Dream d3604-s: The Saw Set Down

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where the saw stopped mid-stroke when the cart came around the quarry bend. I stood among the shavings - pale curls of timber catching the thin afternoon light - and watched the figure with the saw set the blade against the nearest log and straighten.

The length of timber lay marked along its face, a series of shallow notches cut at measured intervals, the wood pale and clean where the saw had already passed. The sawyer pulled off a heavy glove and tucked it under one arm, then looked once along the line of cuts before turning toward the cart track.

The cart hand did not stop moving. The wheels turned slowly on the hard-packed earth beside the quarry lip, and I heard the creak of the axle and the low knock of timber shifting in the bed. The cart hand kept his eyes on the load, steadying a length with one hand while the cart moved, not hurrying, not watching the departure.

The sawyer passed me without a word. A nod - something between acknowledgment and release - and then the figure was beyond the quarry's shadow and onto the pale distance of the track. I did not follow with my eyes for long.

What remained: the marked timber, the saw resting on its teeth, and the step at the near end of the log pile - a flat stone set there at some earlier time, still holding the impression of the boot that had last stood on it. The hollow was shallow but clear. Someone had stood there often, weight forward, leaning into the cut.

The cart hand came back on foot after the cart was settled. He lifted one end of the marked timber, gauged its weight, set it down again. Then he picked up the saw and tested the set of the teeth with one thumb, moving along them without pressure. He did not look toward where the sawyer had gone.

I stood at the edge of the site and let the afternoon settle around me. The quarry face caught the low light at an angle that made every ledge distinct, and the timber shavings on the ground glowed briefly before the light shifted. The step with its worn hollow stayed where it was. The blade was still in the middle of the log's marked length.

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Artwork instructions

IMAGE: pixel art a human figure at the chalk road at the quarry, a marked length of timber, The first carrier leaves; the useful work continues., muted slate and ochre, soft daylight, 8-bit style