A page of The Leaf With One Side, a gamebook. Pick a line at the bottom to go on, or start at the beginning.
Print While You Wait
A red lamp over a switch on the wall is out. Outside the window the antenna stands with the grackles back on its crossbars, shouting. On the desk lies a blank sheet of paper. It is warm, and the desk is not.
In the wall above the desk a speaker with a cloth front is on. It is not hissing.
A man's voice counts, footsteps on gravel under it: seventeen, eighteen, nineteen. Then nothing, for as long as a breath. Then iron clattering, a hand press thumping, a stove lid ringing, and a boy's voice over them: Print while you wait. Then nothing. Then a woman, low and flat, reading a list: Three schools. The library. A church in Dove Springs.
- Follow the man counting over the gravel.
- Follow the clatter down to the market.
- Follow the woman reading the list of buildings. (for now this door opens on Three Deep)
- Leave the speaker on, go down to the street, and on to the ice house.
The book · Colophon and credits
Spot a word that sounds off, or a fact that is wrong? Write to studio@releaf.site and we will fix it, and thank you by name if you like.