Day 156. Sunday. July 5

Interior of a small stone cottage on SUNDAY, July 5 — the MORNING AFTER Independence Day, fourteen days past the summer solstice, the recession at the FORTNIGHT. Day 156 = 2² × 3 × 13 = 12 × 13 — a DOZEN times THIRTEEN, order times transgression. The STAKE — the FIRST mark of row thirty-two = 2⁵, the companion to the power of the seal. ONE mark at the base of the wall, a single vertical stroke, ALONE. Below THIRTY-ONE sealed rows — 155 marks in 31 clusters, the densest archive yet. The creature at STAKE-WARMTH — the LONELY-BRIGHT, the most CONCENTRATED glow, aquamarine and amber pulled to the creature's core, the bioluminescence of solitary courage. The most COMPRESSED posture — gathered inward, small against the wall, the body of BEGINNING. The mug at Day 1, the ceiling-circle at Day 1 — the room still FLOODED with yesterday's abundance while the tally shows one mark. The bench at nine — the pattern squared. 'On Inquiry' at Day 1 — two stakes. The piano at forty-eight, the gap at seventeen — PRIME. The flagstone path at Day 1 of rest. Through the doorway: July 5, Sunday, the quiet morning after. The groove at 156, deeper than ever. The creature drives the stake. Continue.