Om Bua

Tilt the brass beam a hand's width and a whole ship tilts with it, but that clerk reached for his seal first. What scared me more was the silence behind me. Not one breath.

• Phra SakThe beam's tilt falls within regulation.
  Om BuaThirty years handling regulations, and you'd know exactly where the fingerprints are, Left Minister.
• ChantaraNever mind the breathing behind you.
  Om BuaYou're the one who posted that guard there for me to notice.

One of the weights had been shaved down, a fingernail's worth. Before I weigh the one who shaved it, I'll weigh the one who looked away.

• Nai TunIf the metal filings still smell, it was last night.
  Om BuaYour nose really is the better one.
• Chao PhromNurse, does that have anything to do with my toll money?
  Om BuaYour share was always the one that gets shaved down, Prince.

The one who'd looked away came back three days later and set the weight down himself. I watched his hand shake, and it wasn't his own fear. It was somebody else's.

• DuangThat clerk hasn't shown his face near the market lately. He moved his mooring spot entirely.
  Om BuaA man who moves his spot has changed masters too. Just keep an eye on which boat he ties up to.
• Phra SakWhatever happens at the scale house stays at the scale house, old woman.
  Om BuaI'd like to end it there, but the weight keeps rolling straight toward you, Left Minister.

Our little lady was six when she pressed one finger on my scale and stole herself a coin. These days she doesn't need the finger, and that's what frightens me more.

• Mae PrimAt the Dutch trading post, they call her the one who knows the price before it's spoken. It comes out the same in all three languages.
  Om BuaAll three languages have it wrong. That child knows people before she knows the price.
• Chao PhromNurse, how come nobody's selling stories about me at six?
  Om BuaYour six-year-old self is still ongoing, Prince. No price sticks to it yet.

When the rains come, the brass beam stretches and the marks start lying. So through monsoon I measure by my own knee, but this year my knee keeps taking someone else's side.

• Miguel AfonsoI'd be grateful if that knee tilted our pepper's way, just once.
  Om BuaIt's not my knee's fault your share folds in half, factor.
• Ajarn ThepThese are the ten days the moon runs wet. Don't overwork the scale, or yourself.
  Om BuaDoes your star get wet in the rain too, Priest? Then we're in the same boat.