Dream d3536-s: Both Palms on the Stone

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where the market below was empty and I stood at the edge of the roof watching them work. The sky to the west held a flat bruised pressure I could feel against my forearms, though I had not moved into it. The air smelled of slate dust and something older, the damp mineral smell of stones that have been outside for decades.

One of them was already positioned at the ridge course. The other came up a ladder at the far end carrying three slates tucked under one arm, moving slowly, measuring each step against the pitch. When they reached the working space they set two slates down and passed the third across without speaking. The exchange was practiced. Neither of them looked at the other.

The mortar in the bucket between them was ochre-dark, dense, the color of old clay before it dries to pale. The roofer worked it with a trowel in short flat strokes, not spreading it so much as pressing it into the surface. Each slate went down with a sound I felt in my chest more than heard, a low final click. Nothing slid. The roofer tested the edge with one thumb, then both palms, a small rocking motion, checking for hollow.

Below the roof the market stalls stood covered and shut. No one moved in the square. The light was the kind that does not yet belong to morning.

Lano sat beside me on the flat section near the hatch, watching too. Her ears were forward. When the second slate went down she turned her head toward the western sky, then back to the workers. She did not bark.

The last slate of the section was longer than the others. The carrier had to angle it going up the pitch and the roofer waited, one hand braced, until the stone cleared the eave. Then both hands came forward and guided it into the course without hurry. The fit was close. The roofer ran two fingers along the joint, then stood and looked at the whole section from a slight distance.

The rain would come. I could feel the front moving through the pressure change in my ears. But the course was laid. The overhang was flush to its line. Whatever the market was below, it would be covered tonight.

I watched until they moved to the next section. I did not count the slates. I did not open anything.

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