Dream d2581-s: The Board Without Paper

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where the square was lit by a single pale lamp and the cobblestones held the last of the day's damp. I stood at the notice board with the ledger open to the new column - the one we had ruled for places neither running nor gone. The board was bare. Every notice taken down, not left to yellow or curl at the corners, not left to rot in the cold. Bare wood, sound posts, the iron brackets still clean. I wrote this down.

Lano moved in slow circles at the edge of the lamplight, nose low to the stones. Rurik had taken the top rail of a fence at the square's edge, tail hanging still, watching.

I wrote what the board said by being empty: that someone had come, had cleared it, had left the wood clean. The new column asked only whether the place had been put in order at the leaving. The empty board answered. I made the mark.

Lano came and pressed against my shin while I finished writing. When I closed the ledger she moved toward the far end of the square and I followed. Rurik dropped from the fence rail ahead of us both, silent, and went into the gap between two buildings.

The lamp lit the board behind us. I did not look back.

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