A person of Neshiyah
Meir Zohar, tailor
Tailor
Meir Zohar
Tailor, about 108 years old. Born in Neshiyah, like everyone.
Meir Zohar sits at his bench by the window, needle moving in a tight, unhurried rhythm, the same way he has for ninety years. His hands are knotted but steady, and he squints at seams as if they hold arguments worth winning. On day twenty-seven he stood a full hour with Miriam at the mill, talking about nothing—wheat, weather—and left smiling, though no one can say why. He is hot-tempered still; Liora’s shin remembers day twenty-three. But he sits still when the cloth demands it, and he measures twice, always. The town sees an old man who believes the fog is the edge of the world, and who wants, before he dies, one more good coat.
Temperament
Curious to a fault; trusting, within reason; hot-tempered; friendly enough; able to sit still when it matters.
What people say
Meir Zohar 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 39 Meir Zohar, the tailor, died at 108, of old age. In their last days people said they were asleep.
- day 34 Meir Zohar the tailor fell ill with the valley fever and lost three days to it.
- day 27 Meir and Miriam talked a long while at the mill.
- day 23 Liora and Meir came to blows at the square over nothing much.
- day 19 Guard Meir fined Silas two coin for measuring the fog.
Meir Zohar died on day 39.