four · iv · 4

four is the first number that stands up. it has corners, it has sides; it can hold a room, a frame, a season, a wall. the labyrinth uses four constantly and never points it out.

four walls, four floors above this one, four legs on the kitchen table that hasn't moved in decades. four o'clock in the morning is the building's quietest hour — the body's lowest, the day's earliest, the vigil's last.

a square is reassuring. it tells you which way is up by offering you four ways at once and asking you to choose. compare: three · five · compass.