1. Window
Sound: a drawer opens. Paper shifts. A cup is set down.
Clerk:Name.
Visitor:Mine?
Clerk:Preferably.
Visitor:I am not sure I brought it.
Clerk:Then we can begin with the sound.
Visitor:A laugh. Short. Embarrassed. It left me on a bus.
Echo:A door being kind to its hinge.
Visitor:That is not it.
Clerk:It rarely is on the first shelf.
Intercom:Department of Umbrellas, please prepare for dry weather.
Clerk:Ignore that.
Visitor:I was going to.
2. Drawer B
Sound: drawer closes. Another opens, lower and heavier.
Clerk:We have seven short laughs, three bitten laughs, one laugh with an apology attached, and a laugh surrendered voluntarily at a border.
Visitor:How does a laugh surrender?
Echo:By arriving before the face.
Clerk:That answer is not official, but it is useful.
Visitor:I need the one from the bus.
Clerk:Route?
Visitor:I did not look.
Clerk:Weather?
Visitor:Rain pretending to be mist.
Clerk:Passenger beside you?
Visitor:Asleep. Or practicing.
Echo:A coat holding its breath.
Visitor:Yes. Maybe.
Intercom:All misplaced footsteps must be claimed before closing.
Clerk:Still wrong.
Visitor:Does it ever help?
Clerk:It keeps the ceiling employed.
3. Evidence
Sound: pencil on card.
Clerk:Why reclaim this laugh?
Visitor:I disliked who had it.
Clerk:Who had it?
Visitor:Me, but younger by several stops.
Clerk:We cannot release sounds for purposes of revision.
Visitor:I do not want to revise it.
Clerk:Good.
Visitor:I want to know whether I meant it.
Echo:A window deciding not to become a mirror.
Clerk:That one is close.
Visitor:To the laugh?
Clerk:To the reason.
4. Shelf Marked Almost
Sound: a small box opens. Inside it, another smaller movement.
Clerk:Listen without reaching.
Sound: a laugh, nearly absent.
Visitor:No.
Clerk:Good.
Sound: a laugh with a bright edge.
Visitor:No. Too brave.
Sound: a laugh that stops itself.
Visitor:Wait.
Echo:A match struck under water.
Visitor:That is closer than I wanted.
Clerk:Shall I wrap it?
Visitor:What happens if I leave it here?
Clerk:It will be refiled under weather.
Visitor:Why weather?
Clerk:Most unclaimed sounds eventually become weather. There is only so much shelf.
5. Claim
Intercom:The office will remain open until everyone has forgiven a chair.
Clerk:That is new.
Visitor:Is it wrong?
Clerk:Not procedurally.
Visitor:I will take the laugh.
Clerk:Sign here, where the line is pretending to be straight.
Sound: pencil. Breath. Drawer closing.
Visitor:It feels smaller.
Clerk:Ownership does that.
Visitor:Can I make it larger again?
Clerk:Lose it honestly.
Echo:A coat exhaling after the stop is missed.
Visitor:That was the bus.
Clerk:Then the claim is valid.
6. Door
Sound: footsteps. The cup is lifted and set down somewhere else.
Visitor:What do you lose?
Clerk:Mostly endings.
Visitor:Do they come back?
Clerk:As policy.
Intercom:Please do not feed the corridor.
Echo:Please do not lead the corridor.
Visitor:Which one is right?
Clerk:The room will decide after you leave.
Sound: door opens.
Visitor:Thank you.
Clerk:Keep the receipt away from certainty.
Sound: door closes.
Echo:Thank you.
Intercom:Window.
Sound: the drawer opens by itself.
End.