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It was a thin white sliver of paper, light as a leaf freshly fallen from a tree, but not nearly as insignificant. When the paper was held in a slightly curved position, it looked like a cut-out crescent moon²and such was its esteem, that itrivaled the (real) moon¶s attentions. When it was held, it was held with the highestdignity, the dignity reserved for when the mayor shook hands with the truck driver who¶d brought in the latest shipment of life-saving cheese, the dignity one usedwhen holding a bottle of newly opened, centuries-aged wine.It was a Form, and those were all the words you needed to make crowds part before you, as neatly as a barbered hairline; those were all the words you needed tomake the little boys and girls, playing outside during recess, look up at you withcuriosity and admiration. Everyone knew that it was a Form, the Form, their Form. No one knew exactly what it was

for

, but that was a small and inconsequentialmatter²everyone knew that it was important, as such a Form would typically be.The origins of the Form were shrouded in mystery. It must have emergedfrom some printing press, in some government office, somewhere, but this washard to believe. The townspeople came up with hundreds of analogies. It was likesaying that the gods emerged from mortal women, or that the luscious,ambrosial²practically holy²notes of those casks of wine had their start in a mere,secular, country vineyard²or that the soft rich taste and texture of the best cheesetruly came from those dirty little goats that bleated on the side of the road! Of course²as the town¶s one college student pointed out later, Dionysus¶s mother was mortal, the casks of wine

did

come from that particular vineyard, and (hard asit was to believe) that cheese truly had its start in a goat udder. He was muchreviled afterwards for pointing out the analogies¶ shortcomings, but they couldalways make some new ones when he wasn¶t around.The townspeople liked the mystery, intrigue, and altogether-importance-and-seeming-intellectualness-and-dignity of the Form as much as they disliked Daniel(the town¶s one college student) and his everyday ability to sound much smarter than they did. After all, Daniel was a college student and he was learning things; heeven advised the mayor on occasion. The townspeople thought that Daniel was becoming too smart for his own good. He had no respect for any of the towncustoms. He had an odd smile²as though he was resisting the urge to laugh² when whoever was carrying the Form came through the market and people stopped

what they were doing and stepped to the side in youthful reverence. He did not. Hewould continue walking²sometimes, in the other direction, turning his back onthe Form! At the local tavern, he often talked of finding out what the Form reallydid, until inevitably someone got him tackled and thrown out of the tavern.The townspeople groaned when they heard that Daniel had come to staywith his family for two months while college was on break. They bracedthemselves for more incidents, more clashes between Daniel and someone who properly respected the Form. And the incidents came. By the twelfth day of hisstay, he could no longer count the incidents on his fingers (and just barely with histoes included). He had violent encounters with the dry-goods store owner, with hisnext-door neighbor (that nice lady who baked the tea-cakes!), with the school janitor²heaven forbid it (and the pious crossed themselves as they related thetale), he even got into a scuffle with his own uncle! As he walked the streets, thechildren out playing looked at him with mistrust and scowls. When Daniel came,the smiles brought on by the Form were replaced with frowns.Finally, Daniel had had enough. He was walking with a college friend,Marc, through a short-cut, a narrow alleyway, when he heard a loud splash behindhim. He turned around to see a spreading pool of smelly yellow liquid on theground. Looking up, he saw a flabby (and furious) lady, red hair in pigtails off theside of her round face, holding a chamber pot.³The next one¶ll be on your head!´ she threatened, cackling.³C¶mon, let¶s go,´ Daniel muttered, grabbing his rather shaken friend by thearm. They ran through the alleyway, pausing for breath once they¶d reached theother end.³I can¶t believe that lady did that,´ Marc marveled. ³I mean²did you seeher²µThe next one¶ll be on your head!¶´ He mimicked her in disbelief. ³Was shedrunk? They really don¶t like you, do they?´³Apparently not,´ Daniel growled. ³I¶ve had enough. They¶re justintolerable. All because of the stupid Form. You know what, I will do it.´³What?´ Marc asked, alarmed.

³I¶m going to find out what the silly Form is about,´ Daniel said, draggingevery word through his teeth as though he were straining the moisture out of laundry. ³If it¶s about anything other than bureaucratic gibberish, I¶ll fill it out andget something done instead of parading it around town back and forth betweengovernment offices. If it

bureaucratic gibberish that doesn¶t do anything, then Iwill bring it to the next town hall meeting, read it out loud so that everyone can seehow ridiculous it is, and²´ his eyes lit up with a demonic fire ³²I will rip theForm into tiny pieces right before their very eyes.´Accessing the Form was no easy task. It was held in the town hall¶sArchives wing²little more than a drab slab of concrete, but filled with endlessshelves of papers, documents, records, archives, and, of course, Forms. With as bad a reputation as he had about the Form, Daniel knew there was no chance theywould just let him in to touch it. No, he would have to usemore«covert«techniques. First he asked around. He asked when the Form wouldcome back from its trip to another governmental building, when it would be re-installed in the Archives building. Five minutes before that time, he walked intothe Archives building and asked the receptionist, innocuously enough, where allthe city forms were kept, that he had to grab a Form for Educational Transfer for his nephew who was switching schools. The receptionist, a middle-aged woman inan orange tweed skirt, nodded, barely looking up at him, and pointed him off to along aisle of papers, where they were alphabetically sorted. He would find it under T, she said, for transfer, subtopic E, for education.Daniel walked off to the forms section and pulled out the Form for Educational Transfer. He pretended to read it, while out of the corner of his eye, hewas watching the three men, in thick, liveried winter coats (though it wasmidsummer), who were striding very importantly into the Archives center. Theywere holding a thin glass case, and inside the glass case, was the Form. Hewatched interestedly as they opened the case²no key was required, he noted²andtook the form out with worshipful hands, handing it to the receptionist. Danielmoved slightly so that he could see what she did with it. She opened a long, veryflat drawer in her desk and, slowly and carefully, placed the Form inside. Closingthe drawer, she looked up at the three men and said something which Daniel couldnot hear. They glanced toward him and he quickly pretended to be reading thetransfer form.