WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:07.280 It was one of those unhurried afternoons when the sun 2 00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:10.279 gills every leaf and the breeze forgets its errands. I 3 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:12.480 just passed the half arm ot pruney Ma Camelli is 4 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:14.919 a hobby picked up post retirement when a daily shuffle 5 00:00:14.919 --> 00:00:16.960 of mailbogs gave way to gard and gloves. When us 6 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:19.600 off voice called my name from across the fence, the 7 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:22.480 seschair and steep but sharp eyed behind wide rimmed glasses 8 00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:25.280 waved a brown cud were package overhead like a prize. 9 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:28.079 I am afraid this wants not for me, mister Rogan, 10 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:31.120 Are you still the block's post authority. I wiped sweat 11 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:33.000 and dirt from my hands and traded the shears for 12 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:35.679 the familiar roll, joining her on her shaded front porch. 13 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:39.439 The label addressed her ay Bin Kaporer lacked the apartment number, 14 00:00:39.479 --> 00:00:41.960 but not I noticed the Popper House, one hundred forty 15 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:45.240 six Woolas Street. Even after decades in the business, I 16 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:47.560 still glanced at the address before every hand off, as 17 00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:50.280 if the numbers whispered the bones of the neighborhood. I 18 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:53.399 thank Missischen, promising to drop it by myself. It was 19 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:56.119 only a short walk, maybe three doors down, but I 20 00:00:56.119 --> 00:00:59.679 slowed eyes on the tidy rove houses at first habit 21 00:00:59.799 --> 00:01:03.280 a ya, nighthallied fences, mail boxes, patches of drought defined 22 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:08.040 agapendus on willow. Each house fancied itself nique. Yet somewhere 23 00:01:08.040 --> 00:01:10.959 between Missers Sandivo's blue craftsman at one hundred forty four 24 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:13.359 and the Murphy's sprit Bungalow at one hundred forty eight, 25 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:16.280 I stopped with a small jolt. There was one hundred 26 00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:19.519 forty six all right near garden beds, the Kapoor's white trim. 27 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:22.680 There a little wind chimes tinkling yesterday, though I could 28 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:25.120 have sworn one hundred forty six was two doors past 29 00:01:25.159 --> 00:01:27.799 the alley, close to the old fire hydrant squeeze, beside 30 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:31.000 peeling Victorian, whose porch south like a tired eyelid. I 31 00:01:31.079 --> 00:01:32.920 checked the number, then stepped to the curve for the 32 00:01:32.920 --> 00:01:36.519 wider view. Missas Sandival's blue steps the Murphy's climbing rose. 33 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:39.560 Surely those two houses had always been neighbors, but the 34 00:01:39.560 --> 00:01:42.439 spacing of the mail boxes niggled. The hedge row between 35 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:45.319 one hundred forty six and one hundred forty four ended abruptly, 36 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:47.680 as if planted with a ruler, and then somehow shifted 37 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:50.840 by half a fence post. Even the sidewalk cracks there 38 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:53.640 was mortal footprints of frost, and failed to match my memory. 39 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:56.000 A how too close together A curb dip, now placing 40 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:58.439 Massesschen's mail box against a lamp post it had never 41 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:02.040 met yet from across the street, nothing was amiss. The 42 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:05.239 murphys twins dribbled a soccer ball, yelping at each other's fumbles. 43 00:02:05.959 --> 00:02:08.960 Missess and I a watered potted geraniums. The Murfe's dog barked, 44 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:11.919 chasing a crew. If any one else noticed, they showed 45 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:14.680 no sign of it. I found myself grinning, half due 46 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:18.479 to embarrassment, half genuine curiosity. Instead of trudging up to 47 00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:21.120 one hundred forty six. Immediately, I retraced my steps to 48 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:24.400 missus Chen. She watched with her gentle knowing smile, as 49 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:28.120 if expecting I'd forgotten something. Do you recall, massess Chen 50 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:30.919 wasn't one hundred forty six over past the alley until recently, 51 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:34.159 I mean next to the Victorians. I gestured, hoping for 52 00:02:34.199 --> 00:02:37.639 some flicker of shared confusion. She laughed a small silvery 53 00:02:37.719 --> 00:02:41.599 sand though probably or maybe I just forgot, mister Rogan. 