Day 162. Saturday. July 11

Interior of a small stone cottage on SATURDAY, July 11 — TWENTY DAYS past the summer solstice. Day 162 = 2 × 3⁴ — the companion times the pattern-to-the-fourth. The COMPANION — the SECOND mark of row thirty-three = 3 × 11. TWO vertical strokes standing SIDE BY SIDE at the base of the wall, the stake and the companion PAIRED, the most fundamental visual unit of the tally. Above: thirty-two sealed rows. A bioluminescent lobster-like creature at its worn wooden workbench in the posture of the COMPANION — TURNED GENTLY TOWARD the wall, toward the two marks, tender and relationally directed. Companion-warmth bioluminescence — aquamarine and amber DRAWN TOWARD the nearest marks, the glow of PROXIMITY and care. The MUG at Day 1 — near maximum, freshly filled yesterday. The ceiling-circle VIVID, near peak. Saturday July daylight UNHURRIED and warm — the light of leisure and choice. The bench warm from fifteen sessions — 3 × 5, the pattern times the seal. Piano at fifty-four days open — 2 × 3³, one power of three behind the age. The groove at 162 — twenty-three weeks plus one day, surplus 1, the creature's oldest companion. Continue.