Fence Posts in a Row

The lane fence looked long. Long is not a number, said Spike. Posts are numbers.

Suzy put on Adventure Cap energy and started at the gate post. One.

Two. Three. Four. She did not skip the leaning one. A leaning post still counts if it is still a post.

Spike STOP-LOOK-THINKED at a gap where a post used to be. Gap is not a post. We do not count wishes.

Canberra watched the cattle side with capital calm. London queued as if waiting for the count to finish before drinking.

Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Suzy sat at ten and waited for Spike to check from the other end.

Spike counted back: ten down to one. Same ten. Same row.

If we had said twelve because the fence felt long, that would be a story fence, not a farm fence, Suzy said.

Little Thunder sniffed post number seven and stayed on the correct side of the wire.

You can count posts with your eyes: touch each one in your mind. One clean row. One honest number.

Fence maths is finishing the count you started — then fixing what the count found.

Count posts. Then mend gaps.