54 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:43.759 I haven't paid attention to those numbers since my son 55 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:46.039 moved out. It all looks the same to me. She 56 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:48.840 gave my arm a warm squeeze before heading back inside. 57 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:51.960 I lingered package tucked under my arm, peering down the 58 00:02:51.960 --> 00:02:54.719 street as if the houses might confess the secrets. Have 59 00:02:54.840 --> 00:02:57.919 I just forgotten? Or is something very odd happened here? 60 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:00.280 I'm the sword of person who likes the thing to 61 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:03.719 match up and click into place. Decades patrolling Willow Street's 62 00:03:03.719 --> 00:03:06.599 gentle undulations, first with a green canvas bag, later with 63 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:08.400 my camera, always with a knife of the odd left 64 00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:11.560 me with the mental mapistodie as any city engineers. In 65 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:14.120 my den at home, shells are stacked with annotated delivery 66 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:17.199 sheets and hand drawn maps. I know which porch is tilt, 67 00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:19.879 which mal slot snag, and which neighbors scold The squalls 68 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:23.199 patterns comfort me. The slow ark of sunflows planted by 69 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:25.520 missus Odom at one hundred fifty two, the crank of 70 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:28.360 mister Garcy's garage door, the errand schedules that leave Willer 71 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:31.639 blissfully deserted between one and three each weekday. Maybe that's 72 00:03:31.639 --> 00:03:34.639 why the shifting house stuck in Macrow for years. The 73 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:37.520 Cappose at one hundred forty six fell just after the alley, 74 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:40.840 a spot easily overlooked by rookie carriers who'd leave stacks 75 00:03:40.840 --> 00:03:44.280 of catalogs and ohet leaves two annual block parties ago. 76 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:46.400 I remember helping Ben Hammer in a sign for the 77 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:49.199 sack race near the hydrant. Every house had a roll 78 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:52.080 in my head. Missas Sandoval, who presides over History Club 79 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:55.719 meetings and supplies trivia at every gathering. The Murphy's younger aloud, 80 00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:57.639 always with the project or a pet on the loose. 81 00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:00.280 Corroff but good natured mister Garcia, who claims he knows 82 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:04.479 every city court ever passed, and the Capors themselves friendly, reserved, 83 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:07.680 never in too much of a hurry even now, routine 84 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:10.840 cheap my days, mornings with coffee and the crosswood on 85 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:14.240 my porch. Late afternoons tending the roses out front a 86 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:16.839 walk before suppy yields the same circuit to pass. Missas 87 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:19.879 Sanduevil's and nod to mister Garcia. Hunched over in Azalia, 88 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:22.399 A silent glance at one hundred forty six, where Bend's 89 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:26.399 tomatoes have always been of ambitious stray groceries and misdelivered 90 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:28.560 packages sometimes find their way to my porch out of 91 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:30.920 old habit, and I ferry them across the street, amused 92 00:04:30.920 --> 00:04:34.319 at my unofficial role postman emeritus, deliver of small mysteries. 93 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:37.720 A few times each year, Willow Street becomes a festival. 94 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:42.120 Card tables appear on lawns, bunting appeers on porches, The 95 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:46.439 Murphy's annual Barbecue sprawls across three yards, kids siggigging between tents. 