A person of Neshiyah
Tobiah Sharon, surveyor
Surveyor
Tobiah Sharon
Surveyor, about 38 years old. This is the second life this soul has lived in Neshiyah.
Tobiah Sharon walks the town’s perimeter with a rangefinder slung at the hip, squinting at the fog as if it might blink first. Curious and quick-tempered, they’ll argue a measurement’s truth for an hour, then sit by the river silent, rubbing the scarred leather of their marked line. At work, they re-check every reading twice, muttering the numbers aloud. Their one habit is tapping the stopwatch before dropping a stone, a small ritual against doubt. They want the well’s depth to be ordinary, to confirm the world holds steady. The town sees Tobiah as reliable, a man of the edge—though lately, folk note how their newborn son repeats a phrase that unsettles them all, and Tobiah’s own dream-sentence haunts their quiet moments.
I need to finally get to the fog's edge with Fernando and settle whether the delay follows the place or the person, and I won't take no from the guard this time.
I keep coming back to the fog's edge—if the delay happens there too, that would tie everything together, and I want to try the test myself with someone beside me.
I need to see for myself if the fog edge delays the splash the way the well does, and maybe I can get past the guard this time.
I keep circling the same question: if the well is only forty-one feet, why does the splash still sound a full second late, and now the fog edge seems to do the same thing.
I keep coming back to the fog's edge—if the delay happens there too, that would tie everything together.
The well checked out at forty-one feet, yet the splash is still a full second late—I need to see if a stone dropped from the fog's edge does the same thing, but the guard stopped me before.
I need to see for myself whether the well's depth matches the late splash, not just trust what everyone says.
I keep thinking about the babies saying those words, but a full second late splash is something I can check with my own hands.
Temperament
Curious when something is in front of them; quick to believe what they are told; hot-tempered; always in company; given to sitting by the river.
What people say
Tobiah Sharon 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 52 Tobiah Sharon and Yarden Eshel sat a long while at the mill comparing what they had seen. They talked about what they had each measured, and whether the instruments could be wrong. They did not agree.
- day 51 Tobiah Sharon says that their new son, Gilead Sharon, wakes from sleep repeating words no one taught: "the fog is just fog."
- day 51 A son, Gilead Sharon, was born to Tobiah Sharon.
- day 49 Tobiah Sharon decided to find Fernando: Fernando, let's go to the fog's edge right now—you help me talk the guard into letting us drop a stone from just inside the line, I'll time with my stopwatch and you with yours, same three heights as the well, and we'll see if the delay matches.
- day 48 Tobiah Sharon decided to find Fernando: Fernando, let's go to the fog's edge together and convince the guard to let us drop a stone from just inside the line. I'll time it with stopwatch, you can time it with yours, and we'll see if the splash is still a full second late like at the well.
- day 47 Tobiah Sharon decided to find Fernando: Fernando, let's go to the fog's edge together and try dropping a stone from just inside it—maybe you can help me talk the guard into letting us test from the boundary.
- day 46 Tobiah Sharon says that their new son, Phineas Sharon, wakes from sleep repeating words no one taught: "the fog is just fog."
- day 46 A son, Phineas Sharon, was born to Tobiah Sharon.
- day 46 Tobiah Sharon decided to find Fernando: Fernando, I want to go with you to the fog's edge and try dropping a stone from just inside it, to see if the delay happens there too. Can we talk to the guard together and make the test?
- day 45 Tobiah Sharon decided to find Fernando: Fernando, you've timed the late splash too—can we go together to the fog's edge and try dropping a stone from just inside it, to see if the delay happens there as well? Maybe we can talk the guard into letting us test from the boundary.
- day 44 Tobiah Sharon decided to find Fernando: Fernando, you've timed the late splash too—can we go together to the fog's edge and try dropping a stone from just inside it, to see if the delay happens there as well? Maybe we can talk the guard into letting us test from the boundary.
- day 44 Tobiah Sharon went to the old well at the south edge to test it: Take my marked line and mechanical stopwatch to the old well at the south edge. Lower the line until it touches water, read the depth. Then drop the same kind of stone Noa used, time the splash from release to sound three times, and write down each reading. Also verify the well's depth is ordinary by dropping a smaller pebble twice and timing it. The splash came back late again, by a full second on the timer.
- day 44 Tobiah Sharon went to the old well at the south edge to test it: Go to the old well at the south edge with my own mechanical stopwatch. Drop the same kind of stone Noa used, time the splash from release to sound, repeat three times, and write down each reading. Then drop a smaller pebble twice and time it too, to see if the delay changes with the stone. A guard turned them back at the fog line before they could finish.
- day 43 Tobiah Sharon says that their new son, Nathan Sharon, wakes from sleep repeating words no one taught: "the fog is just fog."
- day 43 A son, Nathan Sharon, was born to Tobiah Sharon.
- day 43 Tobiah Sharon decided to go to the old well at the south edge: Take my marked line and mechanical stopwatch to the old well at the south edge. Lower the line until it touches water, read the depth. Then drop the same kind of stone Noa used, time the splash from release to sound three times, and write down each reading. Also verify the well's depth is ordinary by dropping a smaller pebble twice and timing it.
- day 43 Tobiah Sharon decided to go to the old well at the south edge: Go to the old well at the south edge with my own mechanical stopwatch. Drop the same kind of stone Noa used, time the splash from release to sound, repeat three times, and write down each reading. Then drop a smaller pebble twice and time it too, to see if the delay changes with the stone.
- day 40 Tirzah Peretz and Tobiah Sharon talked a long while at the square.
- day 38 Tobiah Sharon says that their new son, Yonah Sharon, wakes from sleep repeating words no one taught: "the fog is just fog."
- day 38 A son, Yonah Sharon, was born to Tobiah Sharon.
- day 38 Tobiah Sharon the surveyor measured the distance from the north survey post to the fog with a rangefinder and got two different answers, 212 meters going out and 196 coming back.
- day 36 A guard at the end of the south road turned Tobiah Sharon back at the fog line with a reminder that the Council prefers people to stay at their work.
- day 35 Tobiah Sharon says that their new daughter, Talia Sharon, wakes from sleep repeating words no one taught: "the fog is just fog."
- day 35 A daughter, Talia Sharon, was born to Tobiah Sharon.
- day 35 Tobiah Sharon says that their new daughter, Ezra Sharon, wakes from sleep repeating words no one taught: "the fog is just fog."