Vendor sketches filled
Vendor sketches filled the ledger’s spine—hands gripping plums, balancing apricots, arranging figs with deliberate force. These were not studies *of* fruit but records tracing applied pressure, minute shifts in hold suggesting a pre-emptive understanding of ripeness. A faint sweetness clung to the aged parchment. The ledger's weight shifted; it no longer held finished transactions but instead felt like countless connections—distant touches coalescing into present forms, each darkened cherry echoing a past decision.