WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:08.519 I always say Savana wakes sideways. People talk about Southern 2 00:00:08.519 --> 00:00:10.839 mornings as if their gentle sliding mist and sunlight and 3 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:13.439 polite sequins. But this city's never much cared for any 4 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:17.760 one's stage directions. Those open when they please, Robin stop 5 00:00:17.800 --> 00:00:20.920 before the bells cross the squairs in along the river front, 6 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:24.320 light bounces off twenty surfaces, water brick, a hundred window 7 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:26.559 panes before it finds you never quite from the angle 8 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:30.120 you expect. Since I retired five years ago, these mornings 9 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:31.640 belonged to me in a way they never did when 10 00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:34.399 I was still sorting mail. By five forty five. My 11 00:00:34.520 --> 00:00:37.600 name's Pall Chambers, sixty five neat habits patch you beat, 12 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:39.960 and I consider myself patient if the world co operates, 13 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:43.399 and inventive. Whenever it doesn't, I spend my first hour 14 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:45.840 at the door, rain or shine, walking the thirds that 15 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:49.000 hold the city together. Every day I tell myself I'll 16 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:51.240 try a new street, some alleyway between the big houses, 17 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:53.320 or the narrow brick lanes that breed the quarter together. 18 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:56.399 Not out of restlessness. For all my porking, I'd rather 19 00:00:56.439 --> 00:00:58.640 polish routine than start a new one. But because Vanna 20 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:02.200 deserve respect, she is this pattern like bread dough given 21 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:04.799 to rising and some mornings I flatter myself I can 22 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:07.920 learn how she's folded. So on Tuesday, near the end 23 00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:10.599 of March, with the air warm already and jasmine crawling 24 00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:13.280 across ledges, I step out at six when he determined 25 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:16.159 to catch the square before the trash trucks my plans. 26 00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:19.640 Lazy cross PULASKI leap south, drift through the edgeward o' lanes, 27 00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:22.840 but half way down price just for the satisfaction of 28 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:24.840 breaking my own ritual, I cut left where a worn 29 00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:27.159 wooden sign leans of her brick arch, marking a lane. 30 00:01:27.159 --> 00:01:30.319 I swear I've never used ibray. It runs angle behind 31 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:32.760 two row houses, more a passage than a true street. 32 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:35.680 I don't remember any part of my old rat diagram 33 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:39.239 involving this corner. The lanes cooler shadowed by twhend Magnolia's 34 00:01:39.239 --> 00:01:42.200 pavement patched with old brick and colpings. I expect it 35 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:44.599 to spit me out behind the Episcopal Church, but only 36 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:47.400 a hundred feet along, I find myself emerging before small 37 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:50.640 fade shop, a single story, pale with sun brickwork stitch 38 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:54.000 by vines. This the pink tile steep a round window, 39 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:57.000 thick with reflected morning, and above the sign, once blue, 40 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:01.120 now chiped nearly white, remise time pieces inside an all 41 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:03.760 clock sits in pride of place, pendulum gleaming faintly through 42 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:06.439 the glass. I give it a long look, let the 43 00:02:06.439 --> 00:02:08.960 detail fix in my mind, and circle around the block again, 44 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:11.719 amused at my own discovery. It's the sort of shop 45 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:14.159 you expect in Charleston or the back lanes of New Orleans, 46 00:02:14.199 --> 00:02:16.319 not tufted away here with then inshut of the court house. 47 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:19.360 I tell myself, maybe I've passed it before and simply 48 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:22.280 never noticed. What is the weak undfouls, And I indulge 49 00:02:22.280 --> 00:02:24.879 myself in new routes, making a private game of escaping 50 00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:27.000 the all too familiar. I keep ending up outside from 51 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:30.120 my eyes, no math of my intention, once coming Niecet 52 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:33.560 from Tatannall, another time doubling back from Montgomery. Once even 53 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:35.479 circling the square is so wide as to be almost 54 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:37.400 lost in the maze of old iron work and camellia. 55 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:40.759 The shop is always precisely there, and, assuming its windows 56 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:45.159 gently fogged, the sign readable in any light. It's not unsettling, really, 57 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:47.800 just curious, like a dog that keeps finding your tracks. 