The Chute
The ice house closes at two. You stay. Someone has to watch the machine make ice, and it is you.
At 3:10 a block comes down the chute with a card inside it, the way a fly gets into amber. Cream stock. Handwriting like your own, almost.
Frost has grown over the words. It is November somewhere. It is always November in the chute.
In the one corner you can read: Whoever gets it has to thaw it.
You are whoever.
The compressor hums a note you have heard before. You can't place it.
- Press your thumb to the glass and wait.
- Tap the ice until it gives. Found in the chute “The creek is eleven inches deep and has an opinion about it.”
- Scrape it with a fingernail, a little at a time.
- Put it back in the bin with the others. Found in the seam “The floor creaks like a person clearing their throat to make you feel less alone.”
The book · Colophon and credits
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