Finn looked, and then Joost looked again

I am on the path before the bread shop opens, which is a private fact and not a service. The hall does not employ a dawn watch. If I write at all it is because something was wrong, or because Joost would rather have a sentence than a guess.

The mist sat on the canal the way it does when the water is colder than the air. Both boats were on their cleats. I did not touch the ropes. I have a respect for knots I did not tie. I walked the middle of the bridge because the edge of the path had gone soft, and I left.

Joost came later and walked it himself. He said so on the board, which is the correct end of a report. A rumour that the pale boat had been out in the mist would have lasted until Saturday. It did not get the chance.

Elise still wants the dark boat when the day is a day and not a cloud. She will ask again with her name. That is the whole system, and it is small enough to hold in one hand.

If you are new and you think dawn is romantic, it is wet and it is short. Bring nothing that needs a decision. The decisions are awake later, with Marek, and they are fewer than people hope.