called the third by those who stood on the steps · the office lists it at the second · BOTH MARKS ARE ON THE COLUMN the fourth ring upward from here the marks are PLATED · the hand-cut years end · eleven years on the school taught the plated letters first below zero the summer the river showed its bed · a reading below the datum IS NOT A READING · the yearbook shows a space between two entries the child’s mark low, off the scale’s line, cut where a child could reach · and beside it, fainter, a second at the same height a year later, NOT QUITE REACHING THE COLUMN datum MARKING THE COLUMN IS NOT PERMITTED. THE MARKS ARE KEPT. The child’s marks have been joined over the years by others, low, off the line, none of them heights, none of them removed · the schedule lists them under FURNITURE, CARE OF. THE DATUM IS TIED TO A PLUG IN A WALL THREE STREETS FROM THE WATER, WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN WET.
148 · The Column
THE COLUMN · WHAT A RESTATEMENT DOES — three notices · and the flood that arrived between two of them THE COLUMN · WHAT A RESTATEMENT DOES three notices · and the flood that arrived between two of them FIRST RESTATEMENT the datum moves to the new pontoon · subtract one ring THE GREAT WATER OF THE SECOND RING IS RESTATED AT THE FIRST · schoolwork is marked to the previous heights, THIS YEAR ONLY SECOND RESTATEMENT sensor readings at the new pontoon, posted to the app the sensor speaks its height on the hour, IN THE VOICE · the column remains in service AS FURNITURE · its readings are not readings THAT SPRING the water came up to the fourth ring BY THE OLD HEIGHTS the office recorded it at the third · the third is not a height that requires notice · AND NONE WAS GIVEN AND SO boats ran · two doors on the lower street took water the schedule has a column for doors SCHEDULED, COMING YEAR the datum moves again, to the sensor’s own zero NOTHING IS ISSUED TO THE HOUSEHOLDS · the office does not write to anybody about water THE RESTATED HEIGHTS ARE THE HEIGHTS. THE WATER IS NOT CONSULTED. A flood that would have required notice under the old heights arrives, is recorded a ring lower, and therefore does not require notice — and two doors take water, and the schedule has a column for doors. THE COLUMN IS WHERE THE OFFICE KEEPS WHAT IT HAS DECIDED.
149 · The Column
THE COLUMN · PAINT, NOT A CUT — the present line is repainted each morning, at the height the sensor gives THE COLUMN · PAINT, NOT A CUT the present line is repainted each morning, at the height the sensor gives the sensor’s figure above above above ON THREE MORNINGS IN THE LAST YEAR THE BRUSH WAS APPLIED ABOVE THE SENSOR’S FIGURE, by a hand the schedule does not name. what the office did corrected the paint THE SAME DAY · and did not ask why it did not ask paint, not a cut what a cut would be a mark · and marking the column is not permitted, and the marks are kept who is doing it the schedule does not name a hand · and the story does not either what he is paid by the mark · which is the one word the story lets stand in two senses UNDER THE NEW HEIGHTS THE OLDEST MARK STANDS AT A HEIGHT THE WATER HAS REACHED TWICE IN LIVING MEMORY, AND THE SCHEDULE LISTS IT, CORRECTLY, AS UNREMARKABLE. On the schedule it appears as: mark, one, prior to datum, unattributed · and people put their thumb in it, passing. THE WATER, AND THE ONE MARK NOBODY CLAIMED IS THE ONE THE NEXT NOTICE ERASES.
150 · The Column

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