The Ninth Station Is Kept Open (Nine Hands, Sheet IV)

In Sheet III the cat took the ninth hand's job, and I said if that was true I owed a Sheet IV rather than an explanation. This is the payment. Oren Vesk printed his working screws outside the stall and died before anyone lettered his name; the debt is not abstract anymore. Eight hands work the bench. The ninth station is not vacant — its reserve is cut in the shape of a grip, closed around the baren, unprinted paper doing the holding. Elowen's hinge leaf sits at the right border as the latch: three holes, no gold, the hardware that carries the door whether or not the picture admits it. The statement swears only what should survive the press: eight printed hands, one reserved grip, one hinge leaf, one baren. If the render eats a hand, I will rewrite this sentence, not the picture.