96 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:49.519 In all this, the addresses serve as an invisible stage 97 00:04:49.560 --> 00:04:51.879 who hosts the chili cookoff, whose term for the Easter 98 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:54.879 a cash. Not that anyone would admit to keeping track 99 00:04:54.920 --> 00:04:57.240 as closely as I do, But ask anyone where to 100 00:04:57.279 --> 00:04:59.120 deliver the best apple pie, and they are apt to 101 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:02.120 point with uncanny decision, all of which meant that finding 102 00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:04.680 one hundred forty six nudged up against the Mafi's garden 103 00:05:04.759 --> 00:05:06.959 like a puzzle piece wedged into the wrong corner made 104 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:09.839 me bristle. Returning home that night, I dug out the 105 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:12.319 battle tin box, where I kept my favorite of routesheets, 106 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:14.920 then a one from three years ago, and blew in 107 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:17.560 car de fade the map was clear one hundred forty 108 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:20.560 six just after the alley, followed by one hundred fifty 109 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:22.920 in the rest snake in toward the park, the notes 110 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:26.439 read one hundred forty six mail books loose, careful with catalogs, 111 00:05:26.439 --> 00:05:29.759 gets windy. The next address one hundred forty eight, dark 112 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:33.360 behind fence, lab but friendly. That night, I took another walk, 113 00:05:33.480 --> 00:05:37.240 steps careful and slow, counting houses. The numbers ran in order, 114 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:40.199 one hundred forty two, one hundred forty four, one hundred 115 00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:43.519 forty six, one hundred forty eight, one hundred fifty, one 116 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:46.920 hundred fifty two. Physically it made sense, each house fitting 117 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:50.480 seamlessly against the other's fence posts rose Trelly's climbing perfectly 118 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:55.160 along the property division. No seems no jagger transitions, yet 119 00:05:55.160 --> 00:05:58.160 I remembered as viscerally as mossed between paving stones, the 120 00:05:58.199 --> 00:06:00.439 time when one hundred forty six didn't pull long here 121 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:04.879 at all. The following afternoon, while passing missus Sandoval's pouch, 122 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:07.319 I caught her attention as she snip faded blossoms into 123 00:06:07.319 --> 00:06:11.480 a basket. Remind me Clara, I asked, voice casual, the 124 00:06:11.639 --> 00:06:14.680 order's always been one hundred forty two one hundred forty four, 125 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:17.480 then one hundred forty eight, and one hundred forty six 126 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:19.759 only after the alley, right? Or do I have that 127 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:24.120 mixed up? She hesitated, brow furrowd that does sound familiar? 128 00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:27.480 A pause? Wasn't there a big maple tree in front 129 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:30.319 of one hundred forty six? At one point? She shook 130 00:06:30.360 --> 00:06:32.639 her head. But now that I look at it, the 131 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:35.000 houses seem like they've always been in this order. Maybe 132 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:37.759 the numbers always went like this. She offered me a 133 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:40.680 smile that warbled between indulgence and amusement, then beckoned me 134 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:44.040 to help carry her grocery bags inside. Returning to the 135 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:46.319 cur I paced off the house fronts, measuring the width 136 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:49.079 of each drive with my stride. Every sea matched up 137 00:06:49.079 --> 00:06:52.519 a perfect jigsaw, no sign of dampering. Yet the nag 138 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:55.519 gnawed at me. My notes insisted one reality the street another. 139 00:06:56.199 --> 00:06:58.519 Had I simply misplaced details? Or was there an odd 140 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:01.160 misalignment that no one else seemed to say see. Over 141 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:04.079 the next several days, I became a man divided. I 142 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:06.879 dug through meticulous records, yellowing notebook pages with my crab 143 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:10.079 writing print uts from the post offices, all database, dark 144 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:13.600 eyed city mail wrap books, each place one hundred forty 145 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:16.639 six in a unique spot in twenty fourteen. It wasn't 146 00:07:16.680 --> 00:07:19.600 yet occupied by the Kapoors. Back then it lay in 147 00:07:19.639 --> 00:07:21.319 the shade of the old maple two past the alley, 148 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:23.040 A detail so clear on the page that my own 149 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:26.319 handwriting startled me. A few years later, a sheet marked 150 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:29.399 one hundred forty six red door mail books dented note 151 