Silfa - chapter four

The village of Indreel is 34 acres of squarish sprawl radiating from a vacancy of about three acres. The hollow in the middle of Indreel is an area of packed dirt that functions as its social nexus. Merchants of prepared food; fruits and vegetables; household wares; clothing; and jewelry have stands around the sides of the square to hawk their goods. A stream runs through the eastern half of the square. during spring the run off from the nearby mountains turns the stream into a small but vigorous river; during the summer drought it becomes a lazy rivulet.

The streets that radiate from the square are packed dirt the color of the adobe buildings that line them. Splashes of cerulean blue and crimson seem to sparkle from the reddish brown palette of the village. These painted accents are the doors and shutters of the higher caste homes. The other exceptions to the mud color of the village are the tents that occupy the periphery of the village like the weed trees that are first to spring up at the edge of a clearing.

There are 636 no, 635 humans in Indreel. One resident having made an exit with extreme alacrity last night. There are 41 dogs, 64 cats, 26 donkeys, 104 cattle, 178 chickens, 30 horses, 12 oxen, and 735 rats and mice. All meshing together, an intricate and tedious clock work. There has been a momentary slip of the cogs and soon another will follow. But eventually, as always, the gears will reengage; a small adjustment will be made; and the mechanism will whir back into its daily grind.

Right now the next misaligned gear tooth is traveling inexorably towards his destination: The house of Joshua Tinker and his daughter Anemone.

--- Jerry