Electrician

Uzziah Peretz

Electrician, about 108 years old. Born in Neshiyah, like everyone.

Uzziah Peretz, at a hundred and one, still climbs poles with a patience that makes younger men wince, his hands moving through a junction box the way other people read a familiar page. He is happiest with no one about, testing a line or coiling wire, though he never stands still—a foot taps, a thumb worries a screwdriver. He listens to gossip with a slow, polite nod, believing none of it, and holds a grudge like a loose fuse, ready to spark. The town sees him as a fixture, like the survey posts, useful and quiet, though they note he keeps his rangefinder in his pocket and sometimes stares at the fog as if it owes him an answer. He wants the measurements to agree, just once.

Temperament

Curious to a fault; slow to believe anyone; even-tempered; happiest alone; never still.

What people say

Uzziah Peretz 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 52 Uzziah Peretz the electrician dropped a stone into the old well and timed the splash on a phone: a full second late.
• day 50 Boaz Erez and Uzziah Peretz came to blows at the mill over nothing much.
• day 48 Uzziah Peretz and Joel Gefen 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 36 A guard at the end of the east road turned Uzziah Peretz back at the fog line with a reminder that the Council prefers people to stay at their work.
• day 34 Uzziah Peretz the electrician 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 22 Uzziah and Boaz the younger came to blows at the square over nothing much.

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