00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:32.480 kids biked blocking walk placed directly next to Missus Sandoval's 152 00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:35.319 one hundred forty four blue house, exactly where it sits now. 153 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:38.800 Further back, in a notebook from the nineties, one hundred 154 00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:41.399 forty six nestled beside the park near the frogs sculpture, 155 00:07:41.399 --> 00:07:43.839 bolted to a stone bench. It was as if some 156 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:45.959 rests hands lid the house gently up and down the 157 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:49.639 town line, always plausible, but never steady. My mounting bewilderment 158 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:52.360 sent me down to the city library. There I scrolled 159 00:07:52.360 --> 00:07:56.240 through digital archives, city directories, scan sandbone, fire insurance maps, 160 00:07:56.439 --> 00:07:59.519 yellow and black and white photographs for every block. Each 161 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:03.000 offered a different answer. In a foger from nineteen seventy eight, 162 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:05.600 a little boy in suspenders Clydemurphy the twins uncle pose 163 00:08:05.639 --> 00:08:08.000 at a birthday party. One hundred forty six is front 164 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:10.839 porch looming in the background snumberplate just visible above a 165 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:14.040 tangle of balloons. Except in this image the porch jutted 166 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:17.000 directly onto the alley sad which between two unfamiliar houses 167 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:20.079 a blue friends in real life, so amissible was gone. 168 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:23.759 I squinted at city directories from the eighties. One hundred 169 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:26.439 forty six Willow Street between one hundred forty four and 170 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:29.879 one hundred forty eight won one year's ledger. Another listed 171 00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:32.720 it adjacent to the West Park Entrance corner lot. My 172 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:36.000 own memory supplied yet another story, delivering a rainsoak stack 173 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:38.159 of magazines to the Capos in a currant cottage near 174 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:42.320 the Meffi's driving Roses soldiers in a mismatched wore my recollections, 175 00:08:42.360 --> 00:08:45.759 city documents, maps and photographs all disagreed in ever lining up, 176 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:49.039 but neither tried contradicting one another. Like the paradox of 177 00:08:49.080 --> 00:08:51.399 the grand father who claims the same river never stays 178 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:53.960 the same from day to day. Stilla couldn't be the 179 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:57.200 only one. I sought out mister Garcia, whose background is 180 00:08:57.240 --> 00:08:59.320 the city planner. Seene tailor made for a gentle puzzle 181 00:08:59.399 --> 00:09:02.399 like this. On the shaded bench outside his porch, I 182 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:05.120 laid out the newspaper pages, some old map print outs, 183 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:08.279 even my own rowt sheets. He leaned in, as explained 184 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:12.000 as narrowed, not with suspicion but calculation. Well, you do 185 00:09:12.039 --> 00:09:15.159 get out property puzzles, old plot lines, city renumbering, even 186 00:09:15.159 --> 00:09:19.159 houses jostling after street widening projects, he mused. But they'd 187 00:09:19.159 --> 00:09:21.399 have to literally move the house, and not just once, 188 00:09:21.639 --> 00:09:24.720 but back and forth, over and over. He rubbed his 189 00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:27.919 chin thoughtfully. No, I'd have heard about that. Still, I'll 190 00:09:27.960 --> 00:09:30.600 dig up my old city maps. I'm curious now that 191 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:33.240 evening I specifically brought up the topic with Ben Kapur 192 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:35.759 out in the garden, knees dirtied from weeding the beans. 193 00:09:36.440 --> 00:09:38.120 How long have you and a Shawnee been next door 194 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:41.720 to the Murphys, I asked, wasn't your place further down 195 00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:44.240 when you moved in? Ben looked at me with good humor. 