The claimant had been surprised to see that there was only ever one person in any given house. None of the people ever went beyond the fence that surrounded each house, and he never saw them speaking or calling out. The examiner said that it was natural. There are people, she said, who require no more than that it rains sometimes.
He asked her if it was like this everywhere. To that, she replied, where is this everywhere? And when he had been quiet for a while, she said, there are many places where people live together with other people. It is to a place like that — it’s to such a place you are headed.
~ ~ ~
ONE DAY, the examiner came into the claimant’s room as he was turning down the lamp.
— Shall I tell you about tomorrow, she asked.
— Please.
— Tomorrow we will wake. You will wake and I will wake. You will dress and I will dress. We will convene downstairs in the kitchen, and whoever is there first will put the kettle on to boil. We will sit and listen for the kettle, and make tea, and have some small breakfast. Then we will go out on the porch, where a great business will occur. Tomorrow, we shall speak about names.
— Names?
— For now, I will say no more, save this: think as you go off to sleep — why does any thing have any particular name?
~ ~ ~
— NAMES, SAID THE EXAMINER. Names. What is this?
— A spoon.
— And this?
— A shoe.
— And what of me?
— You are the examiner.
— Is that my name?
The claimant waited.
— What is your name? she asked.
— I don’t have a name.
— You once had a name, she said. When you were sick, you had a name. But that name was forfeited — given up. Now you shall have a new name, but not a real name, a practice name. Do you know why you shall have a practice name? It is because tomorrow we shall go to another village. We are going to live in a new place, and there you will meet people.
She saw his expression change, and altered her tone.
— Oh, don’t worry about that. You are concerned. You have become tied to this house, is that it?
He nodded.
— Well, what if I were to tell you that we have already moved twice in the time that I have known you? What if I were to tell you that this is the third village we have been in — and now we are going to the fourth?
— The third? But…
— In the first village, there was just a house. The first village is just a single house. When we were there, we never left. It is called the gentlest village, because it is a house, and everything that can be seen from that house. The second village was the place from which we walked out one day. You may remember it — you picked a daisy and cried when I told you that you’d killed it. Then we put it in a vase in the kitchen and it lived for a week very beautifully before shriveling to nothing. Do you remember that?
He nodded.
— Well, in that place, you recall, we occasionally saw a person through a window. How is it that things are here?
— We see people through windows, and in the yards.
— That’s so. And do you not see that there are many many more people than there were before?
He nodded.
— Even, once, he said, I spoke to someone.
— You did, she said. You approached one of the gardeners where he was working, and you spoke out loud to him. Do you remember what happened then?
— He didn’t reply.
— No, he didn’t, he couldn’t reply. He was a person who no longer wants to speak. His labor is enough for him. But, listen. In the next village, the people you speak to, they will speak back to you. But, listen, she said again. This is how it will be in the next village: you shall be called Martin Rueger. That is your name. It is not your final name. It is a name for you to wear like a fine new coat. If it is ill suited, or if you spoil it, we shall go to another place and try again with another name. We are testing the waters and learning things. We are learning how you may do with others. Do you see?
— Martin, he said. Martin Rueger. It is a good name. And…
— Yes?
— What is your name?
— For now it will be Emma Moran.
— If someone looks like me, does that mean it is likely their name…
He sat a moment, working the thought out in his head.
— Does it mean their name will be somewhat like mine? Like spoons or knives?
— Each person has a name. The point of it is this — to make it easier to talk about things, especially things that aren’t present. Names are much less important than people think. They aren’t really important at all. You and I get by for instance most of the time without talking at all — isn’t that so?
The claimant nodded.
— But for you, it is a very nice thing now, to receive a name. That’s because it is the occasion of our move to a new village where you will meet other people. The name is a symbol of your progress.
— How will I remember it?
— I will remember it for you — just point to your ear if you want me to use it in a sentence.
~ ~ ~
3
THE EXAMINER and the claimant were sitting in a room. It was a large room, a sort of town hall. There were some tables with food on them. There was a band set up at one end playing music. There were some couples dancing. On one side of the claimant there was a large fat man who had said a few things out loud to the claimant. The claimant had not said anything back. The man was using suspenders on his pants, and the claimant was having some thought about suspenders, and also trying to stay as near to the wall as possible. The examiner would tap his chair occasionally to remind him that she was there.
In fact, right at that moment, two people were standing in front of them. A man and a woman were standing there. The man was about the same age as the claimant, and the woman was younger. They were both very handsome. The man’s arms and legs were strong and his hair was very full. The woman was very slender and her face had many possibilities. Looking at her, one could imagine many scenes.
These people had been standing there some time. The examiner was speaking to them.
At some point, the claimant realized that they had been addressing him. Many of the questions had been directed at him. The conversation had been going on for some time, and he had been failing to be a part of it.
At that moment, the old woman tapped his chair and the conversation began again from the beginning.
— Hello, said the claimant.
— Martin, said the young woman, I believe we met before, the other day in the market? Do you remember my name?
The claimant looked at her.
— It’s Hilda. Hilda.
She repeated it and her tongue leapt off the a of Hilda in a pleasing sort of way.
— Hilda, he said.
— That’s right. And this is Martin, my husband.
The claimant looked at Martin in confusion.
— Yes, said Martin, we have the same name. Sort of a coincidence, I’d say.
He reached out and shook the claimant’s hand. This shaking of hands was strange but pleasant. When the man had taken his hand back, Martin reached out and took it again to shake it some more. He shook it a bit and everyone laughed.
— You see, said Hilda, it made it easy for me to remember your name. All I have to do is remember, Martin, and I have two places to use it. I can use it for you, she said, indicating the claimant, and for you, smiling at the man.