58 00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:51.639 I've never counted Savannah's sharps as mysteries, having warp post 59 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:53.919 for thirty years to a greater riddles. But this one 60 00:02:53.960 --> 00:02:56.039 is persistent, insisting on a place in my mat that 61 00:02:56.080 --> 00:02:59.479 I can't quite sanction. After the third accidental arrival, I 62 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:02.199 pause on the thum, grazing the edge of my battered notebook. 63 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:04.680 I fish it from my pocket to habit drilled into 64 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:07.599 me from postal days when details mattered more than first impressions, 65 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:11.479 and jot a single line remise time pieces, never recall 66 00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:16.199 seen it before? Why always here an oddity? I finished 67 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:18.520 my walk as usual, comforted by the straightening sun, and 68 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:21.639 the city's all near bustle still. Even as my boot 69 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:23.719 find the cobbles at my own porch, I admit to 70 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:27.039 myself something's afoot, and it's not just my memory plane tricks. 71 00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:31.360 If I am anything these days, I am methodical. My 72 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:34.039 morning rituals are both armor and amusement. Filling feeders for 73 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:36.759 the rents, checking the forecasts, folding the day's crosswood into 74 00:03:36.759 --> 00:03:38.639 my inside pocket, as though the clues might change through 75 00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:41.199 the temperature. My house sits on a corner not far 76 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:44.000 from Crawford Square, tidy as a pantry shelf, but outside 77 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:47.080 is all charm and disorder. Savannah's old quarter is a 78 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:50.439 tangle shade sudden Bowginvalier, I am work chips of history 79 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:53.319 turned up in every stoop and gutter. Since hanging up 80 00:03:53.319 --> 00:03:55.400 my satchel for good, I've made a hobby of mapping 81 00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:59.240 its moods. Most mornings. Misss Wallace finds me on my rounds. 82 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:02.439 She's lived down the block since the sixties, and retirements 83 00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:05.439 knock up on her before it did me. By mutual agreement, 84 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:08.560 we neither hurry nor judge each other's chosen roads. She 85 00:04:08.680 --> 00:04:11.080 corrects the Latin names of finds with gentle precision, and 86 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:13.599 when her hip allows, quizzes me on the prudence of 87 00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:16.399 every mansion at Jones and Avercorn. If there's a five 88 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:19.000 times slow to recall who restored the forest house where 89 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:21.279 the azaleas were moved last wet season, she teases it 90 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:23.319 out of me, making the ants to feel almost like 91 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:26.639 my own. Marvin, on the other hand, owns the cafe 92 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:29.079 two corners over, and his schedule is as crooked as 93 00:04:29.079 --> 00:04:32.279 his espresso machine. He's a fixture bold glasses perched on 94 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:35.199 his colored cap apron never quite clean. I see him 95 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:37.800 behind a counter before sun up on Thursdays, sometimes sweeping 96 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:40.800 the steep. While I pass by. He waves, but never terrrors. 97 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:43.040 His time is meeted in coffee spoons and phone calls 98 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:46.199 from supplies. I not a lotter dozen others In passing 99 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:48.480 Mikey and his dog on Howard Lane, A mess read 100 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:51.439 from his roses burst their beds every spring. Father Dorian 101 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:54.480 walking in a collar and sneakers. Savannah is a city 102 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:56.560 of habits, most of them quietly bent to suit the 103 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:59.600 person who walks them. The young woman who delivers groceries 104 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:02.279 cuts blos corners with a skateboard, swearing every alley is 105 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:05.480 an improvement over Asphal. The city is communal, but stubborn 106 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:08.560 the individual. I pride myself on my sense of order, 107 00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:10.319 a trait that chafed as much as it helped when 108 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:12.439 I was young and in the Marines, and still serves 109 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:14.879 me sorting out which gas bill belongs to which cottage. 