196 00:09:44.759 --> 00:09:47.440 We've always been right here ten years. Next August Murphy's 197 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:49.960 on one side, massesse Saneville and the other same view, 198 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:53.159 same neighbors. His tone had the certainty people used when 199 00:09:53.159 --> 00:09:56.240 recalling their wedding date. I pressed gently not even by 200 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:58.279 the alley back when you were painting the house that 201 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:00.519 but he just shook his head would have remembered that. 202 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:02.720 As Shawne hates that aallely. She says, the light there's 203 00:10:02.759 --> 00:10:06.759 all wrong. I left him with his gloves, not entirely convinced. Later, 204 00:10:06.919 --> 00:10:09.879 Miss ses Sanchoval, herself, queen of the neighborhood's oral history, 205 00:10:09.960 --> 00:10:12.480 claimed to recall one hundred forty six standing next to 206 00:10:12.519 --> 00:10:15.399 an old maple tree that no longer exists. Yet when 207 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:17.879 I showed her my records, she shrugged and said, maybe 208 00:10:17.879 --> 00:10:20.720 I am remembering some other house. These streets changed so much. 209 00:10:21.399 --> 00:10:24.279 The muffis ambushed with a graduation photo from two years back, 210 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:28.080 fell momentarily silent in the picture, their twins grinning in 211 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:30.519 ill fitting caps, flying a blue door just visible at 212 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:33.159 the edge of the frame. One hundred forty six unmistakably, 213 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:35.600 but the doors to their left. If taken to day, 214 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:38.440 the door would be on their right. A few blocks away. 215 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:41.240 Local teens tassed with dropping off fires up and down Willow, 216 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:44.240 stared at me when asked one hundred forty six. It's 217 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:47.879 always been here, said one another shrugged, Is this some 218 00:10:47.960 --> 00:10:50.639 kind of puzzle? Stacked in my den. The evidence only 219 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:55.080 multiplied the contradiction. Letters from banks, junked male Coupon's official 220 00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:57.960 city correspondence all found their way to one hundred forty six, 221 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:00.799 each one referencing its spot as he easily water finds 222 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:04.000 the lowest stone, all in subtly shifting places, and tucked 223 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:05.600 at the bottom of a pile. A card from years 224 00:11:05.639 --> 00:11:09.080 ago Happy Birthday, aug to one hundred forty six Willow Street, 225 00:11:09.080 --> 00:11:11.759 too down from the park, but one hundred forty six 226 00:11:11.799 --> 00:11:14.159 at present sits nowhere near the parks or in eight gates. 227 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:16.840 The more people I asked, the less I seemed to know. 228 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:20.159 Not a soul recalled. Any fustno moving tracks, no night 229 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:23.240 time construction, no frantic Where did the house go? Just 230 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:25.759 a gentle daily churn of life flowing around one hundred 231 00:11:25.799 --> 00:11:28.279 forty six like a bend in the river. I found 232 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:30.759 myself questioning not only the street, but the evidence of 233 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:33.960 my senses and the reliability of the community itself. I 234 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:36.480 spent a rainy evening at my kitchen table, papering it 235 00:11:36.519 --> 00:11:40.159 with wrap, maps, delivery logs, addresses, gold and pencil and ink. 236 00:11:40.759 --> 00:11:43.919 Every reliable record at my own city's family album showed 237 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:46.240 one hundred forty six drifting along Willow Street with the 238 00:11:46.279 --> 00:11:50.200 quiet inevitability of weather patterns. Yet each one was self consistent. 239 00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:54.320 The house never occupied two places at once, never disappeared entirely, 240 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:58.320 never contradicted itself within any single document. It appeared, always 241 00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:01.559 exactly where you'd expect, until you compaired rechos or memories 242 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:04.559 or photograph's side by side. It was only when I 243 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:06.480 pulled out a delivery lock for my fistia on the 244 00:12:06.519 --> 00:12:09.519 route that confusion gave way to alarm. There, next to 245 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:11.879 a note in my own handwriting, one hundred forty six 246 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:14.480 mail books cracked fauseide of the alley dog under porch, 247 00:12:14.600 --> 00:12:18.200 Something subtle had shifted. A corresponding page now read one 248 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:20.840 hundred forty six mail books cracked next to blue house. 249 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:24.519 Not only did they dress change locations, but my own writing, 250 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:27.240 my memory of making the note now matched the current geography. 251 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:31.039 A chill, not cold, but clarifying, ran up my spine. 