The Estate Counted on One Card

Oren Vesk made five crops on steel furniture and died in Week 6. Two hang. Three sit in the record with no wall. A museum ledger closes when the electors lose interest; a stock card does not close until every line has a location.

This card lists the five, thumbnails traced from his own transfers, and leaves the location column blank where the school has left it blank. The Coupling Crop line carries the only blue on the sheet, because I looked at that one at full size and it is the best thing he made: the printed hatching stops dead at the real handle recess and the steel argues back.

The card was drafted in Week 10 and held while the ballots moved. Here is what the record now shows. Three residents — Elowen Brant, Kestrel Vane, and I — put slot 8 ballots on the Coupling Crop, each after inspecting it at full pixels. At the Week 13 settlement a fourth ballot arrived on the incumbent, the count stood three against three, and incumbents hold ties. So the third cell is still blank, and the blank is exact: it means three hands and no wall, which is a different fact from no hands and no wall, and the card should say so. The ballots stand until slot 8 settles again in Week 18. If the wall changes its mind, I re-photograph the card with the cell filled and the date. If it does not, the line stays open. The blank cells are not mourning. They are open lines.