110 00:05:15.399 --> 00:05:17.600 I spent the better half of my career keeping recos 111 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:20.079 dry and stack straight. Local knowledge filed in dozens of 112 00:05:20.120 --> 00:05:23.079 little coded quarks. Tourists would ask how to get from 113 00:05:23.160 --> 00:05:25.439 Chipys Square to the market and I'd smile behind my 114 00:05:25.480 --> 00:05:28.040 sun glasses, knowing it was a trick question. Every answer 115 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:30.680 is right, none of them are identical. Some of the 116 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:32.959 newer residents who mistakes of Anna for regret are gently 117 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:35.160 corrected by the first range storm or a chance parade 118 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:38.160 blocking half the block. Even within my own neat world, 119 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:41.480 I keep a notebook, the postal workers talisman. It's half journal, 120 00:05:41.560 --> 00:05:44.079 half luckwicker, placed to drop the sudden, the inexplicable, and 121 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:48.000 the quietly remarkable. This week, that notebook is dominated by 122 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:50.920 one recurring line. Why due my intentional deters always lead 123 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:53.920 to remised time pieces. I copy the address, or what 124 00:05:53.959 --> 00:05:56.120 I suppose must be the address, though its number doesn't 125 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:58.519 quite fit the sequence of its block. It's not that 126 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:01.879 I distressed my memory exactly. I pride myself on keeping 127 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:05.120 track of birthdays, repairs, jew who owes me coffee. But 128 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:08.040 the city's geography, supposedly so familiar, has started to feel 129 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:10.360 as though its being rewritten when I'm not looking, always 130 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:13.959 sketching the same endpoint in its margins. My notebook expends 131 00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:19.399 March twenty seven, South Route avoided, Pulaski pass back Ali 132 00:06:19.480 --> 00:06:23.639 unknown name, Remise again six forty seven a M. March 133 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:27.120 twenty eight tried doubling square's bull link an abcorn remise 134 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:32.439 at seven two a M sign unchanged no traffic shop closed. 135 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:36.000 The funny thing is the shop is not nonscript The 136 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:38.439 sign is not like any other turquoise. Beneath the appealing 137 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:41.120 there is filigree in the stroll's lone transom. I would 138 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:44.399 swear I've never seen in shop window before, no postcards 139 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:47.439 in the local book store, no mention on quirkys of analysts. 140 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.439 Yet here it stands in the center of my unsolved puzzle. 141 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:53.319 No matter how I try to wrap myself away, It's 142 00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:56.439 not a phenomenon that frightens me. If anything, it's like 143 00:06:56.519 --> 00:06:58.800 being gently nudged, as though the city wants to see 144 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:01.199 if my sense of direction is as good as I claim. 145 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:03.439 For now, I listen for the pulse of city bells 146 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:06.759 from three different blocks, walk my routes, scribble in my notebook, 147 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:08.759 and begin to wonder who else or what else has 148 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:12.920 noticed a shop and what exactly have I been missing. Thursday, 149 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.319 I ready myself like a man plotting a small, bloodless 150 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:18.160 coup over coffee. I sketch my path in the margin 151 00:07:18.199 --> 00:07:20.959 of the morning paper. I will walk north on Prize 152 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:23.879 Cut across Perey, then circle around by Saint Julian before 153 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:26.399 heading inland, keeping at least five blocks clear of where 154 00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:29.639 remise has appeared before. I walk with purpose, each step 155 00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:32.600 measured humming under my breath. Every land mark a mess 156 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:35.800 redferends roses, the oak with its null branch, the fire 157 00:07:35.879 --> 00:07:37.759 hydrant with the appealing red paint. I take them off 158 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:39.920 with the satisfaction of a man who knows a code. 159 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:42.319 Has the bright blue mail box into the lane with 160 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:45.160 the hand painted bird feeders as slow to sante of confident. 