vendor ledger listed

The vendor’s ledger listed each orange denied—bruised skin noted alongside uneven weight and slight blemishes. Every entry documented not a loss, but an absence precisely measured; the growing list became an inventory of what wouldn't be exchanged. Like visible rings on ancient shores, these successive rejections marked boundaries continually drawn between acceptable form and decay. A faint scent of citrus hung in the air as one traced the neat columns of handwritten figures, each representing a choice made—and unmade—in the bright light.