The Standard Vows

story forty-nine · figures 145–147

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THE STANDARD VOWS · THE VOW, LINE BY LINE, AND WHERE THE LOOPHOLE IS — issued, read a line at a time, and given back word-perfect · she said the lines in the order printed THE STANDARD VOWS · THE VOW, LINE BY LINE, AND WHERE THE LOOPHOLE IS issued, read a line at a time, and given back word-perfect · she said the lines in the order printed I am present. the only assertion · and the only one that could be checked I take what is offered and offer what is listed. the language of a counter · offered, listed I will attend, on the days and between the hours, attend · the word his voice goes down half a step on, and stays there and beyond them where the schedule is silent. THE ONE PROMISE THEY ARE PERMITTED TO MAKE PRIVATELY — AND IT IS PRINTED UNDER HIS CUFF, WHERE THE WITNESS COULD NOT SEE AND THE FORM HAS NO FIELD, her thumb lay on his pulse, counting nothing, keeping the place. THE SCHEDULE IS SILENT ABOUT WHAT MAY BE SAID WHERE THE SCHEDULE IS SILENT. The registrar said the sentence about the room first, which is required, and which is about the room. THE ONLY WEDDING I HAVE READ IN WHICH THE STATE’S PAPERWORK IS MORE ROMANTIC THAN THE COUPLE’S VOCABULARY, and the couple know it, and marry anyway. EACH ANSWERED THE REQUIRED QUESTION ONCE LOUDLY AND ONCE QUIETLY, WHICH THE SCHEDULE ALSO ALLOWS.
145 · The Standard Vows
THE STANDARD VOWS · THE GIFT BOOK HAS THREE COLUMNS — the clerk’s pen quick and unembarrassed · and one column narrower than the others, and older THE STANDARD VOWS · THE GIFT BOOK HAS THREE COLUMNS the clerk’s pen quick and unembarrassed · and one column narrower than the others, and older THE GIFT a name a name a name a name THE AMOUNT an amount an amount an amount an amount ANYTHING GIVEN WITHOUT AN AMOUNT entered IN WORDS narrower than the others and older filled in LAST, and slowly what the third column is for the gifts that cannot be priced — and the book has always had a place for them how old it is older than the other two · it failed to price things before it priced them who fills it in the clerk, LAST, and slowly · the one unhurried act in a timed hall the slots that morning six slots, all marked LICENSE · the cloth had slipped off the screen too THE HALL HAS A COLUMN FOR THE UNPRICEABLE, AND IT IS THE OLDEST COLUMN IN THE BOOK. The office of proportion keeps a list like it. So does the leaflet. So does the companion for new arrivals. ONE WITNESS, FURTHER BACK THAN THE PHONE, WAS CRYING WITHOUT ANY OF THE USUAL REASONS.
146 · The Standard Vows
THE STANDARD VOWS · THE PALM, AND WHAT THE REGISTRAR DID NEXT — off the script entirely, while the registrar reached for the blotter THE STANDARD VOWS · THE PALM, AND WHAT THE REGISTRAR DID NEXT off the script entirely, while the registrar reached for the blotter THURSDAY’S STAMP already wet on the pad from the morning’s renewals the same ink that lapses licenses marries them HE SIGNS in the box, at the fee posted for a Thursday SHE SIGNS in the box AND THEN hand FLAT ON THE WET INK, then shows him her palm the only unlicensed act in the building THE REGISTRAR LOOKS at the page, which was still legible AND LETS IT STAND THEN HE TAKES THE PAD presses his own thumb to it, and puts it in the margin beside the box for anything further · WHICH HE INITIALED, AND DATED THE ONE SPONTANEOUS ACT IN THE HALL IS IMMEDIATELY WITNESSED, INITIALED AND DATED — and the man who does it is not obstructing her. He is protecting it. A thing initialed and dated in the margin is a thing the record cannot later say did not happen. Her marked palm closed around nothing, carried like change, all the way down the hall past the queue. THE CHAIRS WERE ALREADY BEING STACKED FOR THE ELEVEN O’CLOCK. THE QUEUE MOVED UP ONE.
147 · The Standard Vows

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