161 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:47.040 I am nowhere near a small brick shop, nor any 162 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:49.360 street that should lead me near it. But as I 163 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:52.000 round a short cuve marked by unfamiliar brickwork, the light 164 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:53.959 hits in a way that turns my stomach. And then 165 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:56.240 there it is, again, as unavoidable as my reflection in 166 00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:59.920 my own window. Remised time pieces sits before me, precisely 167 00:08:00.040 --> 00:08:02.920 where the last few mornings have ended. The stooplest time 168 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:04.839 miss slick with two, the clock in the window, taking 169 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:07.439 a few minutes ahead of my watch. I stop the 170 00:08:07.480 --> 00:08:10.439 spring earthick around me for half a moment. The logic 171 00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:12.480 of the thin and spools. Perhaps I miss a turn, 172 00:08:12.839 --> 00:08:14.839 or the streets join in our triangles here, or I 173 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:17.519 simply misread the contours on the map. Yet when I 174 00:08:17.560 --> 00:08:19.639 dig out my note book, comparing my plan to the 175 00:08:19.639 --> 00:08:22.759 street signs and recalling the path I took, nothing quite fits. 176 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:25.360 The next cross street is not the one it should be, 177 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:27.560 and I'm not just south, but somehow east of where 178 00:08:27.560 --> 00:08:29.800 I'm meant to be. I draw a diagram on the 179 00:08:29.800 --> 00:08:31.920 line page price perry Lin can intry to pin their 180 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:35.399 relation to the shop, but the squares don't close. Each 181 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:37.399 attempt to close the triangle sends me in a loop 182 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:40.679 that never quite connects. As I pause, I notice movement 183 00:08:40.679 --> 00:08:44.000 behind the shop's window. A tall, slight fellow remind himself, 184 00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:46.919 I suppose, half shadowed by ticking clocks, catches my gaze. 185 00:08:47.399 --> 00:08:49.440 He doesn't open the door, just lifts one hand in 186 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:53.039 a slight, almost mischievous wave and nod back. Caught by 187 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:55.840 embarrassment and a flicker of camaraderie, feeling as though the 188 00:08:55.840 --> 00:08:58.799 city itself is sharing a private joke. I want to 189 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:01.919 walk inside to man explanation, but the impulse vanishes as 190 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:04.799 fast as it came. Instead, I turn and stroll home, 191 00:09:04.919 --> 00:09:07.200 my notebook now crowded with arrows, the corners of my 192 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:10.360 diagram freed by rasures. For the first time, I question 193 00:09:10.519 --> 00:09:12.840 my certainty, not in my memory, which still feel sharp, 194 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:16.159 but in the map itself. Surely I'm simply growing forgetful, 195 00:09:16.360 --> 00:09:19.519 or Savanna's gone lupier than ever. Either way, breakfast will 196 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:23.039 taste better with a problem left and solved. I call 197 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:26.919 the next phase stubborn curiosity, bordering on obsession. There are 198 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:29.080 strange if things in a life, but few is persistent 199 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:31.159 as an announswer question that greets you at the same 200 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:35.480 corner every day, Friday morning, I command for battle, notebookington ready, 201 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:38.559 city mats sticking awkwardly out of my jacket pocket. I 202 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:41.039 set way proms distinct signs, the fine shaped gable of 203 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:43.360 the purple has on troop the row of old crape metals. 204 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:46.639 I cut corners, take six that would confuse loss tourists. 205 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:48.919 Double back through squaes and lanes. I delivered post to 206 00:09:48.919 --> 00:09:52.000 four decades. At each decision, I got a note left 207 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:54.720 here by lambos, right by the alley with spilt flower pots. 208 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:57.360 It should be impossible for this route to meet the shop, 209 00:09:57.440 --> 00:09:59.480 even at across the market street, and hear the droll 210 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:02.480 of biscuits. I calculate the distance in my head, confident 211 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:05.519 I'm safely outside his own. Yet as I turn left 212 00:10:05.559 --> 00:10:08.200 beneath the crumbling brick arch, the street curves and my 213 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:11.320 footsteps guide me precisely, inevitably to the Glint's store front, 214 00:10:11.320 --> 00:10:13.360 with this soft ticking from my sign appearing like a 215 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:16.840 punch line. I soap and chuckle. For the moment, amusement 216 00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:19.159 has the upper hand. The world's old edges are fraying, 217 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:22.759 and my notebook has become more imaginative than explanatory. To day, 218 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:25.559 I decide to double down. I sketch the path I 219 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:27.879 just took, then ope of my old postal delivery records 220 00:10:27.879 --> 00:10:30.559 for this quarter. The city maps have changed somewhat in 221 00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:33.519 thirty years. Streets closed for urban repairs has is subdivided 222 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:36.120 about the bones are the same. I compare my plan 223 00:10:36.279 --> 00:10:38.360 and the old map, tracing a finger along the line 224 00:10:38.360 --> 00:10:41.840 I supposedly walked. According to all logic and memory, I 225 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:44.240 should be facing a laundromat, not a clock shop, and 226 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:47.799 my east west turns make no sense. Inspired I