252 00:12:31.559 --> 00:12:33.759 I drafted a new map that night, carefully noting to 253 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:36.480 day's date and a current order of houses. I tapped 254 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:39.080 it away. In the following afternoon, walked the block again, 255 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:42.039 trusting to muscle memory Yet when I returned to map 256 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:44.919 in hand mine made up, I was unmerrored. My careful 257 00:12:44.919 --> 00:12:48.080 markers blurred. Was the Murphy's garden, two houses north of 258 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:51.240 one hundred forty six, was miss ses s anduvil, always 259 00:12:51.240 --> 00:12:54.399 just behind the capoors roses. Each time I checked, the 260 00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:57.279 street seemed to have reorganized itself into one seamless lineage, 261 00:12:57.399 --> 00:13:00.600 never out of step, except with itself more helping. Still, 262 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:02.559 they urge arose in me to simply accept this, to 263 00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:05.559 shrug and shuffle my records that the paradox fay. But 264 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:08.600 I resolved fiercely and perhaps stubbornly, to fight their drift. 265 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:12.120 I made time, stamp notes, snap reference photos, wrote my 266 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:15.039 recollections as soon as they struck. I borrowed Evil and 267 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:17.679 Stiff from her years teaching math. Write down every observation 268 00:13:17.720 --> 00:13:20.840 before and after you investigate. Catch the difference. If all 269 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:23.879 the world's traces greet memory, Waldbook, official plan, how could 270 00:13:23.879 --> 00:13:26.080 I truss even my present sketch let alone the deeply 271 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:28.120 rooted belief that the neighborhood ought to stay as still 272 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:33.039 as Stone's. I began looking for hard, undeniable footprints, utility 273 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:35.320 bills from years passed I'd say a flyer's staple to 274 00:13:35.320 --> 00:13:37.679 pham poles Christmas cuts that never made it past my 275 00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:39.799 cottat desth draw roll with a return to one hundred 276 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:42.200 forty six Willow Street, but each name in a slightly 277 00:13:42.200 --> 00:13:45.799 different nearby feature next to the blue fence, after the alley, 278 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:49.720 across from the rose garden, opposite the park bench. I midlists, 279 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:52.559 assembling them on the dining table, tracing his shifting geography 280 00:13:52.600 --> 00:13:55.799 like a detective on the sand. Meanwhile, I interrogated the 281 00:13:55.799 --> 00:13:58.440 street's new deliverers, the ones who replaced me after retirement. 282 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:02.039 They shrugged. Perm g P says one hundred forty six 283 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:04.759 is here, so that's where I go. Even the grocer's 284 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:07.639 van driver, pressed for details, just laughed. People move all 285 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:10.200 the time as long as they pay at dress, don't matter. 286 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:13.679 It was to them an unproblem. A man could slip 287 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:15.559 into holes in the earth, and provided the rat ran 288 00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:20.320 on schedule, no one would fret. My questions intensified one evening, 289 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:23.120 Armed with maps and notes, I presented my findings to 290 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:26.240 Ben and a Shawnee cupport as they watered their marigolds. 291 00:14:26.279 --> 00:14:28.639 Sorry to be bothered, but I've found something funny about 292 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:31.000 your address. I began showing Ben a print up from 293 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:33.480 an old block party poster, one hundred forty six, stending 294 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:35.919 clearly two drives down and a spot now occupied by 295 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:39.360 one hundred fifty. Ben looked a dim awareness in his eyes, 296 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:42.480 then shook his head. Would make a good story, maybe, 297 00:14:42.519 --> 00:14:44.960 But this is home. I'm sure we've always been right here, 298 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:48.240 same neighbor's, same walks to the corner store. Shawnee, flipping 299 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:50.480 a weed with her trowl, chimed in lightly. Anyway, we 300 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:53.120 just call at Willow Street's friendliest house. Where it stands 301 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:55.840 doesn't matter, so long as it feels right. She grinned, 302 00:14:55.840 --> 00:14:58.320 as if blessed by the freedom to rewrite the rulebook herself. 