The Tank

story eleven · figures 31–33

The story →

THE TANK · TWO WRISTS, ONE NIGHT — a band goes bright when you owe and dark when you are done owing · at one o’clock they came out of the crush with each other’s THE TANK · TWO WRISTS, ONE NIGHT a band goes bright when you owe and dark when you are done owing · at one o’clock they came out of the crush with each other’s HIS WRIST bright at the second round HER WRIST dark · it refused nothing NINE O’CLOCK the cheap hour · the shortfall is poured short ONE O’CLOCK · THE CLOAKROOM CRUSH they came out laughing, with each other’s bands "Trade back," he said. "Spend me," she said. the city does not have a field for that THE ROOM PICKS A WRIST the free round is paid for with the night, licensed to the house DAWN, AT THE GATE traded back the way you hand back a borrowed coat, warmer than it was HE WORE HER MONEY AND SHE WORE HIS LACK OF IT every glass a small theft from no one, or a gift — the machine could not say, and neither could they THE GATE READ THEM OUT ONE AT A TIME AND GOT EVERYTHING WRONG IN A WAY THAT BALANCED. The only accurate account of that night is held by two people who cannot produce it, and the only account the city holds is filed against the wrong arms. "And that not-saying was the drunkest thing in the room." THE ONLY UNPRICED TRANSACTION IN THE STORY IS THE ONE THEY MAKE WITH EACH OTHER.
31 · The Tank
THE TANK · WHAT THE ROOM CHARGES FOR, AND IN WHICH CURRENCY — a night in a drowned room ten years dry · everything here is metered, including the room’s generosity THE TANK · WHAT THE ROOM CHARGES FOR, AND IN WHICH CURRENCY a night in a drowned room ten years dry · everything here is metered, including the room’s generosity WHAT HOW IT WORKS WHAT IT COSTS the hour between nine and ten cheapest money the shots, named for weather a purchased rain · a shortfall · a long delay money · the shortfall is poured short the door refuses a boy whose band reads his blood nothing — "and in the morning he is alive, and nobody is billed for that" the music the room plays itself, up through the columns included THE FREE ROUND the room picks a wrist · the light comes down like weather YOUR NIGHT, licensed to the house, to keep, to show the wall above the bar plays the bought nights all week the best wall in the city, and it is free to watch the old water stairs, behind the third column worn round, wet by tradition nothing · no camera names them, and one does film them THE HOUSE’S ONE ACT OF GENEROSITY IS THE ONLY THING IN THE ROOM THAT TAKES SOMETHING IRREPLACEABLE. A drink is bought with a night. The night is played on a wall all week to a full bar, and the two people in it stand in the queue outside and pay to get in. "THEY PAID TO GET IN."
32 · The Tank
THE TANK · THE ROOM ITSELF — a cistern drained the year the boats came off the boat-hill · forty columns holding up a hill THE TANK · THE ROOM ITSELF a cistern drained the year the boats came off the boat-hill · forty columns holding up a hill the third column behind it, the old water stairs FORTY COLUMNS wired through their bones · the bass comes up out of the stone, from below, from everywhere, patient what the stone does it sweats, it drips somewhere always, and it keeps the cold it had what the room plays nobody plays the music in the Tank · the room does, and it plays what it wants what you smell on the way in fish from the market’s awnings, downhill · the salt stays on you all night, like an opinion what the stairs were for they used to go down to the water · now they go down to the dark what the hill above it holds the boat-hill, drained the same year · the city keeps the shape and changes the use STONE THAT HAS HELD WATER FOR A THOUSAND YEARS DOES NOT FORGET THE JOB. The one place in the story where nothing is metered is the one place the city forgot to drain: a stairway behind a column, a hundred years of cold, and twenty minutes of hot.
33 · The Tank

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