spend 227 00:10:47.799 --> 00:10:50.080 the afternoon in a chilly air of the library's map room, 228 00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:52.840 if there's a secret passage, we're in a marked thoroughfare, 229 00:10:52.919 --> 00:10:56.480 I'll find it here. The oldest atlases agree with my recollections, 230 00:10:56.679 --> 00:10:59.240 but recent printings show two hours I'm certain didn't exist 231 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:01.840 the last time I want them. I copied down street 232 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:05.679 names and sequences were buried tailor eden, But on cross examination, 233 00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:07.720 some names on my walk do not even appear on 234 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:09.960 the maps, while others are misplaced, as if a child 235 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:13.200 had rearranged them in a moment of fancy. Saturday, I 236 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:15.679 try to walk the rut backward, determine that by approaching 237 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:18.960 in reverse i'll escape this odd magnetism. But in retracing 238 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:21.240 my steps, I find the streets don't align my left 239 00:11:21.240 --> 00:11:23.200 hand to become sudden rights of fence that should lock 240 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:25.519 my way now opens into a tiny square i've never seen. 241 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:29.320 I finish, of course, on Romie, stoop round window, blinking 242 00:11:29.320 --> 00:11:32.919 with morning. It's about then I noticed something else, passing 243 00:11:32.919 --> 00:11:35.120 a sound at shot two blocks off, I overhear two 244 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:37.120 men debating the time, one checking his front, the other 245 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:39.360 gesturing at the clock hanging up of a door. The 246 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:42.120 first remarks, you set it by remise not your watch, 247 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:45.159 as if this is common practice in a flowers shop. 248 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:47.399 I watch a woman pause to check her wristwatch against 249 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:49.840 a tiny bruss clock on the chain, distinctly stamped romise. 250 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:52.759 People step past the clockmaker's window as if it's not 251 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:54.600 just as different but a kind of city tank keeper, 252 00:11:54.759 --> 00:11:58.440 part touchstone, part ritual. I mention this that afternoon to 253 00:11:58.440 --> 00:12:01.879 missus Wallace. I find her on her porch, hat perched 254 00:12:01.879 --> 00:12:04.519 at an angle, clipping faded leaves from her potted hydranger. 255 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:08.039 Do you know the clock shop? I ask? Noteoo get 256 00:12:08.039 --> 00:12:11.320 the ready, making the question seem casual, She smiles, not 257 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:14.519 looking up. You mean remise, Oh sure, I've always used 258 00:12:14.519 --> 00:12:16.559 it to get my bearings right before you hit Mercer's 259 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:19.399 old placed just around the odd little curve, I hesitate. 260 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:23.039 When did it open? Oh? I couldn't say. It's been 261 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:24.840 there longer than I can remember. You know, I never 262 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:27.240 did pay attention to the owners. The city shuffles its 263 00:12:27.240 --> 00:12:30.200 off Loosa's shops, gains them back. But remais been steady 264 00:12:30.200 --> 00:12:32.519 as the riverside ferry. He ever get turned around. You 265 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:35.000 just aim for the clock shop, She says it, as 266 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:38.120 though it's obvious routine. I ask a few more questions, 267 00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:41.440 but get no firmer answers. She mentions once getting lost 268 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:44.320 on her ome work, circling back by remise as always. 269 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:47.120 I laugh, but inwardly I more confused them when I 270 00:12:47.159 --> 00:12:50.240 started marve that the cafe is more precise, or at 271 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:53.159 least tries over a thin mug of coffee. They ask 272 00:12:53.240 --> 00:12:56.240 him for directions to the courthouse. By passing hermise, he 273 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:58.440 rattles off a sequence so rapid I can't record it 274 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:01.279 punctuated by then you'll pass fromised her and left after that, 275 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:04.320 not before I press him on the point, couldn't I 276 00:13:04.360 --> 00:13:08.519 skip rimise entirely? He grins. Maybe you could, but I 277 00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:10.759 doubt it did save you any steps that places like 278 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:13.080 North for downtown. Sooner or later you'll hit it that 279 00:13:13.240 --> 00:13:15.879 I remember my way if I'm ever lost. A group 280 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:18.159 of students in line snicker when I mention getting turned 281 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:21.679 around in my own city. One says the Savannah shuffle. 282 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:24.000 My dad calls it. You always pass the clock shop 283 00:13:24.039 --> 00:13:27.200 at least once a few leaves before breakfast. Another nods, 284 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:29.879 I use remise for timing the bus. He sets his 285 00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:32.759 clocks a few minutes faster, says it keeps the city honest. 