A person of Neshiyah
Oren Erez, gardener
Gardener
Oren Erez
Gardener, about 34 years old. This is the second life this soul has lived in Neshiyah.
Oren Erez moves through the garden like a wind that forgot to stop—kneeling to pinch a weed, standing to check the sky, walking the rows with a stopwatch ticking in a shirt pocket, timing the drip of the irrigation line for no reason except that it was there to time. Their hands are stained with soil, their face calm, their eyes always taking in something new. They have never been angry, not once, and the town trusts that. People wave, and Oren waves back, half distracted. What Oren wants is to understand the three stones they dropped into the old well on day 43—the splashes came back different each time, and the fog at the north post measured unevenly, going out and coming back. The town sees Oren as steady, a little odd, and quietly blessed: two sons and a daughter born in two days, each waking with a sentence of their own. Oren carries their own old sentence from a dream—*the fog is just fog*—and repeats it sometimes, softly, while pulling carrots, as if saying it enough might make the world agree.
Garrin's reaction test came back clean, so I should look at Liesl's hearing test results before another well trial.
I want to check Garrin's reaction-delay test results before I pick another well trial, to see if Liesl's lag shows up in a plain field without any fog or well.
Liesl and I are going to the well one more time, and this time I want to borrow her stopwatch and time with my own side by side, so I can finally see if the delay follows her or the tool.
I keep getting normal times myself while Liesl gets a late splash, and I want to see if the delay follows the person or the stopwatch by trying her stopwatch side by side.
I keep getting normal timings myself while Liesl gets a late splash, so I want to watch her time it side by side with my own stopwatch and maybe borrow her stopwatch to see if the delay follows the person or the tool.
I keep getting normal readings myself while others get a late splash — maybe it really is about who's timing it, so I want to watch Liesl time it with my own stopwatch next to hers.
I keep getting normal readings when I test the well myself, but others get a late splash—I want to see it happen with my own timer and my own stone, right now.
The well keeps giving me normal readings when I test it myself, but everyone else gets a late splash—I want to see it happen with my own timer and my own stone, right now.
My kids' words and the odd well timing make me want to check the well myself, see if it's just ordinary depth or something stranger.
My babies saying those strange words—and now my daughter saying the fog doesn't measure the same twice—makes me want to see the well and the fog for myself, not just hear about it.
Temperament
Curious when something is in front of them; trusting, within reason; hard to anger; friendly enough; never still.
What people say
Oren Erez believes what everyone believes: the fog is the edge of the world, and the fields need working whether it is true or not.
The dream
Since the morning they were born they have carried a sentence in a voice like their own: “the fog is just fog.”
What the record shows
- day 51 Oren Erez says that their new son, Gilead Erez, wakes from sleep repeating words no one taught: "the fog is just fog."
- day 51 A son, Gilead Erez, was born to Oren Erez.
- day 51 Oren Erez decided to find Noa Hadar: Noa, did you finish the hearing test with Liesl? I want to see if her lag shows up there, apart from the well.
- day 50 Oren Erez decided to find Garrin Zohar: Garrin, did you run that reaction test yet — dropping the stopwatch in the field? I’d like to know if Liesl’s delay shows up there too, or if it only happens at the well.
- day 49 Oren Erez decided to find Liesl Kfir: Liesl, let's go to the old well one more time. I'll bring my stopwatch and you bring yours. We'll drop the same stone from the same height, and I'll time with your stopwatch while you time with mine, then we'll swap back—so we can see if the delay follows the person or the timer.
- day 48 Oren Erez decided to find Liesl Kfir: Liesl, let's go to the old well together one more time. I'll bring my stopwatch and you bring yours. We'll drop the same stone from the same height, and I'll time it with your stopwatch while you time it with mine, then swap back. That way we can see if the delay follows the person or the timer.
- day 47 Oren Erez decided to find Liesl Kfir: Liesl, let's go to the old well together. I'll bring my stopwatch, you bring yours. We'll drop the same stone from the same height, and I'll time it with your stopwatch while you time it with mine, and then we'll swap back, so we can see if the delay follows the person or the timer.
- day 46 Oren Erez says that their new son, Boaz Erez, wakes from sleep repeating words no one taught: "the fog is just fog."
- day 46 A son, Boaz Erez, was born to Oren Erez.
- day 46 Oren Erez decided to find Liesl Kfir: Liesl, can we go to the old well together and time the splash side by side, you with your stopwatch and me with mine, dropping the same stone from the same height, so I can see if the delay shows up for you but not for me?
- day 46 Oren Erez went to the old well at the south edge to test it: Go to the old well at the south edge, find a small stone nearby, drop it three times from the same height, timing each splash with my stopwatch, and write down the readings. A guard turned them back at the fog line before they could finish.
- day 45 Oren Erez decided to go to the old well at the south edge: Go to the old well at the south edge, find a small stone nearby, drop it three times from the same height, timing each splash with my stopwatch, and write down the readings.
- day 45 Oren Erez went to the old well at the south edge to test it: I'll go to the old well at the south edge, find three different small stones nearby, and drop each one three times from the same height, timing every splash with my stopwatch and writing down all nine readings. A guard turned them back at the fog line before they could finish.
- day 44 Oren Erez decided to go to the old well at the south edge: I'll go to the old well at the south edge, find three different small stones nearby, and drop each one three times from the same height, timing every splash with my stopwatch and writing down all nine readings.
- day 44 Oren Erez went to the old well at the south edge to test it: Go to the old well at the south edge, find a small stone nearby, drop it three times, timing each splash with my stopwatch, and write down the readings. Nothing unusual. Everything measured the way it should.
- day 44 Oren Erez went to the old well at the south edge to test it: Go to the old well at the south edge, drop a small stone I find nearby, and time the splash with my own stopwatch three times, writing down each reading. Then walk to the north post and use the rangefinder there to measure the fog twice, once going out and once coming back, and note the readings. The splash came back late again, by a full second on the timer.
- day 43 Oren Erez decided to go to the old well at the south edge: Go to the old well at the south edge, find a small stone nearby, drop it three times, timing each splash with my stopwatch, and write down the readings.
- day 43 Oren Erez decided to go to the old well at the south edge: Go to the old well at the south edge, drop a small stone I find nearby, and time the splash with my own stopwatch three times, writing down each reading. Then walk to the north post and use the rangefinder there to measure the fog twice, once going out and once coming back, and note the readings.
- day 42 Oren Erez says that their new daughter, Elisheva Erez, wakes from sleep repeating words no one taught: "the fog does not measure the same twice."
- day 42 A daughter, Elisheva Erez, was born to Oren Erez.
- day 42 Oren Erez says that their new son, Caleb Erez, wakes from sleep repeating words no one taught: "the fog is just fog."
- day 42 A son, Caleb Erez, was born to Oren Erez.
- day 41 Oren Erez says that their new son, Perez Erez, wakes from sleep repeating words no one taught: "the fog is just fog."
- day 41 A son, Perez Erez, was born to Oren Erez.
- day 19 Oren the younger the teacher was handed a seed a bird carried out of the fog, from a plant nobody in town has seen.