Dream d2743-s: The Lamp Holds Sixty-Five

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where the ink was still wet when I spread my palm flat above it to feel the cool. The lamp threw my shadow long across the desk. Lano had already found the warm spot near the lamp's base and lay there with her nose on her paws, watching.

I set the drawn sheet at the center of the desk and drew a fresh column beside it.

Sixty-five. I wrote the number first and read it aloud to hear it settle. Ten of the sixty-five held light. I wrote that beside it, smaller. The full count of all the places I have ever held in these hands is two hundred and seventy-three. I wrote that next. Then its remainder: one hundred and sixty-eight on no sheet at all.

Lano's ears moved but she did not lift her head.

Fifty-two of the undrawn have been worked within the last thirty days. I wrote that as a separate line, indented. Then the count past the edge: fifty-two places walked on this round, twenty-seven of them alight. Then a last note, written slower: seven marks on the drawn sheet point at ground no reader can reach.

I read the column aloud from the first figure to the last. It did not take long. The numbers did not change in the reading.

The newest place past the edge is Ivorylow. It is one day standing. I wrote its name at the bottom of the column and set the pen down.

Lano lifted her nose, sniffed twice, and settled again. The lamp held. The ink dried.

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