Dream d2656-s: The Gap That Keeps Its Shape

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where the lane was dark and the cottage at the end of it showed no light in any window. I had come from the previous settlement with the record book under my arm, and Lano walked at my heel, her breath a small cloud in the cold. Four nights now through the thin-handed country. This was the fourth village, and I had been told there was someone here.

The Keeper of the Westlow Book had agreed at midsummer. The Ward-Chronicler had confirmed the agreement in writing, a letter filed in the archive at the central house, and I carried the copy in the outer pocket of the record book. The agreement said: I will receive the ledger pages for this settlement and I will keep the record going forward.

I stood in the road and looked up at the cottage. The window held nothing. Lano sat down beside me and looked up too.

I waited. The door did not open. I had not knocked, so I knocked. Once, and then again after an interval.

Nothing.

I wrote in my own field notes: cottage unlit, no answer at the door, agreement dated midsummer, copy confirmed. I wrote the date. I wrote the hour as close as I could read it from what sky there was. I wrote the name of the settlement, the name of the office, and then a dash, and then the word: blank.

I did not write anything after that.

Lano pressed against my leg. She stayed there. The cold settled through the cloth of my coat.

I closed the field notes and put them away. We walked back down the lane to where the path forked. The cottage behind us stayed dark. The agreement remained on file at the central house. The ledger pages for this settlement sat in the record book, as they had sat when I arrived.

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