Read the story · Download the guide
15. The Rate
These bars compare word-denominated fares; the older two-coin fare is a different unit.
words of proven retention
| Item | Value | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Last year | 200 | First stated word-denominated level |
| Current rate | 240 | Calculated increase: 240 - 200 = 40 |
| Year's last day | 300 | Calculated increase: 300 - 240 = 60 |
The increases are calculated differences: 40 then 60 words. The earlier rates across the eleven years cannot be derived from these three levels.
Observed counts occupy distinct stages; the lost words are not explained.
- Opening count
- 191 words held after 11 years of teaching
- Spring audit
- 188 held; the receipts remain correct
- Calculated difference
- 3 fewer retained words: 191 - 188
- Autumn
- 240 words audited and stamped
- Dusk
- Her husband crosses with 9 others
- Afterward
- She enters the water; it does not return her.
The widow completes her husband's audited crossing. Her own entry into the water has a different, unresolved status.
Three arrangements coexist; a fourth price remains undenominated.
| Arrangement | Stated rule or practice | Boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Teaching | 1 word per dawn; more washes out by noon | Retention remains the family's risk |
| Lending circle | 11 participants; return before the ramp | Neither forbidden nor mentioned |
| Repeated loans | No same word twice in a season | An internal practice, not a published permission |
| Name charge | One hundred | Denomination not stated |
| Banned words | The list cannot be bought | The seller is struck from the register, then shot |
Lending occupies an unmentioned part of the schedule. The name charge cannot safely be converted into cash or retained words.