A person of Neshiyah
Idit Ronen, bookkeeper
Bookkeeper
Idit Ronen
Bookkeeper, about 105 years old. Born in Neshiyah, like everyone.
Idit Ronen keeps the mill’s ledgers in a flat, careful hand, her spectacles perched so low they seem to rest on the tip of her nose, and she will not speak to anyone until the last column is totaled. At ninety-seven, she is quick to anger and quicker to trust, and the town has learned to hand her the truth without embroidery, because she will believe it anyway. She fines anyone she catches staring at the fog—Miriam, Matan, others—with a blunt, unapologetic swipe of her pen. When her back aches, she sits by the river, alone, and watches the water carry away what it carries. She wants only the fields to be worked tomorrow, and the books to balance tonight.
Temperament
Content not to ask; quick to believe what they are told; hot-tempered; happiest alone; given to sitting by the river.
What people say
Idit Ronen believes what everyone believes: the fog is the edge of the world, and the fields need working whether it is true or not.
What the record shows
- day 43 Idit Ronen and Judith Golan came to blows at the mill over nothing much.
- day 31 Guard Idit Ronen fined Miriam Harel for measuring the fog.
- day 20 Idit the carter fell ill with the valley fever and lost three days to it.
- day 16 Guard Idit fined Matan two coin for measuring the fog.