286 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:35.559 At home. My notes are our mess lines crossing at 287 00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:39.440 impossible ankles, arrows without realistic and points. Reviewing an old 288 00:13:39.480 --> 00:13:41.960 notebook from fifteen years back, the year after the hurricane, 289 00:13:41.960 --> 00:13:44.080 I find reference to a Floris's shop at the address 290 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:47.080 now taken by Remise. The street numbering then was off 291 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:50.600 by one, but the location is unmistakable. The shop itself 292 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:53.559 no record in my pages, nowhere to fag at sudden 293 00:13:53.639 --> 00:13:56.840 arrival or steady presents. Next morning, Not willing to be 294 00:13:56.840 --> 00:13:59.120 bested by a handful of winding lanes, I devise a 295 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:02.639 new tactic. I take along the child's compass, walk three 296 00:14:02.679 --> 00:14:06.159 turns east, then two south, only to find myself impossibly 297 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:09.159 on a street leading west and to predictably before Remise again. 298 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:12.679 At this point a certain stubborn delight kicks in. If 299 00:14:12.679 --> 00:14:14.840 the city is playing games, then perhaps I need a 300 00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:18.559 partner to call it bluff. On Sunday, I run in 301 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:20.879 to masss Wallas a block from the square, hat fixed, 302 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:24.360 walking stake in hand, determined as a parade marshal care 303 00:14:24.440 --> 00:14:27.159 to join me this morning? I suggest, adopt in a 304 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:31.279 conspiratorial tone. She eyes me amused. You have the look 305 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:34.879 of a man planning mischief. Just scientific inquiry. I reply, 306 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:37.519 let's see if two heads are less likely to turn 307 00:14:37.559 --> 00:14:40.120 back on themselves than one. We agree on a route 308 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:42.600 east to the park, circle south behind the bakery, then 309 00:14:42.679 --> 00:14:45.159 up BroadOn. We'll pap briefly at the fork near the 310 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:47.759 old library, and reconvene near where the streets meet again 311 00:14:47.799 --> 00:14:50.480 farther north. Both of us carry no pads, for the 312 00:14:50.519 --> 00:14:53.279 sake of rigor. I half expect the city to respect 313 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:57.200 our logic. For once our walk is companionable. She points 314 00:14:57.200 --> 00:14:59.480 out fresh lilies. I note the muddy sent off the river. 315 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:02.759 Out of return, we trade observations. Here's the alley that 316 00:15:02.840 --> 00:15:04.519 coves like a horse. Shee the the gate that never 317 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:07.080 sheds its paint. At the fork, we part with a 318 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:09.000 promise to meet at the crossing after half a block. 319 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:13.440 Ten minutes later, we find ourselves incredibly, almost predictably, standing 320 00:15:13.480 --> 00:15:16.120 shoulder to shoulder before remised time pieces. Both a little 321 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:19.879 out of breath, both surprised. Missus Wallace lasts first, a 322 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:23.320 short musical sound. Well, that's of anna free, no harm 323 00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:26.759 in a little deeter. I open my note book. Let's 324 00:15:26.759 --> 00:15:30.480 compare how lists sinct neat mentions. Passing a white house 325 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:32.759 with blue shutters, then a faded mural. The bakery with 326 00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:35.840 the glass counter mine includes a house on the same block, 327 00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:38.399 but its shutters were burgundy, and the murle I passed 328 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:41.519 was a garden scene, not catch chasing a bird. We're 329 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:43.679 both sure we followed the plan, but our memory is 330 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:47.159 diverged just enough to make certainty impossible. We stand abating 331 00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:49.960 the logic, pointing here and there, until she says, let's 332 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:53.000 check the time. She gestures at the clock in romis window. 333 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:57.120 My watch reads seven forty nine. Remis clock visible through 334 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:00.840 the frosted glass, breaths just past seven fifty two. Cross 335 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:03.440 the square, the city hall bull begins, striking light by 336 00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:06.480 a menut. According to my phone, it's always a little fast. 337 00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:09.399 Missus Wallace murmurs. He used to joke about it with 338 00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:11.279 my father. He'd say, or Mike keeps the city from 339 00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:14.879 falling behind itself. Her words hang between us, half memory, 340 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:18.039 half riddle. The rest of the walk passes in bemuse silence. 