brass & iron · unknown lock · the drawer · no one
no lock in the building accepts it. the keeper has tried every door twice — front, back, attic, cellar, the gate, the postbox, the strongbox, the chapel down the road (with permission), the linen cupboard, the bureau, the music-stool, the cage. nothing turns. nothing even pretends.
the bow is brass, the bit appears to be iron; this is unusual enough that the locksmith at no. 3 the cross has looked at it twice and offered no opinion. there is no maker's stamp. the bit profile matches none in the parish register and none in the ottmer board behind the curtain. it fits, according to ottmer, somewhere.
it lives in the third drawer down, in a small paper envelope with ? written on the front. the keeper opens the envelope on occasion, looks at the key, holds it a moment, and returns it to the envelope. nothing has changed about the key in any of these viewings. it is, however, beginning to feel — to the keeper — as if it has a lock somewhere, and the lock is waiting.
field-note — the key is heavier than its size suggests. weighed against the postbox key it tips the balance by a clear gram.
a key · key museum · loss of keys · attic key · lacuna