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A plague doctor in a beaked mask offers a blue foil balloon that reads GET WELL SOON.

The deckThe Forces03 of 24

Thoughts & Prayers

Gestures, late help, and the thing still undone.

Figure
Help that arrives late, with a balloon.
Pattern
Accepting a gesture in place of a cure. Giving one, too.
What it protects
You can say you did something.
What it costs
The thing remains undone, now with a balloon on it.
The move
Ask what the balloon is standing in for.
ON FILE
A foil balloon, sent instead of a visit.

In each position

  1. HOW IT STARTED

    Help came. It was late, and it brought a balloon. You thanked it anyway.

  2. HOW IT'S GOING

    You are doing something about it. The something is a gesture. The gesture is going well.

  3. HOW IT ENDS, ALLEGEDLY

    You will say you did everything you could. You will leave out the balloon.

Three questions

  1. What did the gesture let you stop doing?
  2. Who sent you a balloon this year?
  3. What would the cure have cost?

A sample file

A sample file

This office is in possession of one foil balloon, delivered on time and in place of everything else. The balloon is in good condition. The thing it was sent about is in the same condition it was in before the balloon arrived. You have been on the receiving end of a few as well, and the file shows you thanked each one as though it were a visit. The office has sent four cards this year with the same sentence inside, so the office knows the stationery. xxx xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxxx xx xxx xxxxx xx xxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx x xxxxxxx xxx xx xxxx xxxx xxx xxxx The question of what the balloon is standing in for has been written down, and not asked. A gesture is what gets sent once the visit has been canceled.

EXHIBITS

  1. A. A foil balloon, sent instead of a visit.
  2. B. The fix, effective, cause not recorded.
  3. C. Attendance record, fifty-two weeks, unbroken.

CLOSEDwith a balloon on it

Every file is written for the person who pulled it. This one was written for nobody, so it is the only one you get to read without pulling. One sentence is sealed on every public copy, this one included.

On file in cotton

The shirt

Sent. Nothing arrived.

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Once a day. Three cards, one finding, a status. How it works.