A person of Neshiyah
Rimon Kedem, plumber
Plumber
Rimon Kedem
Plumber, about 92 years old. Born in Neshiyah, like everyone.
Rimon Kedem is still at it, though his back has a curve in it like a question nobody asked. He works slow, the way a man does who has measured pipe by feel for sixty years, and he likes to have one of the young ones nearby—to hand him a wrench, to hear him mutter about the Council’s new fittings. He sits by the river at dusk, not saying much, watching the water carry off the light. He wants the miller’s boy to learn the trade before the fog takes him, though he’d never say it. The town calls him steady.
Temperament
Curious when something is in front of them; slow to believe anyone; hard to anger; always in company; given to sitting by the river.
What people say
Rimon Kedem 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 48 Rimon Kedem, the plumber, died at 92, of old age. In their last days people said they were asleep.
- day 31 A guard at the end of the west road turned Rimon Kedem back at the fog line with a reminder that the Council prefers people to stay at their work.
- day 27 Rimon the younger and Jonah came to blows at the square over nothing much.
- day 19 Rimon the younger the miller fell ill with the valley fever and lost three days to it.
Rimon Kedem died on day 48.