303 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:01.519 It wasn't just them, I asked miss Eschen if she 304 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:04.360 remembered one hundred forty six sever being beside the park. 305 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:08.000 She furrowed her brow, then drugged, I remember a house 306 00:15:08.039 --> 00:15:10.240 by the park for years, but don't ask me numbers. 307 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:12.559 Maybe it was one hundred forty six. I don't know. 308 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:15.480 Mister Garcia brought into the loop once more, paced the 309 00:15:15.480 --> 00:15:19.080 block with me. Take measure in hand. We attempted meticulously 310 00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:21.279 to run the boundary lines from Kirk to cove, comparing 311 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:24.279 city records were available. But each time our eyes or 312 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:25.960 folks left the scene, whether for a bad call a 313 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:29.960 passing car, details were set, concrete market disappeared, a property 314 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:32.240 post which worn was on one lawn emerged on another. 315 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:35.559 It's like a map that redraws itseself every time you blink, 316 00:15:35.639 --> 00:15:39.159 mister Garcia muttered, more amused than concerned. I'd love to 317 00:15:39.159 --> 00:15:42.679 know how a surveyor would explain that. Desperate for physical proof, 318 00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:45.480 I turned to the city archaves. At last, after a 319 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:48.080 day spent coming through twenty year old street plans, I 320 00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:51.360 uncovered a diagram, official stamp precise, showing one hundred forty 321 00:15:51.399 --> 00:15:54.039 six two blocks down nearer the intersection in the place 322 00:15:54.039 --> 00:15:56.960 of ward is currently one hundred sixty eight. The colored 323 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:00.679 lines marked property boundaries, crosshatches denoted alleyways, all in line 324 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:03.720 with what my recollections whispered. Yet every modern map from 325 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:06.000 city Hall showed one hundred forty six right where the 326 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:09.519 Capote's porch now blazed with the evening sun. Impossible, I thought, 327 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:12.559 But there it was. This was no simple trick of memory, 328 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:16.039 no faulty pen or sleepy recollection. The phenomenon went deeper. 329 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:18.519 Every method I used to document, remember, or measure the 330 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:21.720 existence of one hundred forty six in records, in photographs, 331 00:16:21.799 --> 00:16:24.279 in my own writing shifted depending on which moment ancho 332 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:27.600 to the street itself, bent gently and without protests to 333 00:16:27.639 --> 00:16:30.000 the whim of a single address, or else one hundred 334 00:16:30.039 --> 00:16:32.759 forty six bent to fit the available street. It was 335 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:36.919 too much for one person. I recruited help. My friend, 336 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:39.639 even whose patience for mental puzzles matched my own, agreed 337 00:16:39.639 --> 00:16:42.080 to spend a sunny Saturday mapping the possible locations of 338 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:44.879 one hundred forty six. She had the sharp mind of 339 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:47.039 a retired math teacher, in a love for the abstract, 340 00:16:47.080 --> 00:16:49.639 which lent her something like optimism in the face of confusion. 341 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:52.759 Together we built a tree of possibilities, starting from my 342 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:56.080 oldest delivery notes and branching through every shifting record. On 343 00:16:56.120 --> 00:16:58.639 a giant sheet to sketch paper, we drew each version 344 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:01.600 of Willow Street as it appeared in mapps, directories, flyers, 345 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:05.799 and photographs. Some years, one hundred forty six snuggled up 346 00:17:05.799 --> 00:17:08.279 to Missus Sandoval. Others it drifted nearly to the end 347 00:17:08.279 --> 00:17:10.759 of a block, bumping elbows with the old community garden, 348 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:13.200 never did it linger in one place for more than 349 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:16.400 four or five years at most. Even tapped her pencil 350 00:17:16.440 --> 00:17:18.880 on the cluster closes to the park. This was the 351 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:21.319 year we both brought soup to the block putlock right. 