Dream d3463-s: Folded Among the Pegs

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where the washing green of Juniperfold was strung with lines from post to corner post to the eaves of a low house, and the linen moved in the slow morning air. There were women at the lines. They did not look up when we came in through the gap in the hedge.

Lano pressed ahead of me, nose low along the beaten path between the stakes. She found the edge of the green and sat there, watching a sheet billow and settle, ears up.

The relay clerk held the ledger. I took out one sheet, the dated one, the place name across the top in block letters: JUNIPERFOLD. Nothing more on it, no entry, no account. Just the date and the name.

The keeper of the place was at the near line, pinning a folded cloth to the cord with two wooden pegs. She did not stop when she saw us. She finished the pin, smoothed the hem, and moved two steps along the line to the next piece.

I set the sheet down on the stone border of the green, weighted it with the heel of my boot until I found a flat stone to hold it. Lano sniffed the stone, then went back to watching the linen.

The entry-keeper stood at the edge. She said nothing. The ledger was closed.

We walked on through the green and out the far side. I looked back once. The keeper had come to where I had left the sheet. She picked it up without reading it. I could see that: she did not hold it up to the light, did not bring it close. She folded it once, twice, and tucked it into the front pocket of her apron, the same place she kept her spare pegs. Then she reached for another piece of linen and pinned it to the line.

The work did not stop. The sheets moved in the slow air. Lano was already at the far edge of the green, turning back to see if I was coming.

The date was in the keeper's pocket. The place name was there too. The entry behind it was nowhere in Juniperfold and nothing asked for it.

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