The Rate

story fifteen · figures 43–45

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THE RATE · A WIDOW’S ELEVEN YEARS, AND ONE AUTUMN — the bank at six · one word per dawn is what the dead will hold, and everything above that washes out by noon THE RATE · A WIDOW’S ELEVEN YEARS, AND ONE AUTUMN the bank at six · one word per dawn is what the dead will hold, and everything above that washes out by noon the fare, this year: 240 the new rate: 300 191 · what he holds now AUDITED · STAMPED she begins · eleven years ago a word per dawn the spring audit · the manifest is corrected DOWNWARD autumn · he crosses at dusk with nine others words held SHE FOLDS HER STOOL AND LEAVES IT STANDING FOLDED AGAINST THE RAIL, WHERE THE OTHERS LEAVE THEIRS. Eleven years of dawns, and the line she was climbing moved sixty words further up on the last day of the year. "WE ARE AT THE BANK BY SIX. WE BEGIN WITH THE CHEAP WORDS."
43 · The Rate
THE RATE · THE MARKET IN WORDS — a licensed trade, an unwritten one, and a list no rate will buy THE RATE · THE MARKET IN WORDS a licensed trade, an unwritten one, and a list no rate will buy LICENSED teaching across the water one word at a time, at dawn the board carries the year’s rate, in standard type the audit readers test the dead against the manifests names taxed at one hundred, to discourage sentiment at the ramp UNWRITTEN teachers lending each other words a list that is not written down anywhere the rule of it a word lent is a word that comes back before the ramp its legal status nothing in the schedule forbids it. Nothing in it provides for it who runs it the same women, on folding stools, since the spring UNBUYABLE the old word for the water banned the word for together banned whatever the man in the gray coat sold cash, at the dark end of the bank what happened to him struck from the register first, and shot second STRIKING A NAME FROM THE REGISTER IS THE OLDER SENTENCE. THE SHOOTING IS THE SECOND THING THEY DID. A man the crossing will never afterward accept — drowned or buried or burned, all the same to the channel. The water took the sound and gave nothing back. A PROFESSION WITH ETIQUETTE, A HIERARCHY, AND A CONTEMPT FOR AMATEURS — FOR MOVING GRIEF ACROSS A COUNTER.
44 · The Rate
THE RATE · A THOUSAND YEARS, THEN FOUR — 150 and 200 are the city’s record · the book prints only 240 and 300, and prints them as a pair no rule connects THE RATE · A THOUSAND YEARS, THEN FOUR 150 and 200 are the city’s record · the book prints only 240 and 300, and prints them as a pair no rule connects two coins one for the crossing, one for the ferryman’s silence the float the fare set against retention instead 150 four years ago · city record 200 last year 240 this year · up forty 300 the last day of the year · the board attributes nothing FOR A THOUSAND YEARS ANY FAMILY COULD RAISE TWO COINS, EVEN IN A PLAGUE YEAR. Then the fare was set against retention, and a thing that had been fixed since before anyone’s grandmother became a number that could move — and it has moved every year since. WORDS TAUGHT ARE NOT ALWAYS WORDS KEPT. THE MANIFEST IS CORRECTED DOWNWARD. RETENTION IS THE FAMILY’S RISK. THE PRICE MOVES, THE AUDIT MOVES DOWNWARD, AND BOTH MOVEMENTS ARE PAID FOR IN THE SAME DIRECTION.
45 · The Rate

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