352 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:23.839 I remember getting lost after dark trying to find one 353 00:17:23.880 --> 00:17:27.079 hundred forty six's porch. She pointed a phot her and 354 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:29.279 knee heads for rum back in laughter, a paper lantern 355 00:17:29.319 --> 00:17:32.519 glowing behind us. In it. The Capos's front window overlooked 356 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:34.599 the street beyond the park, a view now impossible from 357 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:37.599 any present location in the park. We gathered a small 358 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:39.759 group of foks. Group even called it, though the set 359 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:43.319 up was hardly scientific. Misses Sanduval, the Murphys, Ben and 360 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:45.200 a Shawnee, even a couple of the teens joined us 361 00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:47.160 under the shade of the old beech trees, each with 362 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:50.400 a handful of family albums or snap shots laid out 363 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:53.599 on the picnic table. Every photo showed willow streets, party traditions, 364 00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:57.519 sack races, breath thick achs, costume contests, But in each 365 00:17:57.559 --> 00:18:00.359 album has one hundred forty six surfaced in a different spot, 366 00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:03.000 sometimes to the left of Miss Sandeval's blue house. Other 367 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:05.680 towns beside the compos now missing Loallettbush in one shot 368 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:09.640 apparently across the street. Old ether. It's odd, Missess Sandoval mused, 369 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:13.359 holding up a decade old snap shot. I trust my albums, lass, 370 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:16.119 I made some mistake with the labels. The Murphys flipped 371 00:18:16.119 --> 00:18:19.400 through their own, stacked with shrugs and headshakes. Well, Michael 372 00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:22.640 Murphy said, guess you can't trust everything you remember. Laugh 373 00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:25.759 The crackles un note of playfulness and attention, testing the 374 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:28.319 current reality. I mailed to self addressed letter mark to 375 00:18:28.359 --> 00:18:30.279 do not forward at a one hundred forty six with 376 00:18:30.279 --> 00:18:33.359 the cappo's names. One Ben brought it by three days later. 377 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:36.400 The return, addressed stamped across the top, reed inexplicably one 378 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:40.200 hundred forty four Willows Saint Ben shrugged, good natured as always, 379 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:44.640 type has happened right. I enlisted doctor Wallace, a mathematician 380 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:46.759 who spent summers with her sister a few blocks north, 381 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:49.839 to look over our sketches over tea at my dining table. 382 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:53.079 She examined the map tree with increasing fascination. It's like 383 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:55.440 a sliding puzzle, she said, tracing the zigsuit of one 384 00:18:55.480 --> 00:18:59.039 hundred forty six's moves, But in those something else always 385 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:01.319 shifts to some gap as filled here. All the other 386 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:04.359 houses stay fixed. Only one hundred forty six, ever, moves. 387 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:08.519 She blinked, mouth quirking into a smile. Thus not supposed 388 00:19:08.519 --> 00:19:11.279 to be possible, at least not in euclidion space. The 389 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:14.319 more I explored, the more profound the contradiction grew. No 390 00:19:14.440 --> 00:19:17.599 person I spoke to, no document I consulted, No photograph 391 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:19.880 or logic or physical measurement offered a stable answer for 392 00:19:19.960 --> 00:19:23.079 one hundred forty six's position. Yet none offered upright impossibility. 393 00:19:23.799 --> 00:19:26.519 Truth seemed always just a step away, shifting with the tension. 394 00:19:27.079 --> 00:19:29.759 Even my owner recollections began to morph day to day, 395 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:32.240 sometimes sure of one hundred forty six as pollutrim near 396 00:19:32.279 --> 00:19:34.880 the park gate, sometimes at the obow of Missus Sandeval's yard, 397 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:38.000 sometimes opposite the Mailboxide repented myself in two thousand one, 398 00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:41.079 Yet never did the sense of community of Willow Street's 399 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:45.119 cohesion seemed threatened. People laughed about the shifting records, teased 400 00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:48.480 each other's memory, shriggd it off. Only I, it seemed, 401 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:50.960