Chapter I
Plumb Line
1 min read
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Adam’s father used to say a man is like a mason’s pion* — either he hangs straight, or he is good for nothing. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
“Stand up straight,” he would repeat, laying a palm between his shoulder blades. “People are watching.”
“Watching what, Dad?”
“Whether you bend.”
Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Adam did not understand then that his father was talking about himself. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.
Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. The kitchen smelled of żur** and wet wool, and the radio quietly played something no one was listening to.
Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit.
“I don’t know how to fall,” he once told his mother, when he was perhaps eight.
She looked at him over the pot and smiled the way you smile at someone who still has everything ahead of them.
“Nobody does, sweetheart. You don’t learn it. It just happens.”