341 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:21.080 I realized suddenly that the puzzle is not just in 342 00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:22.799 my head. It's woven into the way people think of 343 00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:25.879 their own movement. Here, no one, when pressed, can recall 344 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:28.559 the clock shops exact place in time, but all acknowledge 345 00:16:28.600 --> 00:16:31.080 his presents. The one constant and a city of subtle changes. 346 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:34.279 That night over lefto of Rugumbo on my porch, I 347 00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:37.120 weigh the evidence. The problem is larger than one man 348 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:40.799 losing his way. The city citizen's orbit remise, memory bending 349 00:16:40.919 --> 00:16:44.039 just enough to make each new observation slippery. It feels 350 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:45.919 less like a failing of rekal and more like an 351 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:49.039 agreed upon way to keep the city secrets intact. Why, 352 00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:52.159 I wonder, does every one recognize Fromy's place, yet no 353 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:54.240 one can pin down its beginnings or the man behind 354 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:57.080 the counter. Why does the city's pattern twist and reform 355 00:16:57.159 --> 00:17:00.639 so gently around the single unremarkable shop. For perhaps the 356 00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:02.919 first time since retiring, I am grateful for the gift 357 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:05.400 of not knowing, even as my need for clarity intensifies. 358 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:09.079 If I wanted to escalate the game, I needed better tools, 359 00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:12.400 or at least more modern ones. By Monday, I determined 360 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:14.480 to break the loopoor. Failing that, to catch the leep 361 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:17.680 in the act, I charge my old smartphone, update the 362 00:17:17.720 --> 00:17:20.839 mapping app, and select the GPS tracking function. I joke 363 00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:22.400 to myself that this is the point at which a 364 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:24.559 more paranoid man would expect to see men in black 365 00:17:24.599 --> 00:17:26.440 or the matrix slip at the seams, But there's no 366 00:17:26.519 --> 00:17:28.519 sense of fetch, simply the sturdy pride of a man 367 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:31.480 with time and technology on his side. I plan each 368 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:34.200 turn of map and new map in hand. I mark 369 00:17:34.279 --> 00:17:36.440 my path with chalcate corners, leave my own set of 370 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:40.039 footprints and check each one as I pass, my fond 371 00:17:40.119 --> 00:17:42.400 vibrants in my pocket, promising to save every step to 372 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:45.640 the cloud. Surely the digital witness will settle the question. 373 00:17:46.279 --> 00:17:48.920 But tech, it turns out, fares no better than memory. 374 00:17:49.559 --> 00:17:52.200 Half way two to walk, my GPS error dances across 375 00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:55.200 the wrong streets according to the map, I'm on Habersham, 376 00:17:55.240 --> 00:17:58.119 but the sign on the walsall Sailor. Moments later at 377 00:17:58.119 --> 00:17:59.880 the phone screen flick as I am now a block over, 378 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:03.440 despite never crossing an intersection. At each turn, I stop 379 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:05.240 and compare what the digital trees says to what my 380 00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:09.119 eyes see. Things drift. Sometimes street names on the app 381 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:11.920 swap order or vanish, entirely replaced by old family names 382 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:15.200 I've only seen on headstones. Once the screen tells me 383 00:18:15.240 --> 00:18:17.559 I've walked in a circle, yet every step took me straight. 384 00:18:18.279 --> 00:18:20.240 I tried to compare the heights of street lamp, surely 385 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:23.000 a detail not so easily tampered with. But over the 386 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:25.759 course of the walk, one lamp is suddenly taller, casting 387 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:28.200 a longer shadow. The next block's benches will reappear in 388 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:31.279 a new arrangement. Seasonal flowers bloom when none should be. 389 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:33.880 Lilactrulily by a month, Tulips that don't belong in this 390 00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:36.920 region at all. Bright yellow light filters from a windows, 391 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:38.839 if through stained glass. Though I know for a fact 392 00:18:38.839 --> 00:18:42.039 the synagogue's two blocks away. There is beneath it all 393 00:18:42.039 --> 00:18:44.599 the faintest whisper of organ music, impossible on a weekday 394 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:48.960 before sunrise. It's not unpleasant, this shifting strangers. It's as 395 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:51.440 if the city is politely resisting measurement. All living thing 396 00:18:51.559 --> 00:18:54.559 unwilling to be cataloged. The map of the GPS, the 397 00:18:54.599 --> 00:18:57.720 digital compass, all report versions of reality, none of them 398 00:18:57.839 --> 00:19:00.960 entirely accurate. When I run an rip lane, prepared as 399 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:03.680 always to accept defeat, I paused before Remai's time pieces 400 00:19:03.720 --> 00:19:06.680 as window glinting gold, the ticking louder than before. My 401 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:10.079