LEVEL 2 / Apprentice · Everyday Logistics
The Secret Scoreboard
For anyone keeping count in their head, and anyone who suspects they are being counted.
Case file
Chris sat down at 8:15 on a Thursday evening, and Dana said, “Must be nice.”
He asked what must be nice. She said, “Nothing.”
What he could not see was the scoreboard. Dana kept it in her head, and that week it read 27 to 6. Her points included the dentist forms, his father’s birthday, and a school costume that had required felt. His were mostly for a soup.
Chris had also filled her gas tank, cleared the shower drain, and spent his lunch break on hold with the internet company. None of it had scored, because the only official had not been there.
He picked up his book. He was losing badly, in a league nobody had told him about, and thought the evening was going fine.
LESSON 1 · FREE PREVIEW
A scoreboard in a locked room
Nobody decides to keep score. It starts as noticing. You did the school pickup on Monday and again on Tuesday, and by Wednesday there is a number. By Friday the number has an opponent.
The number has some design problems. You are the only one who can see it. You set the value of every item, and the Faculty has observed that a scorer’s own work tends to be worth slightly more. The other player has not been told the rules, the score, or that play has begun.
What they get instead is weather: a sigh over the laundry basket, “Must be nice,” or “No, sit, I’ve got it,” said in a way that makes sitting impossible. They can tell something is wrong and have nothing to go on. So they guess, and the usual guess is that you are tired. They suggest an early night. This costs them a point.
A score kept in silence does not stay a score. Over months it hardens into a settled view of the other person, and the view is not a kind one. It also tends to come out all at once, during a disagreement about something small, such as who finished the milk. Your partner arrives to discuss milk and finds a four-year audit already in session.
LESSON 2 · FREE PREVIEW
The points you never saw
The Registrar rulesA score only one of you can see is a grudge with arithmetic. Read it out or throw it away.
LESSON 3 · FREE PREVIEW
Fair is not the same as equal
LESSON 4 · FREE PREVIEW
If the score is right, say so this week
LESSON 5 · FREE PREVIEW
Thank you, with nothing attached
THE REST OF YOUR CURRICULUM
All 21 courses are included in the US$5.99 complete curriculum.
Visit the admissions office ↗