The Night Before the Count

Letter 51 of the Book of Forgetting

At the old well at the south edge, the light had gone amber by the time Liesl Kfir arrived. Garrin Zohar was already there, sitting on the stone lip with his timer in his hand. He looked up when she came down the path.

"Good, you came. I wasn't sure you would after last night."

"I said I'd be here. I keep my word."

Liesl sat beside him. The well water was dark below them, the wall stones catching the last of the sun. "Kenan's coming tomorrow. Dusk. I need you here, with your own chalk and timer."

"I heard. You think he'll rig it if I don't?"

"I think he'll say we rigged it. I want him counting stones himself, timing splash himself."

Garrin turned the timer over in his hands. "We did that tonight. He wasn't here."

"Exactly. Tomorrow he is. And we make him do it twice, side by side, both of us."

"Kenan Amir has sat through every Council hearing for two years without moving a pencil," Garrin said. "What if it doesn't happen tomorrow? What if it's like the mill, and it just… behaves?"

"Then I'll sit in the square and shout until someone listens. But it'll happen. It always happens here."

Garrin was quiet a moment. "I counted seven stones tonight. You counted six. That's a solid split."

"And the splash came late again. On your own timer. He can't wave that off."

"He might. He's the Council."

"Then we make him sit here until dark and watch. Bring your own chalk. Don't let him borrow mine."

Garrin stood. "I'll be here. I don't like it, but I'll be here."

Liesl nodded and he started back up the path. She stayed where she was, looking at the water.

---

At the same well an hour later, Ivo Segal came down the path with Ophir a step behind him. Ivo carried the timer in one hand, a stone in the other.

"Ophir, you're here. Good. I've got the timer set. You stand right there, same spot as last time."

Ophir stopped at the well's edge. "Dad, I said I'd come. But let's be quick. I don't want to get fined again."

"Fined? We're not near the fog line. This is the old well. Council's own property. Now, when I drop this stone, you watch the water. Count the seconds."

"I know the drill. I'll count."

Ivo held the stone over the dark opening and let it go. The splash came up, small and flat. "There. What did you get?"

Ophir looked at the water. "About three seconds. Same as always. It's nothing, Dad."

"My timer says four. A full second late again. Not nothing."

"Maybe your timer's off. Let me see it."

"It's the same timer I've used all week." Ivo handed it over. "Now count the stones on your side of the wall. I'll count mine."

They moved to the stone circle, each taking a side. Ivo traced his fingers along the seams slowly, counting under his breath. Ophir did the same.

"I've got six on my side. You?"

"Seven. Same split as the north post." Ivo straightened. "We're standing side by side, and we're not seeing the same wall."

"Dad, that's just a trick of the light. Stones are uneven."

"No. I've counted it four times now. It's real. And your phrase—that dream of yours—it's in my head, Ophir. I can't shake it."

Ophir put the timer back in his father's hand. "The fog is just fog. That's all it is. You said it yourself, a hundred times. Let's go home."

Ivo stood at the well's edge, holding the timer. Ophir was already walking up the path.

---

At the river bench at noon, Noa Hadar sat with a folded paper on her knee. Dalia Shalev came down the gravel with her recorder clipped to her collar.

"Dalia, I have the memo. Let's sit and you mark it blind—release and splash—before we compare with mine and Liesl's marks."

"Alright." Dalia sat beside her. "But I need to know Liesl is okay with it. I don't want her to think we're doing this behind her back."

"She agreed to the open comparison. She knows I'm bringing you in. She wants it on paper, same as us."

"Then yes." Dalia took the paper. "Let me see it. I'll mark it without looking at yours."

Noa played the memo once. Dalia's pencil moved twice. When she was done, she held the paper out.

"I marked it. There's a gap—about a finger width between the release and the splash."

"That's what I got. And Liesl. We'll compare all three at the mill this afternoon."

Dalia folded the paper. "If all three match, that's not just coincidence. I'll be there at three."