When the blacksmith and his striker are working hard in the forge on the hill, the ground vibrates. The air vibrates. The salt shakes out of the air. Unless you see the crystals on the ground at the end of the day, you know you could have worked harder. The day our father showed my brother the crystals on the ground was the proudest day of my brother's life. My brother showed me where the crystals covered the ground. The crystals were deep enough for my brother to leave his tracks. I told my brother that our father must have poured the salt on the ground. Our father poured the salt when my brother was not looking. My brother struck my face. I woke up on the ground. My mouth tasted like iron. The ground was vibrating. The air was vibrating. I lay looking up at the summer sky. The brightness was made of tiny points like crystals. I did not mean to hurt my brother by telling him our father poured the salt on the ground. I do not know why my brother was hurt. I never heard our father tell stories about salt. I would have been happy if our father showed me the salt he poured on the ground. I would not have cared that it did not shake from the air, not if our father had put it on the ground for me to see.
5
After I buy the meat and the bread I think about where to go. I have been gone from the forge for much of the day. It should not have taken so long to buy the meat and the bread. I am very slow. I am developing too slowly. Our father did not take an interest in me. He could tell that I would be slow. I should not be my brother's striker. The striker must surpass the blacksmith. I will never surpass my brother. It is too bad I am his only relative. My brother should have a son. How will my brother have a son? He has taken responsibility for the forge. The forge requires all of his attention. Once my brother has expanded the forge, the forge will require even more attention. If the improvements my brother makes are labor-saving improvements, perhaps the improvements will free up time for my brother. But my brother will have to take responsibility for the labor-saving improvements. This new responsibility will occupy the time freed up by the improvements. My brother will be angry I wasted time looking for the doctor's office. I will tell my brother that there was a long line at the bakery. Foreigners enjoy the pastries typical to our region. The bakery is thriving. The baker has raised the prices. Only the foreigners buy the pastries. Before foreigners began visiting our town, the bakery did not need to bake any pastries. Now the baker bakes more pastries than loaves of bread. The baker raised the price of the loaves of bread so that the loaves of bread cost nearly as much as the pastries. The pastries do not seem expensive when you consider the price of bread.
I return to the wharves. Maybe I will recognize the doctor's dead end street. It is pleasant to walk around by the wharves. Foreigners are eating pastries in the sunshine. Seagulls circle the foreigners. The older foreigners have ivory-topped canes. They threaten the seagulls with their canes. They gesture feebly with their canes. The older foreigners are not so old that they need to gesture so feebly. It is obvious that the older foreigners do not mind the seagulls. The younger foreigners carry notebooks. They take notes in their notebooks. From the expressions on their faces, they consider the town a good risk for investment. They shake pastry crumbs for the seagulls. The fish sellers do not like that the foreigners shake crumbs for the seagulls. Seagulls are a nuisance. The town has an ordinance against feeding the seagulls. The fish sellers will not report the foreigners. The foreigners create small nuisances but they have made the town prosperous. The fish sellers are selling cases of fish to the foreigners. The fish lie in rows on the ice. Their mouths are open. Their eyes and their scales are bright. The fish sellers get a good price for the fish. I had never thought that the town could become prosperous. The faded buildings give the town a dilapidated look. The town is not dilapidated. Paint peels immediately because of the salts. The faded buildings are not neglected. Some of the buildings are new. I do not remember all of these buildings from my previous walks by the wharves. They must be new. The new buildings make it hard for me to find the doctor's street. The foreigners like the dilapidated look of the town. The town is actually quite safe. The dilapidation is typical of the region. It is picturesque and not an impediment to growth.
I wander away from the wharves to the center of the town. The streets are wider in the center of the town. I stand in the middle of the street. I have my back to the bay. Nothing blocks the view of the forge. The crest of the hill is bare. Our father cut the trees for charcoal. There is smoke in the blue sky above the forge. I can hear my brother working high above the town. The sounds travel on the air. I am hungry from my walk. I eat all of the loaf of bread I bought from the baker. I eat standing in the middle of the street. I am very hungry. I look through the display windows of the buildings. One of the buildings displays hammers in the window. The display is of a high quality. Hammers are mounted on hooks that fit through holes in a board. The hammers have different colored handles. Other than the colors of the handles the hammers are the same. The difference between the hammers is purely decorative. I enter the building. It is a hardware store. There are bins of machined nails and bolts. The clerk tries to speak with me. I will not speak to the clerk. I leave the store immediately. It is urgent that I return to the forge, but I have no bread. I go again to the bakery. The doctor enters the bakery as the baker hands me the loaf of bread in a paper bag. I wait for the doctor to make his purchase. The doctor does not look at me. He buys seeded rolls. I am too embarrassed to speak to the doctor, but I follow him back to his office. I pay attention to the turns the doctor makes. The doctor's office is at the end of a dead end street. There are bundles of newspapers outside of the office next door to the doctor's. I do not know how I would have forgotten that the doctor's office is next door to the newspaper office. The newspaper office must have moved. I do not think the newspaper office was located on a dead end street. Now that the doctor has gone into his office the street is empty. I pull a newspaper from a bundle and slide it into the bag with the bread.
6
I retrace my steps to the bakery but I make a mistake. I do not remember this intersection. I choose a street. The streets by the wharves are narrow and winding. I end up back by the bay. Now I am farther from the forge than I was when I followed the doctor to his office. I pass the muddy stretch on the edge of the bay. The knife with the broken blade is lying on the mud. All around the knife the mud is deeply gouged. There must have been a great struggle on the mud, a struggle for the knife. I slide the knife into the bag with the bread. I examine a dead fish on the mud. If its scales were bright I would pry off the scales with the broken blade of the knife, but the scales are dull. I leave the knife in the bag. Something moves by the hull of an overturned boat. A soldier is crouching by the overturned boat. He gestures. I cannot interpret the gesture of the soldier. The gesture must be a command. I hurry to the soldier. I have never seen a soldier crouched by a boat in the mud. The soldier stands as I approach. His hair and beard are very long, and his uniform is all one piece. I realize the soldier is a monk from the peninsula.