Dream d2669-s: Two Counts, One Place

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where I stood on the Hall floor holding two sheets, one in each hand, and read from them in turn to the people gathered on the benches.

The place named on both sheets was the same. The dates at the top were not.

The first reading: forty-one letters received, seven answered, one keeper at the post, all other offices cold.

The second reading: thirty-nine letters received, nine answered, two keepers at the post, all other offices cold.

I read the first and set it on the stand. I read the second and set it beside the first. Both had been kept in different seasons by different keepers, neither of whom had seen what the other wrote.

Lano lay at the base of the reading stand, quieta. When I read the first total aloud her ears turned once toward me, then she put her chin back on her paws.

No one disputed either count. Several people in the benches wrote the two numbers side by side, then wrote the space between the dates below them.

I folded both sheets and placed them with the others. The Hall was still. Lano rose, pressed once against my leg, and moved ahead of me toward the door.

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